Consultant Psychiatrist in Older Adults

Job overview

We are seeking a Consultant in Older Adult Psychiatry.

Watford General Hospital is a 650-bedded district general hospital, mainly serving the needs of the Hertfordshire population, although patients can also come from North West London, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It has a busy Accident and Emergency Department as it is the only A&E in West Hertfordshire.

As a Consultant Older Adult Liaison Psychiatrist working alongside a Consultant General Adult Liaison Psychiatrist, the post holder will provide clinical leadership to a well-established multidisciplinary Liaison Psychiatry Team.

The Watford Mental Health Liaison team is a multidisciplinary team. The team is commissioned to operate as a 24/7 service. The service receives referrals for any patients 18 and over presenting with mental health difficulties who have been admitted to Watford General Hospital or who are attending the Emergency Department at Watford General Hospital. The team currently receives an average of 275 individual referrals per month, with the majority (70 %) of referrals coming from the Emergency Department (ED) and the remainder (30 %) coming from the inpatient wards. The referrals include service users of both Working Age and also Older Adults.

Main duties of the job

• Providing Clinical Leadership and supervision to other members of the team and to the multi-disciplinary team. Also provide cross cover for the General Adult Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist.
• Providing expert clinical input (including clinical assessment) for patients with complex presentations. They will assess and review patients in the A&E department and wards and provide psychiatric expertise for complex cases, working with clinical staff in the Acute Trust to improve patient care and outcomes. The post holder will contribute to an ad hoc outpatient follow-up clinic where patients assessed by the Mental Health Liaison team and discharged home can be brought back for joint geriatrics review under delirium pathway (Ambulatory care)
• Regular review of service users waiting for MH admission to ensure review of changing needs and implement appropriate changes to management plan to offer least restrictive treatment options.
• Providing clinical leadership to daily referrals meetings and board round. The post holder will attend multidisciplinary professionals’ meetings and other multiagency meetings with clinical partners providing acute physical healthcare to provide an integrated approach. There is opportunity to develop specialised clinics in conjunction with other teams and provide input to focused initiatives E.g.: High Intensity User Support Teams.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Participate in local leadership meetings and work with Unplanned Care operational and quality leads on service development and the improvement of quality of services.
• Multi-agency support and management of frequent attenders to acute pathway
• To jointly work Mental Health Liaison teams, Mental Health Urgent Care Centre, Specialist MH services for Older adults Watford and Borehamwood, EMDASS dementia services and older adult MH inpatient wards to support smooth transition of service users between services
• ·        To manage, appraise and give professional supervision to junior medical staff as agreed by consultant colleagues and the medical director and in accordance with the Trust's personnel policies and procedures. This may include assessing competences under the Modernising Medical Careers framework.
• To ensure that junior medical staff working with the post holder operate within the parameters of the New Deal and are Working Time Directive compliant.
• To undertake the administrative duties associated with the care of patients.
• To record clinical activity accurately and comprehensively and submit this promptly to the Information Department.
• To participate in service and business planning activity for the locality and, as appropriate, for the whole mental health service.
• To participate in annual appraisal for consultants.
• To attend and participate in the academic programme of the Trust and the team including lectures and seminars as part of the internal CPD programme.
• To maintain professional registration with the General Medical Council, Mental Health Act Section 12(2) approval, and to abide by professional codes of conduct.