Consultant in Mental Health Services for Older People

Job responsibilities

This post is for a 1.0 WTE consultant working into the Durham & Chester-le-Street CMHT based at the Bowes Lyon Unit at Lanchester Road Hospital in Durham as well as the Acute Hospital liaison Service covering the University Hospital of North Durham, though the base for the team is also at Lanchester Road Hospital (Sniperley House). Sniperley House and the Bowes Lyon Unit are within 5 minutes walk of each other, while the University Hospital of North Durham (UHND) is about 1 mile away. The post holder is expected to spend approximately 60% of their time working into the CMHT and around 40% of their time working into the liaison service. During their liaison sessions, there may be a need to cover the smaller community hospitals at Chester-le-Street or Shotley Bridge, but this is rare and perhaps only happens once or twice a year. Old Age Liaison consultant cover for South Durham & Darlington (including Bishop Auckland General Hospital) will be provided by another consultant colleague, and so the post-holder will not normally be required to travel to these sites other than during any mutually agreed cover arrangement between the consultant colleagues. The other Old Age Liaison consultant will normally cover any urgent liaison issues in North Durham while the post-holder undertakes their CMHT sessions, so as to minimise disruption to community cover in the area.

From a CMHT perspective, the post holder will provide consultant psychiatric input to a population of 30,658 people over 65 years in the local area, shared with another consultant colleague, Dr Arunima Ghosh, and a specialty doctor, Dr Lucy Gardner. Dr Nhish Gurunathan, an inpatient consultant at the Bowes Lyon Unit, also provides some consultant sessional input into this team, as does Dr Jessica Beard via a flexible contract. The consultant workload is predominantly divided into sectors based on GP Surgeries, which are divided amongst the consultants in proportion to their time with the team. This allows the longitudinal development of strong working relationships with local communities and primary care colleagues. Both teams provide mental health services to older people with mental health problems and frailty-related complexities. We also accept referrals for young onset dementia patients. Each team has administrative support and co-located social workers. The team uses the Care Programme Approach (CPA) to ensure regular reviews and risk assessments are completed, with supervision in place in accordance with trust policy.

Location of post and summary of local service

The post-holder will be based at the Bowes Lyon Unit at Lanchester Road Hospital in Durham co-located with the community mental health team and at Sniperley House (also on the Lanchester Road Hospital site) co-located with the liaison team. The liaison service also operate a small satellite base on the University Hospital of North Durham site, though the post-holder is not usually expected to base themselves there.

Team workload data

A typical years activity is:

700 referrals to CMHT and 120 referrals to Care Home Liaison team with 11,600 face to face contacts.

The CMHT caseload is usually in the region of 1500 patients, These numbers are expected to reduce considerably over the coming year, as the service has negotiated the gradual transfer of routine memory monitoring patients back into primary care, in line with updated NICE guidance. We expect caseload to reduce to approximately 1000 patients over the coming year.

The liaison team is a multi-disciplinary team which comprises of Occupational Therapists, liaison support workers, admin support, MHSOP & AMH consultant (and specialist) psychiatrists, Advanced Nurse Practitioners (MHSOP and AMH) and Liaison Nurses, Team Managers, physiotherapist and a psychologist. As previously mentioned there are usually Foundation, GP and Core Trainees that also rotate through the service.

The liaison model will require excellent working between clinicians, between the acute and mental health trusts.

Qualifications

Essential

• MB BS or equivalent medical qualification

Desirable

• Qualification or higher degree in medical education, clinical research or management experience
• MRCPsych OR MRCPsych equivalent approved by the Royal College of Psychiatrists OR a specialist qualification from an EU country that complies with EU directive 2005/36/EU.

Experience

Essential

• Excellent knowledge in specialty
• Excellent clinical skills using bio-psycho-social perspective and wide medical knowledge
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English
• Able to manage clinical complexity and uncertainty
• Makes decisions based on evidence and experience including the contribution of others
• Able to meet duties under MHA and MCA

Desirable

• Wide range of specialist and sub-specialist experience relevant to post within NHS or comparable service

Eligibility

Essential

• Fully registered with the GMC with a licence to practise at the time of appointment.
• Included on the GMC Specialist Register for Old Age Psychiatry OR included within six months.
• Approved clinician status OR able to achieve within 3 months of appointment
• Approved under S12 OR able to achieve with 3 months of appointment

Desirable

• In good standing with GMC with respect to warning and conditions on practice

Transport

Essential

• Holds and will use valid UK driving licence OR provides evidence of proposed alternative.

Academic Skills & Lifelong Learning

Essential

• Able to deliver undergraduate or postgraduate teaching and training
• Participated in continuous professional development
• Participated in research or service evaluation.
• Able to use and appraise clinical evidence.
• Has actively participated in clinical audit.

Desirable

• Able to plan and deliver undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and training relevant to this post
• Reflected on purpose of CPD undertaken
• Experienced in clinical research and / or service evaluation.
• Evidence of achievement in education, research, audit and service improvement: awards, prizes, presentations and publications.
• Has led clinical audits leading to service change.

Professional & Personal Qualities

Essential

• Shows empathy and sensitivity.
• Manages own time, workload and prioritises work.
• Able to use electronic records and use IT for email, internet and office software
• Copes under pressure.
• Works co-operatively in a multi-disciplinary team and able to delegate appropriately.
• Evidence of annual appraisal and commitment to appraisal and revalidation.

Desirable

• Highly skilled in use of electronic records and IT at work

Leadership

Essential

• Reflects on own performance and behaviour, seeking and acting on feedback.
• Able to influence and persuade to improve services
• Able to take on leadership role in multidisciplinary team.
• Knowledge of structure and management of the NHS and the Trust.
• Shows commitment to quality through knowledge of quality improvement and lean thinking methodology OR able to achieve within one year of appointment
• Able to adapt to and lead service change.

Desirable

• Able to take on a leadership role outside the multidisciplinary team.
• Understanding of NHS & wider health economy and its implications for the work of the Trust.
• Trained to standard equivalent to level 2 in TEWV Trust Quality improvement system

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).