East London NHS Foundation Trust
Consultant in Liaison Psychiatry

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ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job Overview
The consultant psychiatrist will provide clinical and managerial leadership in the Psychiatry Liaison Service (PLS). The successful applicant will join two substantive consultants to provide consultant leadership to the team.
The workload in PLS is variable. The consultant would be expected to attend handovers and support the clinical lead to allocate the workload according to clinical and service need.
The team receive 300+ referrals per month. The consultant psychiatrist sees complex patients as required by the multidisciplinary team either in the ED or on wards and provides clinical advice and supervision to the MDT members and junior doctors.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will support the liaison service in multidisciplinary assessment, treatment and management of patients with mental disorders as envisaged in NICE Guidelines. The post holder will liaise with the other relevant organizations eg Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust ensuring a seamless service.
They will provide consultant leadership to the psychiatric liaison service, including junior doctors, and students.
They will ensure that patients receive a comprehensive assessment and provide a formulation and management plan for patients. They will support the team to ensure that the national KPI targets for liaison psychiatry are met.
They will support the ongoing relationship with the acute Trust and provide education and training to acute Trust colleagues.
Opportunities will be available for quality improvement and service development work in addition to research.
Working for our organisation
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities
Provide consultant leadership to the psychiatry liaison team:
- Team Manager
- Deputy Team Manager
- Fully staffed Nursing team
- Full time staff grade doctor
- Junior Doctors on rotation
- Clinical Psychologist
- Students from nursing, medical and paramedic backgrounds
Provide comprehensive assessment, diagnosis and management of issues relating to mental and physical health for acutely ill adult inpatients.
Undertake all work in the context of the recovery approach which is emphasised across the Trust, placing the service user at the centre of planning and decision making.
Attend the Handover in the Liaison service to maintain good communication with other clinicians.
The liaison service has a KPI targets and a requirement to meet them. The post holder will work to ensure the targets are met.
Provide support and training to other health care professionals and support service users through the care pathway as required whilst working with other teams in the hospital and the community setting.
Lead on the delivery of high quality care in all settings and be mindful of quality targets set by the Trust and those set nationally.
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Have liaison with the linked inpatient adult mental health services and community mental health teams when indicated.
Develop an expertise and knowledge of local services for people with mental health problems.
Provide appropriate clinical supervision and training for junior medical staff and lead the multidisciplinary team.
Take part in mandatory Trust audit programmes and also develop local relevant audit cycles to improve the function of the community rehabilitation team.
Actively participate in the Trust’s clinical and strategic development.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Registered with GMC
- On the GMC specialist register/ within 6 months of CCT
- Approval under Section 12(2) Mental Health Act and Approved Clinician Status
- Membership or Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists or equivalent qualification (in accordance with Royal College of Psychiatrists guidelines)
Desirable criteria
- A higher degree e.g. MD or PhD
Knowledge And Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of clinical work in Acute Adult Psychiatry at SpR, SASG or consultant level within the last 3 years
- Excellent working knowledge and experience of the application of the Mental Health Act
- Robust experience of working with severe and enduring mental illness and risk assessment, management
Desirable criteria
- Experience of service development and introducing new services in mental health
- Experience in liaison psychiatry
Essential Criteria
Organisational skills and abilities
- Leadership skills
- Ability to work as a part of multidisciplinary, multi-model team
- Ability to manage complex workloads and support others to do that
- Commitment to working in multidisciplinary setting
- Commitment to working with service users on service development
Desirable criteria
- Experience of team /service leadership
- Formal leadership and management training
Essential Criteria
Clinical skills and supervision
- Ability to work in multi-disciplinary team and provide leadership for the team
- Commitment to clinical governance
Desirable criteria
- Experience in supervising trainee doctors and SAS doctors
Teaching
Essential Criteria
- Experience in teaching junior staff
- Experience of teaching medical undergraduates and postgraduates
- Experience of teaching non-medical mental health professionals
Desirable criteria
- Medical education qualification
Research and audit
Essential Criteria
- Experience of research work
- Audit and quality improvement experience
Desirable criteria
- Publications in peer-reviewed journals in relevant academic fields
Making Things Better
Quality Improvement is a key part of our work to improve our services and refine how we do things. We have a global reputation for our quality improvement work and we don’t stand still! So we offer a fantastic opportunity for our staff to learn, lead and contribute towards improving our services.
We launched our Five Year Strategy in April 2018, which identified four main strategic outcomes to improve: population health outcomes, experience of care, staff experience and improve value. This complements the NHS Long Term Strategy and sets out our direction of travel.
Our Community
We provide a wide range of community health and mental health inpatient services to children, young people, adults of working age, and older adults in The City of London, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Bedfordshire and Luton. We provide Forensic services to the whole of North East London. We provide services in urban and rural settings, sometimes in our inpatient units, but mostly in the community close to where people live. Integrated care is key in making the best use of resources and providing effective care.


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Aiming High
East London NHS Foundation Trust has achieved its third consecutive ‘Outstanding’ rating from the Care Quality Commission; the first Community and Mental Health Trust to achieve this rating for a third time. We were named in the HSJ’s Top 10 best places to work in healthcare and were voted Provider Trust of the Year in 2018.
Staff and Service Users United
We strive to ensure that staff feel valued by the Trust and as they are truly pivotal in delivering better outcomes for our patients and service users. Our aspiration is to help to make ELFT the best place to work. This Trust is clinician-led and provides the highest possible level of clinical expertise throughout its services. We pride ourselves on our service user involvement. A service user will be on your assessment centre and interview panel if you are invited to meet us.
We especially welcome people with lived experience of health difficulties, with insight and understanding of different backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles in our population as we believe that this will equip staff to deliver a high standard of care to our service users and patients.
Diversity
ELFT Is committed to being a diverse organisation and our workforce is reflective of the population and communities we serve. We believe that having colleagues with a range of backgrounds and life experiences enriches and adds value to the outcomes we have set out to achieve. Having partnered and endorsed by organisations who are representative and experts in various areas of equality and diversity, we can ensure we are meeting the pre-set standards all the way from recruitment stage throughout the career journey of our employees by being accessible, having fair inclusive practices and a host of staff networks to support, nurture and celebrate our valued staff in the workplace.
Other Reasons To Apply
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s job share, part time or another flexible pattern.
As part of the relocation scheme we presently have, the Trust could support you with offering up to £8,000 for removal and associated expenses. This is subject to change and terms and conditions apply.
AI in applications
If you use AI or other tools to assist in writing your job application, make sure you add your own personal touch especially in the supporting information section. AI can make writing easier, but it doesn’t fully understand the position you’re applying for and might generate false or misleading information. Applications written only by AI often sound generic and may not show your real skills, knowledge, or experience. It’s important to write your supporting statement in your own words. East London NHS Foundation Trust does not recommend relying only on AI, as it could negatively impact on your chance of success in the application process.
We carefully check applications to make sure no one has an unfair advantage, and we verify all references. At the interview, you’ll be asked about your experience, so be honest and ensure everything in your
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