Consultant - Old Age Psychiatry

Job overview

This is a Consultant part-time (8PAs) post in Old Age Psychiatry in North/Central Shropshire Community Services.  It is a new post that has been developed to work in partnership with another Old Age Consultant Psychiatrist (0.8 PA), an Old Age Specialty Doctor (10PA) and a Non-Medical Prescriber (0.7 WTE) given the growth in the older adult population in the locality.

The post covers community mental health related to functional older adults (65+) as well as those suspected or living with dementia and challenging behaviours. This is a community post only and there are no inpatient responsibilities. The emphasis is to provide timely and comprehensive assessment, interventions and treatment to service users and their families/carers, working within a multi-disciplinary team format. The main team base is in Shrewsbury, with bases in Oswestry and Market Drayton. The inpatient facilities are based in Shrewsbury at The Redwoods Centre, and the Trust also has inpatient facilities in Stafford.

Main duties of the job

Clinical Duties of the Post:

• To ensure, in conjunction with the multi-disciplinary team, regular effective review of the care of    patients in the clinical pathway via individual assessments and follow up appointments, MDT meetings and sometimes the Care Programme Approach (CPA) review, particularly where the complexity requires it
• To be the Responsible Clinician for service users in the pathway who are subject to Community                                         Treatment Order (CTO) where applicable
• To provide evidence-based care
• To be recovery focused
• To provide cross-cover (emergency and prospective) for other Consultant Psychiatrist colleagues by  mutual agreement
• To communicate with all key partners in an appropriate and timely way including General                                              Practitioners, service users and carers
• To work within the requirements of service contracts agreed with our commissioners, including compliance with nationally agreed quality standards
• To fully utilise Trust IT systems as appropriate to enable fulfilment of clinical duties
• The post-holder will take part in Mental Health Assessments and out-of-hour duties; on call  work is remunerated at 3% as well as 0.5 APAs

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Non-Clinical Duties of the Post:

• To participate in the training and supervision of doctors in training and medical students where                                         applicable
• To participate in the Clinical supervision and training of non-medical prescribers (NMPs) and           non- medical Responsible Clinicians (RCs) and doctors in training within the pathway (Core           Psychiatry  trainee or GP trainee)
• To lead in Clinical Governance and Audit
• To provide clinical leadership in the collective leadership structure
• To be actively involved in shaping and improving the services offered in secondary care mental              health services to best meet the needs of users and carers
• To participate in Continuing Professional Development, including peer supervision, and to remain up  to date with requirements for revalidation
• To lead/participate in Quality Improvement projects in line with service need

A job plan will be agreed after appointment and will follow the Mental Health Directorate’s commitment to 6  Programmed Activities (PAs) for Direct Clinical Care (DCC) and 2 Supporting Professional Activities (SPA)        per 8 PA job plan.