Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist

You will be expected to:

1. Manage patients at the interface between physical illness and mental illness (e.g. comorbid mood disorders, medically unexplained symptoms, organic mental states).
2. Able to diagnose and produce formulations and management plans in complex cases, advising medical teams on appropriate integrated care.
3. Assess and supervise the broader MDT in managing risk (e.g. suicide risk, violence/aggression, absconding) relating to psychiatric conditions in general hospital settings.
4. Prescribe and give advice to medical teams on psychotropic medication.
5. Provide expertise, and fulfill a statutory role, in managing medico-legal issues in the general hospital, including application of mental health and mental capacity legislation.
6. Teaching and supervision of junior medical staff and students.

Main duties of the job

Role summary

We are excited to offer a 0.6wte post (6 PA's) for Consultant's in Liaison Psychiatry as part of the PLAN accredited NBT Mental health Liaison team, based at Southmead Hospital in Bristol. The post holder will join the existing Consultant liaison psychiatrists and nursing mental health liaison staff to play a key role in developing the service in line with Core24 standards.

Key Responsibilities of the Post: These include clinical, liaison, educational, managerial, and service evaluation roles. Clinical work will include assessment and interventions with patients in NBT and involve working with an expanding multidisciplinary mental health liaison team. The team will promote the development of skills in this area within the Acute Trust and pathway development.

Key Requirements of the Person Specification: The post holder needs excellent knowledge and experience of assessing and providing mental health interventions for people with physical health problems. This will include a bio-psycho-social perspective and wide medical knowledge. The post is suitable for those with a CCT in adult psychiatry or a dual CCT in adult and old age psychiatry and experience of working in an acute hospital setting. An endorsement in liaison psychiatry is desirable but not essential.

About us

We are looking to recruit to a 0.6 WTE Consultant in Liaison Psychiatry posts to join the PLAN accredited North Bristol NHS Trust Mental health Liaison team, based at Southmead Hospital in Bristol.

NBT is a progressive and ambitious provider of health services, delivering for a large local population and with specialist regional services for major trauma, neurosciences, vascular center, urology, plastics and burns, orthopaedics, and renal services. The NBT MHLT Team provides an ageless service to the Emergency Department and inpatient wards of Southmead Hospital for patients who have mental health problems.

The postholder will join an established and experienced team of nursing staff (B6 & B7) and medical staff consisting of 3.2 WTE consultants (including this post), 0.8 WTE Specialty Doctor, and 2.0 WTE F2 posts (more details in the accompanying job description).

Job responsibilities

Clinical Duties - The postholder will be responsible for the clinical management of patients under their care, and, in liaison with consultant colleagues, continuity of care when the postholder is absent. You will be expected to:

1. Manage patients at the interface between physical illness and mental illness (e.g. comorbid mood disorders, medically unexplained symptoms, organic mental states).
2. Able to diagnose and produce formulations and management plans in complex cases, advising medical teams on appropriate integrated care.
3. Assess and supervise the broader MDT in managing risk (e.g. suicide risk, violence/aggression, absconding) relating to psychiatric conditions in general hospital settings.
4. Prescribe and give advice to medical teams on psychotropic medication.
5. Provide expertise, and fulfill a statutory role, in managing medico-legal issues in the general hospital, including application of mental health and mental capacity legislation.
6. Teaching and supervision of junior medical staff and students.

The postholder will be responsible for the professional supervision and management of junior medical staff. Where appropriate, the postholder will be named in the educational contract of junior staff as the person responsible for overseeing their training and as an initial source of advice to such doctors regarding their careers. As a senior Liaison psychiatrist, you will have a lead role in challenging stigma and discrimination towards psychiatric patients and professionals by raising awareness of the issue, through training to help general hospital colleagues to recognise and manage common mental health conditions and know when to refer. Additionally, in liaison with the Director of Postgraduate Medical Education, the postholder may be required to contribute to undergraduate and postgraduate education, primarily for students from the University of Bristol. The post holder will be supported by the Trust to undertake their teaching commitments and be provided with the resources required to do so, including teaching Medical Undergraduates.

Person Specification GMC Registration As per person spec.

• Must Have CCT in General Adult Psychiatry.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.