Locum Consultant psychiatrist for crisis team

Job overview

This vacancy has arisen for a consultant psychiatrist to provide clinical and managerial leadership as part of the Luton and South Bedfordshire CRHT. The successful candidate will work alongside the existing substantive consultant. The post will provide clinical leadership as one of the two consultants in the CRHT.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will support the CRHT in multidisciplinary assessment, treatment and management of patients with mental disorders as envisaged in NICE Guidelines. Luton and South Bedfordshire CRHT covers the geographical area of Luton and South Bedfordshire. The service covers 5 Primary Care Networks and a population of 56,000 in Luton. For South Bedfordshire the service covers 3 Primary Care Networks covering a population of 132,000. Luton and South Bedfordshire CRHT work in close partnership with Bedford CRHT who offer support to patients living in the rest of Bedfordshire.

The average workload in CRHT is 30-40 patients on the case load at any one time, and the team comprises a well-supported MDT. The CRHT team consists of

• Team Manager
• Three Band 7 CRHT team leaders
• Fully staffed Nursing team
• Junior Doctors on rotation
• Clinical Psychologist
• Assistant Psychologist
• Social Workers
• Occupational Therapist
• Support workers
• Pharmacist
• Students from nursing and medical backgrounds

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post-holder will:

• Provide consultant leadership to the CRHT team.
• Provide comprehensive assessment, diagnosis and management of issues relating to mental and physical health for adults with acute and severe mental illness in the community (over 18 years).
• 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.
• Fulfil Responsibilities as a Psychiatrist approved under Section 12 of the Mental Health Act 1983, where relevant
• The service has KPI targets and a requirement to meet them. The post holder will work with the operational lead 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.
• Develop the service with a view to achieving QN-CRHTT accreditation at the earliest opportunity.
• Work closely with senior clinical and managerial staff to ensure bed occupancy in Luton and Bedfordshire remains at optimal levels
• Liaise with the linked inpatient adult mental health services, primary care mental health, general practitioners and community mental health teams when indicated. Work closely with colleagues from other specialist teams including the psychiatric liaison service, substance misuse services, court liaison and diversion teams to ensure that CRHT provide a collaborative approach to the care of patients who are jointly under the care of these services. Develop appropriate referral pathways with these services to ensure collaborative working between different teams working ensuring good continuity of care for service users.
• Develop an expertise and knowledge of local services for people with mental health problems and refer to facilities available to specialist mental health services, including psychotherapy and psychology services based in secondary care.
• 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 team.
• Actively participate in the Trust’s clinical and strategic development.
• Engage in annual appraisal and job plan review with the Clinical Director.
• Participate in Quality Improvement work and provide leadership to embed Quality Improvement into core business.
• Get involved in local educational programmes for medical staff and the crisis team.
• Get involved in teaching fifth year medical students from University of Cambridge attached to the team
• You will be encouraged and supported to complete the training to become a named clinical supervisor to trainees attached to the team.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.