Consultant Psychiatrist - Royal Free Hospital
Job overview
The post offered is that of Consultant Psychiatrist in General Adult Psychiatry (Liaison). The post is based within the well established Royal Free Hospital Liaison Service at the Royal Free Hospital Pond Street London NW3 2QG. This is a new post being created.
The role of the Consultant is to be the clinical lead of the team and to ensure high, quality, patient-centered, effective, safe, and efficient care is delivered by the teams.
Main duties of the job
The Royal Free Psychiatric liaison service is a well-established service with a multi-disciplinary team. The post-holder will have the opportunity to work in a senior medical position in different multi-disciplinary clinical settings on hospital wards.The main aspect of the post will entail assessment of patients on acute medical inpatient wards as well as occasionally patients in A&E/AAU Department when required. The post-holder will provide supervision and support to junior doctors within the team and other team members as required.
The successful candidate will work alongside a medical team consisting of three consultants, and junior doctors. The post-holder will be allocated referrals according to their complexity and will attend multi-disciplinary team meetings and daily handover meetings with the medical team as required.
The post-holder will be required to hold section 12(2) approval and to engage in mental health act assessments on the medical wards and occasionally in the A&E / AAU setting as required.
An administrator provides administrative support to the team. There is office space for the team based at the Royal Free Hospital.
The post-holder will also be expected to take part in relevant supervisory, teaching, audit and administrative activities.
This is a new post being created following amalgamation of sessions dropped by another consultant and sessions previously connected to a staff grade post.
Working for our organisation
North London Foundation Trust was inaugurated on 1st November 2024 following the formal merger of Barnet, Enfield and Haringey NHS Trust and Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust following over 2 years of partnership working.
Our four Strategic Aims for the Partnership over the next five years are that:- We provide consistently high-quality care, closer to home
- With our partners in North London and each Borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all
- We create great places to work, providing staff with a supportive environment to deliver outstanding care
- We will be more effective as an organisation by pioneering research, Quality Improvement and technology
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The post-holder will provide 8 sessions of input to the RFH team.
The post-holder will mainly be involved in assessing hospital ward referrals but may also occasionally be involved in triage decisions when necessary and may also be required to assess A&E/AAU referrals who are admitted to ambulatory care in A&E and not deemed suitable for transfer to MHCAS.
They will assess new ward referrals and contribute to twice daily board rounds and handover meetings with the other medical staff.
Operational accountability will be to the Hospital Division Clinical Director/Associate Clinical Director and professional accountability to the Trust Medical Director. Annual leave and study leave are approved by the CD/ACD. Yearly appraisal will be undertaken with a consultant appointed by the Trust.
The successful candidate will be able to take advantage of internal training and academic opportunities.
The post holder will be required to participate in professional development, staff support, appraisal and supervision and will be allocated 2.5 PA (pro rata) supporting professional activity time (SPA) to pursue this.
The postholder will work closely with the other Consultants in the RFH liaison and MHCAS team and the Hospital Division Clinical Director/Associate Clinical Director, service director, service manager and team manager to provide strategic clinical leadership to the multi-professional group and contribute to strategic direction of the unit and development of this care pathway.
The post-holder will assist the liaison team in providing day to day clinical. This will include daily assessment of ward referrals at RFH; occasional liaising with emergency department liaison teams/medical staff; providing brief clinical reports and handover information to inpatient ward staff prior to transfer of patients subsequently detained under the mental health act and providing clinical guidance to other team members as and when required.The post-holder will participate in daily team supervision/clinical handover de-briefing sessions.
The post holder will work in an integrated way with the rest of the RFH liaison and MHCAS team.
The Post-holder and the team are also expected to forge close links with the new MHCAS service and with other Liaison Consultants in the Trust based at the Whittington, University College Hospital and Royal Free Hospital Trusts as well as in neighbouring boroughs (Islington, Haringey and Hackney).They will also liaise regularly with the Trust’s 3 crisis teams and in particular with the Crisis single point of access (C-SPA) team who provide gatekeeping assessments for patients who are detained/require admission to hospital and will help facilitate community support plan (when relevant) for patients who are in crisis but are not ultimately detainable under the Mental Health Act.
The latter will be particularly important in ensuring the effective follow-up care and seamless transfer of patients who may require the organization of follow-up care if subsequently not detained under the mental health act. They will also work closely with the AMHP Duty team.
Person specification
Education/Qualifications/Registration
Essential criteria- Full registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) and a license to practice. Must be on the specialist register or within 6 months of gaining a Certificate of Completion of Training
- Membership of Royal College of Psychiatrists or equivalent higher qualification in psychiatry
- Specialist accreditation in General adult Psychiatry and / or Old Age psychiatry (Including CESR equivalent)
- Section 12(2) and Approved Clinician status (or eligibility) - qualifies to act as a Responsible Clinician
- Registered with Royal College of Psychiatrists CPD programme and in good standing
- Shared Services training up to date to be an approved trainer/clinical supervisor
- Other relevant post-graduate qualification
- Liaison psychiatry accreditation
- Trained as an Educational Supervisor for doctors in training
- Training as a Consultant mentor
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria- Knowledge and observance of the requirements and duties of a doctor laid down by the GMC in Good Medical Practice.
- Clinical knowledge of the full range mental disorders.
- Experience in the assessment of complex clinical cases involving severe and enduring mental illness and significant risk histories and the ability to assertively engage and manage such cases.
- Expertise in a comprehensive range of evidence based treatment and case management options including pharmacotherapy.
- Knowledge of the Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act and safeguarding practices
- Experience in work-place based assessments of doctors in training
- Experience in work-place based assessments of doctors in training
- Management: Knowledge of clinical commissioning and external organisations that interface with an NHS Trust.
- Experience in organising and chairing meetings.
- Good understanding of Trust governance structures, especially clinical governance
- An understanding of the role of research within the wider service
- Willingness to participate in research as appropriate and within the context of the duties of the post
- Significant previous clinical experience at junior, higher trainee and/or consultant level in Acute Hospital ward-based general & older adult psychiatry
- Significant previous clinical experience at junior, higher trainee and/or consultant level in Mental Health inpatient older adult adult psychiatry
- Experience in teaching small and large groups
- Experience in developing policies and protocols.
- Experience of service development.
Skills & Abilities
Essential criteria- Ability to be flexible and adaptable to change.
- Ability to effectively communicate ideas and influence others.
- Good knowledge of and ability to use both spoken and written English
- Ability to organise workload and manage time and delegate responsibility where appropriate
- Ability to practise as an independent Consultant Psychiatrist.
- Thoroughness and attention to detail in clinical matters
- Sensitivity to needs of all patients and carers.
- Sensitivity and awareness in clients and staff from different cultures, ethnicities, gender and sexual orientations.
- Teaching and supervision skills for undergraduate medical students, doctors in training and multi-professional staff
- Ability to work in a team environment and to develop effective working relationships on an individual and multidisciplinary basis with all levels of staff.
- Ability to take on the role and responsibilities of the clinical lead
- Experience in undertaking clinical audit, investigating serious incidents and handling complaints
- Enthusiasm for teaching psychopathology and willingness to share knowledge and experience
- A special interest or willingness to develop one in an area which helps to meet the needs of the Trust
- Experience in successfully delivering research projects