Job summary
As a Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist working for Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust you will be responsible for ensuring that our service users' needs are met through the delivery of high quality care.

As a leader of the older adults outpatient multi-disciplinary team at Hartley Hospital, you will work in a modern mental health facility for older persons, providing clinical care to service users who have been referred for specialist cognitive assessment as an outpatient and for assessment and management of functional mental disorders. You will work closely with a wide range of clinical and professional disciplines in order to deliver holistic care by completing assessments of new referrals to the team, making formulations and managing their treatment in order to optimise the quality of life of the service users under your caseload.

Main duties of the job
The post holder will be the Responsible Clinician for patients in their caseload within the older adults Community Mental Health Team. There are allocated GP surgeries for each caseload within the service and these are allocated to ensure equity in terms of number of referrals. In line with New Ways of Working, the post holder will provide a consultative, supervisory and supportive role to the multidisciplinary team's work.

They will take an active part in the clinical work of the team and a lead role in the development of the service. The post holder will be expected to provide leadership to the Team whose role is to provide assessment, management and support to older adults with organic and functional mental disorders. Practitioners within the team will support access to services in a timely manner, as well as ensure arrangements are in place to enhance smooth pathways between primary care and secondary services.

The post holder will be enabled to work in a consultative manner, being accessible to team members, GP and primary care staff, patients and carers, for the provision of expert advice and interventions in a timely manner. The post holder will operate within multi-disciplinary integrated and co-located teams, which including Health staff and Social services staff. The post holder will be expected to be part of the allocation procedure within the team and be responsive and flexible to the needs of the team.

About us
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Job responsibilities
The model of care is broadly as below:

• New referrals to the team (if accepted) are offered a new patient assessment with an ANP or medic. A CT head may be requested following this assessment if one has not already been requested by the GP.
• A follow up appointment will then be planned for the purpose of confirming the diagnosis, if appropriate, and once any pending CT scan is completed
• If suitable for treatment then this will be commenced by the team and the patient is monitored by the titration team nurses who will review the response to any medication changes and, once stable, a further review is completed at 6 months. Subsequently a shared care request is sent to the GP.
• Once a shared care agreement is in place then the patient is reviewed by an assistant practitioner every 6-12 months
• If a patient is in a care home then ongoing follow up would be completed by the care home liaison team for 6-12 month review

In the case of more complex memory referrals with higher level of risk or unsettled presentations then the process would be the same as above but the patient would be allocated a CPN. The CPN would then complete the follow up reviews for titration of memory medications and regular outpatient clinic appointment reviews with a medic would be offered.

For functional referrals, patients tend to be seen by medics and then followed up via outpatient clinic for as long as treatment and monitoring is required. Patients may also be allocated a CPN and can be discharged back to primary care if remaining settled on maintenance treatment.

Post diagnostic support is currently commissioned to be provided locally by the Alzheimers Society.

The post holder would be expected to work on Rio which is the Trusts electronic health record system, training for this will be provided on induction. The post holder would be required to record clinical activity accurately and comprehensively in a timely fashion. The post holder would undertake an annual appraisal, CPD and maintain professional registration with General Medical Council and abide by its professional codes of conduct. It is essential that the post holder has Mental Health Act Section 12(2) status which is integral to having Approved Clinician status. The post holder would participate in annual job plan review with the Clinical Director taking into account servicer configuration and delivery associated with modernisation. The post holder would work with local colleagues and managers ensuring efficient running of the services and also comply with the Trusts agreed policies, procedures, standing orders and financial instructions.

Person Specification
Registration
Essential

• Full registration with General Medical Council
• Inclusion on or eligible for inclusion on the Specialist Register of the General Medical Council or within 6 months of CCST/CCT or equivalent in Old age Psychiatry at date of interview
• Section 12 (2) Approval which is integral to Approved Clinician Status or demonstrated ability to gain approval

Desirable

• In good standing with GMC with respect to warning and conditions on practice

Qualifications and Training
Essential

• MbChb, MBBS or equivalent

Desirable

• Qualification or higher degree in medical education, clinical research or management
• Additional Qualifications
• Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists or equivalent, 3 years higher professional training in Old age psychiatry
• Undertaken 'Train the Trainer' and 'Equality and Diversity' Training

Transport
Essential

• Holds valid UK driving licence and will use own car for work related travel OR provides evidence of proposed alternative

Clinical Skills, Knowledge and Experience
Essential

• Excellent clinical knowledge in specialty
• Excellent clinical skills using bio-psycho-social perspective and wide medical knowledge
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English Able to manage clinical complexity and uncertainty
• Makes decisions based on evidence and experience including the contribution of others Able to meet duties under MHA and MCA

Desirable

• Experience in working previously in similar roles at a relevant level
• Training or worked as a DoLs assessor
• Experience in management and service development Knowledge and use of IT systems

Academic Skills and Lifelong Learning
Essential

• Able to deliver undergraduate or postgraduate teaching and training
• Participated in continuous professional development
• Participated in research or service evaluation
• Able to use and appraise clinical evidence
• Has actively participated in clinical audit

Desirable

• Able to plan and deliver teaching and training relevant to this post
• Reflected on purpose of CPD undertaken
• Experienced in clinical research and / or service evaluation
• Has led clinical audits leading to service change

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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).