Consultant in Liaison Psychiatry

NHS; Luton; On-site; GBP 105,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job description

Job summary

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 receives 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.

About us

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.

Date posted: 11 April 2025

Pay scheme: Hospital medical and dental staff

Grade: Consultant

Salary: £105,504 to £139,882 a year per annum

Contract: Permanent

Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time, Job share, Flexible working, Compressed hours

Reference number: 363-MRLUT7098868

Job locations

Luton and Dunstable Hospital

Lewsey Road

Luton

LU4 0DZ

Job description Job responsibilities

1. Provide consultant leadership to the psychiatry liaison team:
2. Team Manager
3. Deputy Team Manager
4. Fully staffed Nursing team
5. Full time staff grade doctor
6. Junior Doctors on rotation
7. Clinical Psychologist
8. Students from nursing, medical and paramedic backgrounds
9. Provide comprehensive assessment, diagnosis and management of issues relating to mental and physical health for acutely ill adult inpatients.
10. 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.
11. Attend the Handover in the Liaison service to maintain good communication with other clinicians.
12. The liaison service has KPI targets and a requirement to meet them. The post holder will work to ensure the targets are met.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. Have liaison with the linked inpatient adult mental health services and community mental health teams when indicated.
16. Develop an expertise and knowledge of local services for people with mental health problems.
17. Provide appropriate clinical supervision and training for junior medical staff and lead the multidisciplinary team.
18. Take part in mandatory Trust audit programmes and also develop local relevant audit cycles to improve the function of the community rehabilitation team.
19. Actively participate in the Trusts clinical and strategic development.

Person Specification Qualifications

Essential

• 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

• A higher degree e.g. MD or PhD

Knowledge and experience

Essential

• 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

• Experience of service development and introducing new services in mental health
• Experience in liaison psychiatry

Organisational skills and abilities

Essential

• 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

• Experience of team /service leadership
• Formal leadership and management training

Clinical skills and supervision

Essential

• Ability to work in multi-disciplinary team and provide leadership for the team
• Commitment to clinical governance

Desirable

• Experience in supervising trainee doctors and SAS doctors

Teaching

Essential

• Experience in teaching junior staff
• Experience of teaching medical undergraduates and postgraduates
• Experience of teaching non-medical mental health professionals

Desirable

• Medical education qualification

Research and audit

Essential

• Experience of research work
• Audit and quality improvement experience

Desirable

• Publications in peer-reviewed journals in relevant academic fields

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).

Employer details

Employer name: East London NHS Foundation Trust

Address: Luton and Dunstable Hospital

Lewsey Road

Luton

LU4 0DZ

Employer's website: https://www.elft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)