Senior Clinical Nurse

Job overview

A rare opportunity has arisen for a band 6 senior clinician in the department of Liaison Psychiatry, within the Older People’s Service. This is a 12-month temporary post or secondment to cover maternity leave from August 2026. If applying for this post on a secondment basis, please ensure you obtain manager approval prior to submitting your application.

Liaison Psychiatry services, sometimes called Psychological Medicine services, aim to support the delivery of integrated healthcare within the acute hospital. Liaison Psychiatry teams have specific skills, knowledge and expertise in assessing and treating patients who may have complex problems that cannot improve without addressing both their physical and mental health or psychological needs. Patients with mental health or psychological difficulty in the general hospital often have complex needs associated with longer lengths of stay, higher re-admission rates, and poorer health outcomes. We provide a specialist Liaison Psychiatry service to Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) which aims to minimise the extent to which psychological or psychiatric symptoms prevent patients from getting the best possible outcomes from medical care.

Main duties of the job

The role involves providing biopsychosocial assessment, risk assessment and short-term psychosocial interventions to patients admitted to a general hospital bed. You will develop robust clinical formulation and subsequent management plans that safely and effectively meet the needs of the patient and ward team. You will hold and autonomously manage a small caseload and also support the provision of new patient assessments and more intensive input for patients who require full MDT oversight or input due to a higher level of need.

You will also provide advice and education to our general hospital colleagues around topics/issues such as mental health presentations, risk management, legal frameworks, and available statutory or voluntary community services. You will work collaboratively with our general hospital colleagues to meet the needs of patients with concurrent physical and mental health or psychological needs. It is essential that applicants are confident working in a general hospital setting and can communicate and work effectively, proactively and collaboratively with a broad range of clinicians from different medical and multidisciplinary specialities.

You will also be expected to deliver teaching both internally and to staff at the general hospital. This may be in a formal setting, or as informal situations arise.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

This opportunity is perfect for an experienced registered mental health nurse who has an interest in this specialist and rewarding area. Applicants should express a strong interest in Liaison Psychiatry in their application.

The successful candidate will work within a well-established and supportive multidisciplinary team, based at Beckett Wing, St James Hospital and working into St James Hospital, Leeds General Hospital and Chapel Allerton Hospital.

Our teams strongly value teaching and continued learning and so we offer a commitment to your ongoing development, as well as a culture of continuous reflection, learning, and improvement. You will be provided with a comprehensive and supported period of induction which is tailored to your needs. We also have established twice-monthly teaching sessions, regular reflective practice sessions, and offer regular supervision and shadowing opportunities.

Our core working hours are Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, but our out of hours service is supported by the older people's team on weekdays between 5pm-9pm and weekends/bank holidays 9am-5pm. This means there is a requirement for some evening and weekend working.

Informal enquiries and discussions are highly encouraged, please contact Clinical Team Manger Cassie Hartley on 07929858660.  Alternatively, you can contact the team directly on 0113 20 67147 and any of the team members will be happy to talk to you about the role.

We recruit people based on their values and qualifications (where required) and believe that their lived experience is an advantage, this means that together we are as diverse as the communities we care for. Simply put, when we employ caring people who act with integrity and have the right skills, we can give those with mental health challenges, learning disabilities and neurodiversity high-quality care and support to live fulfilling lives, and make our staff feel purposeful, happy and valued.

All our information is available in accessible formats. Please contact the Recruitment team [email protected]  Attached to this advert is our candidates guide to values-based recruitment and supporting guidance on how to make a successful application.

If you require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Recruitment Team or see the attached candidate guide to reasonable adjustments.  To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience you’ll need, look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the Supporting Documents heading.

So that you’re even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, you’ll need to take time to read the Candidate Guide to Values Based Recruitment. This document provides you with information to help you apply.