Job details
- Job reference: 245833
- Salary: Consultant (£111,430 - £148,064)
- Job closing date: 26/07/2026
- Job Type: Medical and Dental
- Location: The Balfour
- Employment type: Permanent
- Hours Per Week: 12
- Job posted date: 09/07/2026
- Employer (NHS Board): NHS Orkney
- Department: Orkney Health and Social Care Partnership
NHS Orkney is committed to delivering excellent care to our 22,000 residents. Whether you’re new to the NHS or bringing experience from elsewhere, your skills will make a real difference.
Our modern healthcare facility, The Balfour, brings together inpatient care, emergency services, outpatient clinics, diagnostics, GP practices and the Scottish Ambulance Service. We’re also investing in services across our outer isles, ensuring high-quality care reaches every corner of Orkney.
We are guided by our core values that shape everything we do – Open and honest, Respect and Kindness – from how we care for our patients to how we support each other as colleagues.
About Orkney:
With over 70 islands – 20 of them inhabited – Orkney offers a unique blend of natural beauty, close-knit community and an opportunity for adventure. From dramatic coastlines and rare wildlife to rich cultural traditions and active lifestyles, it’s a place where compassion thrives and every day brings something new. Regularly named one of the UK’s best places to live, Orkney offers a lifestyle that’s both fulfilling and inspiring.
The Position and the Candidate:
NHS Orkney is offering a permanent contract for either an Old Age Psychiatrist or a GP with Special Interest (Dementia) for three sessions per week. The postholder will support and work collaboratively with a small team of nurses and post diagnostic support practitioners.
We are looking for an individual who has a special interest or previous experience working with people living with dementia and families, providing leadership in diagnosis and collaborative support for distressed behaviours, who can provide clinical leadership to empower a highly motivated and multi-agency team and help us develop an integrated dementia service within the vibrant communities we serve and live in.
As part of this recruitment, we are able to offer, if required, the opportunity to undertake a suitable qualification within the first year of employment. This includes salaried learning time in addition to the three sessions per week. Learning is delivered remotely and also includes supportive mentorship.
Location, Working Pattern and Contract Duration:
This post will be based at The Balfour
The successful candidate will work: Part Time 12 hours per week (3 PAs)
This post is Permanent
It is a condition of this employment that you must live and remain a resident within the UK for the post in which you will be employed with NHS Orkney.
Benefits and Salary:
Did you know NHS Scotland salaries are higher than those in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland?
The salary for this post is Consultant/General Practitioner and if residing on Orkney, you’ll also receive a Distant Islands Allowance of £1,719 pro rata per annum, adding extra value to your rewarding career with us.
NHS Orkney also offers an attractive pension scheme, wide range of work life balance policies, employee assistance programme and various discounts to both local and national retailers.
Further Information:
If you share our vision and are ready to be part of Team Orkney, we’d love to hear from you. Your rewarding career starts here!
We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process, and you will be asked whether you require any during your application. If there are additional requirements you would like to request, please contact ork.recruitment@nhs.scot
For further guidance on the recruitment process and tips for creating a strong application, please refer to our Candidate Application Pack.
To find out more about this opportunity please contact Lynda Bradford, Head of Health and Community Care on lynda.bradford@orkney.gov.uk
This post is subject to a Disclosure Scotland check.
NHS Orkney is an equal opportunities employer committed to advancing equality and particularly welcomes applications from groups of people currently underrepresented within the workforce. We are a committed participant in the Disability Confident Leader Scheme and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for our vacancies.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Candidates should provide original and authentic responses to all questions within the application form. The use of artificial intelligence (AI), automated tools, or other third-party assistance to generate, draft, or significantly modify responses is strongly discouraged. By submitting your application, you confirm that all answers are your own work, reflect your personal knowledge, skills and experience, and have not been solely produced or altered by AI or similar technologies.
Failure to comply with this requirement may result in your application being withdrawn from the application process.
Please note this advert may close early if sufficient applications are received.
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Person specification
EXPERIENCE
Essential
- Previous, recent working experience in relation to people with dementia, older people or frailty.
Desirable
- Experience of service development.
- Experience working in a remote and rural area.
DISPOSITION
Essential
- Dynamic, innovative, and enthusiastic approach to service provision.
- Person centric approach to service development.
- Good team working and interpersonal skills.
- Communication skills with patients, relatives, staff and agencies.
- Able to demonstrate values of caring and compassionate leadership.
- Good stress management.
- Self-motivated, able to work efficiently without supervision, using own initiative to complete tasks.
- Decisive, confident working style with the ability to deal with competing priorities.
- Well-developed influencing skills combined with a facilitative and supportive style of working.
- Driving License.
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
Essential
- Ability to clinically lead a multidisciplinary team.
- Experience in working with people at all stages of dementia.
- Excellent communication skills.
Desirable
- Good IT skills.
- Awareness of the Promoting Excellence Framework.
- Awareness of national and local strategic priorities and direction for dementia.
QUALIFICATIONS TRAINING RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS
Essential
- Full registration with GMC as appropriate and a license to practice.
- Skills/qualification or willingness to study towards a qualification if required which supports all aspects of the job description, including diagnosis of dementia and distressed behaviour in dementia.
- Recent evidence of continued academic and professional development.
Desirable
- Postgraduate qualification
- Good awareness or willingness to learn of the bio-psycho-social approach for stress and distress.
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Older Age Psychiatrist/GP with Special Interest (Dementia) with NHS Orkney in Kirkwall, North of Scotland, Scotland. It is listed as a Consultant Medical doctor Psychiatry role. The advertised salary is £111,430 - £148,064. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 26 Jul 2026.
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