Full time Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist

Job responsibilities

Indicative work programme

• The post holder will have 10 PA. The overall split of the programmed activities is 7.5 PA direct clinical care, and 2.5 PA of Supporting Professional Activities, of which 1.0 will be dedicated to personal CPD and 0.25 as the educational tariff for being named clinical supervisor for a Specialty Registrar (ST 4-6). 1.25 other SPA may be used for quality improvement, teaching, supervision, research and service development.
• Job planning will be completed within 3 months of commencement in post and reviewed at least annually, with the Clinical Lead for Liaison Psychiatry (second sign off Clinical Director for Psychological Medicine) with input from the relevant Service Managers and Clinical Director for Integrated Care, with an opportunity for the post holder to review their job plan at any point if they wish to. All job plans are created on Allocate software and subject to sign off within the medical directorate.
• A final job plan and working days will be negotiated with the post holder, taking into account the post holders interests as well as service needs. Frontline clinical work alongside the other members of the MDT is an essential part of this post and there is always a Consultant Psychiatrist on the shop floor between 9-5, Mon-Fri. Frontline clinical work is shared between the consultants to allow for adequate SPA, CPD, service development and teaching time.

Interfaces with WLT Local services

Psychiatry Services interface closely with many of the WLT local services in the boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow.

• Community Services Overview Mental health services in Hammersmith and Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow provide core community services for persons age 18 and above. Services are delivered by newly-formed into Mental Health Integrated Network (MINT) to work closely with the Primary Care Networks to better address unmet need and support communities to stay well.
• Inpatient Services Overview In-patient services are configured to an assessment and recovery model providing care for over 18s within their locality. Inpatient services for the trust are based in Hammersmith and Fulham Mental Health Unit (on the Charing Cross Hospital site), St. Bernards Hospital in Ealing and Lakeside Mental Health Unit in Hounslow (on the West Middlesex Hospital site).
• Addiction Services In Ealing, the hospital alcohol liaison nurse is provided by Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust. The community Drug and Alcohol service RISE is provided by Change Grow Live and Central North West London NHS Foundation.
• CAMHS Children and adolescents up to the age of 18 years receive mental health assessment and treatment from the specialist CSU wide CAMHS service. The crisis services for younger people are provided by the three-borough Alliance Team. As the Ealing Liaison Psychiatry Service provides services for 16 and 17, the Alliance Team is accessible for discussion on complex cases. In addition, the Alliance team provide regular training to our liaison team to better support younger people.
• Older Peoples services for people with cognitive impairment are provided by the specialist CSU wide cognitive impairment and dementia team. The service is transforming to provider services for older people with functional mental health conditions. The Liaison team work closely with these services to ensure seamless care is provided for people moving between Acute Hospitals and community services.
• Integrated Care Services The Trusts community health services for adults and children include nursing and rehabilitation services in Hammersmith and Fulham and comprehensive community services in Ealing Community Partners including neurological rehabilitation, diabetes and respiratory services and health psychology, Learning Disability Services in Ealing, and primary care services for residents of care homes.
• Voluntary Sector All boroughs have an active voluntary sector, including representation from MIND, London Cyrenians, Hestia Housing, Barons Court Project, Citizens Advice Bureau, the West London Community Counselling Organization, and the Forward Project. Services include the provision of practical home support, drop-in centres, evening and weekend group activities, group homes and long term supported housing, sheltered employment projects, advocacy and benefits advice, a consumer forum and counselling/psychotherapy services.

Teaching and Education

• West London NHS Trust is an educational institution for both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees of multiple clinical disciplines and has strong links with Imperial College, Bucks New University and The University of West London.
• LPS trainees and nurses all have allocated time, support and supervision to work on individual service development projects which develops their management skills, expertise and confidence. The post holder is expected to take over the clinical supervisor role for the ST 4-6 within the team whilst the clinical supervisor for the foundation trainees falls under the role of the other consultant.
• The post holder will have access to the library located on the St Bernards site and at the West London NHS Trust Learning and Development Centre (LDC) as well as to electronic educational resources based in the LDC.
• Training others outside of the immediate team is a vital part of the role of a consultant psychiatrist. This includes non-medical staff across the local community and in the acute trust, as well undergraduates in the form of medical students and nursing students. This training is delivered through formal and regular teaching programmes, ad hoc training as required and on the job training in the process of feeding back clinical about clinical cases.

Continuing Professional & Personal Development

• The Trust has a commitment to and actively supports CPD activities.
• The Trust requires Consultants to participate in CPD, to develop a Personal Development Plan and be in good standing with regard to CPD with the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The post holder is welcome to join a local PDP group of their choice. The post holder will also be offered a monthly supervision meeting with the Clinical Director.
• The post holder will be required fully to participate in revalidation (the 5 yearly cyclical process by which the GMC decides to continue license to practice as a doctor and is described GMC guidance The Good Medical Practice Framework for appraisal and revalidation). Revalidation requires an annual appraisal with a designated trained appraiser and to provide a portfolio of supporting information.

Clinical Audit, Quality Improvement and Research

• With the relevant Team and Service Managers, Clinical Lead and Clinical Directors, the post holder will be expected to actively participate in and lead audit and quality improvement work related to the development and evaluation of the service.
• The trust is research active and has invested in promoting and supporting good quality funded clinical research that is in line with the research strategy. Research in the area of the interface between physical and psychological health has been identified in the trust R&D strategy as a research priority area. There is a Trust Research Director and Research & Development department to support, and grant applications for clinical research are encouraged and supported.

Office Accommodation and Secretarial/IT Support

• The appointee will have a shared office with the two other part-time consultants within the team at Ealing Hospital (9 South). The appointee will have access to the meeting room and break room which is predominately available to the service and allow additional breakout space for consultants to conduct private meetings and phone calls.
• The post-holder will be provided with their own laptop with docking equipment supporting access to relevant West London NHS Trust systems and a work mobile phone. Desktops with access to LNWUH (acute trust) systems are also available in the ELPS office space.

Wellbeing

• The appointee will have access to the Health at Work (occupational health) services. It provides a wide range of services including health assessment, immunisations and control of infection, support for accidents and injuries at work, health advice, health and safety, health promotion and physiotherapy. It also provides staff counselling, critical incident stress debriefing, medication and group wellbeing work. The Health at Work team is committed to maintaining confidentiality and is compliance with Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR. If the appointee is involved in a serious incident or being named in a complaint, the nominated senior support will usually come from the clinical lead in liaison psychiatry.

Experience

Essential

• Evidence of collaborative working
• Experience of working in a range of liaison psychiatry services
• Undergraduate and psychiatric trainee teaching
• Teaching of non-medical staff / carers
• Demonstrated leadership
• Participation in clinical governance
• Service development and demonstrated ability to deliver outcomes
• Demonstrate high quality practice

Desirable

• Experience in General Practice/ Geriatric Medicine
• Experience in Medical or surgical specialties
• Experience of liaison psychiatry in a wide range of medical /surgical specialties
• At least 12 months experience of old age psychiatry (liaison or older people's services) if no CCT in old age psychiatry
• Peer reviewed research published
• Other publications
• Planned + completed research projects

Qualifications and Training

Essential

• Eligible for Full Registration with GMC and inclusion on Specialist Register or be within six months of expected completion of specialist training
• MHA 1983 Section 12 approval

Desirable

• CCT/CCST in general adult psychiatry
• CCT/CCST in old age psychiatry
• Qualification in medical education
• MRCP/FRCS or other post graduate qualifications
• Endorsement in liaison psychiatry
• Therapy qualification
• Qualification in Quality Improvements and Leadership

Knowledge

Essential

• Good communication & leadership skills
• Good change management skills
• Demonstrate the ability to promote and represent the Liaison psychiatry service to clients, other professional and non-professional groups. In particular, an ability to be able to communicate effectively with general hospital staff.
• Demonstrates enthusiasm for and commitment to developing liaison psychiatry services
• Demonstrate sound knowledge of the Mental Health Act 1983 as amended, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and other relevant legislation and developments in Mental Health and the NHS.
• Demonstrate the ability to use a range of therapeutic interventions with individuals in both acute mental health crisis and to facilitate long term rehabilitation and enhancement of quality of life.
• Demonstrate the ability to work as a generic member of the multi-disciplinary team
• Demonstrate the ability to treat service users with respect and dignity, adopting a culturally sensitive approach
• The post-holder must have the ability to understand and implement the Equal Opportunities Policy at a level appropriate to the job.

Desirable

• Car owner/driver.
• Training skills and experience.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).