Consultant Psychiatrist in Old Age Psychiatry - Darlington

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity for an old age consultant psychiatrist to become involved with the West Park inpatient team on Oak Ward.

This post is for a full-time consultant psychiatrist working into our inpatient service on Oak Ward (6 PAs), with a small amount of additional input into the collocated community mental health team for older people (1.5 PAs). Oak Ward is a 12 bedded mixed-sex ward for older people with functional mental health difficulties. The consultant will provide around 6 clinical PAs into this ward, working on the principle of 1PA for every 2 patients.

Main duties of the job

The ward operates a report out every weekday morning, which is effectively a board round of all patients on the ward. The consultant psychiatrist is expected to attend this meeting wherever possible.

For the community component of the post, this is based at the Darlington team base at West Park and this is likely to include a combination of clinics at the team base, and home visits across the catchment area. The consultant psychiatrist will also assess and treat their patients in line with evidence based clinical practice and in keeping with the Trust clinical pathways (with specific reference to the Dementia and Behaviours that Challenge pathways).

The post-holder is expected to be the Responsible Clinician for any patients on the ward and will undertake any such duties that are specified by the Mental Health Act 1983 and in the accompanying Code of Practice and preparing for and attending Mental Health Tribunals.

The post-holder is expected to prioritise Mental Health Act Assessments for their own patients during working hours and be a qualified DOLS Mental Health Assessor for any patients on their personal caseload. Occasionally, there may be ad hoc Section 49 Mental Capacity Act reports to prepare, and these are offered evenly amongst the consultant body.

The Trust is eager to support the development of a special interest and this is negotiable either at the time of employment or at the Annual Job Plan Review meeting.

About us

We are one of the largest specialist mental health and learning disabilities trusts in the country, with an annual income of £320m and a workforce of some 6,700 staff operating from around 100 sites in Durham, Teesside, North Yorkshire and York and Selby. We provide a range inpatient and community services to 2m people living in County Durham, the Tees Valley, Scarborough, Whitby, Ryedale, Harrogate, Hambleton and Richmondshire. We also provide additional specialist services to other parts of Northern England.

We deliver our services by working in partnership with eight local authorities and clinical commissioning groups, a wide range of voluntary organisations, as well as service users, their carers and the public.

Psychiatrists are essential contributors to the majority of our mental health teams. Service users expect and are justified to expect collaborative relationships with dedicated psychiatrists who work consistently as part of effective services. The Medical Directorate and Medical Development Team are striving to improve medical workforce recruitment and retention in a variety of ways and the cornerstone of these efforts is The TEWV Charter for the Medical Workforce. (Please see attached Supporting Document).

The Trust welcomes conversations about flexible working practices.

Details

• Date posted: 16 September 2026
• Pay scheme: Hospital medical and dental staff
• Salary: £113,565 to £150,569 a year This post may be subject to a recruitment premia
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working
• Reference number: C9346-MHSOP-228M
• Job locations: West Park Hospital, Edward Pease Way, DARLINGTON, County Durham, DL2 2TS, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

Please see the attached job description for further information on this post. Please note the job description is currently waiting approval from the Royal College.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

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).