Job summary
Specialty Doctor - Liaison Psychiatry
Contract: Fixed Term Contract
Hours: Full time - 10 sessions per week (40 hours per week), part time considered
Site: Kingston Hospital, Galsworthy Road, Kingston, KT2 7QB

The Trust is seeking a Specialty Doctor in Liaison Psychiatry at Kingston Hospital. In this post the Specialty Doctor will participate in the work of the liaison psychiatry team in a large, general teaching hospital. He/she will undertake supervised psychiatric assessment and treatment of patients referred by non-psychiatric teams from Kingston Hospital.

Patients are referred from all wards and clinical areas within the hospital, including new presentations of functional and organic illness, as well as patients with established mental disorders who have been admitted for medical or surgical treatment.

Main duties of the job
The post-holder will work managing mental disorders in this setting, including prescribing for patients with altered metabolism, and delivering brief psychological interventions.

The post-holder will conduct and supervise psychiatric assessment and management of deliberate self-harm and psychiatric emergencies presenting in the Accident and Emergency department, as well as hospital wards.

About us
South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We provide a full range of local mental health services to the Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth London boroughs, as well as specialist forensic mental health services, including specialised services such as national deaf adults and CAMHS inpatients and OCD.

We are committed to providing high quality integrated health and social care for local people with mental health problems in South West London and more specialist mental health services for people throughout the UK. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' however we aim to be 'outstanding'.

Details
Date posted
27 August 2026
Pay scheme
Hospital medical and dental staff
Grade
Specialty Doctor
Salary
£63,696 to £102,689 a year
per annum pro rata plus London Zone Allowances
Contract
Permanent
Working pattern
Full-time
Reference number
294-MEDI-0506-EO
Job locations
Kingston Hospital
Galsworthy Road
Kingston
KT2 7QB
United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

• Full participation in the multi-disciplinary team
• To assess and advise on the physical and mental health of team patients
• To prescribe for patients as needed
• To manage some or all of the teams patients under supervision
• Assessing patients for detention under the Mental Health Act when necessary
• Liaison with colleagues in other specialties and agencies
• Documenting all clinical contacts on the RiO clinical records system in a timely fashion
• Participation in all mandatory training.
• Teaching medical students who come to the unit for specialist visits
• Opportunities for involvement in teaching at the medical school for example lecturing, examining, acting as a personal tutor
• Cover for leave is organised internally within the team
• There is no on call commitment attached to the post
• Administrative support is provided by the team administrator

Person Specification
QUALIFICATIONS:
Essential

• Primary Medical degree
• Full GMC registration.
• At least 4 years postgraduate medical experience, of which at least 2 years working in psychiatry
• Eligible for S12 approval and able to obtain this within 6 months of appointment

Desirable

• MRCPsych or equivalent
• Approval under Section 12 of the Mental Health Act

KNOWLEDGE: & EXPERIENCE:
Essential

• Experience of general adult psychiatry.
• Assessment of simple or complex mental illness
• Assessment of comorbid physical ill-health
• Teamwork -Communication -Ongoing commitment to CPD

Desirable

• Experience of liaison psychiatry
• Experience of inpatient psychiatry
• Experience of crisis & home treatment
• Teaching experience
• Experience of managing physical and mental disorder at a middle-grade level
• Evidence of active engagement in audit/ quality improvement
• Evidence of recent appraisal

PERSONAL SKILLS AND CHARACTERISTICS:
Essential

• Ability to remain calm under pressure Ability to inspire others Ability to provide good clinical leadership Ability to effect change Ability to negotiate and collaborate with first, second and third sector organisations to identify shared agendas and meet common goals
• Willingness to supervise junior medical staff and staff from allied disciplines Willingness to take on a fair share of Trustwide duties
• Commitment to personal, team and service development
• Ability to work co-operatively in multi- disciplinary teams Ability to manage and adapt to change

Desirable

• Personal experience of mental illness Personal experience of social distress
• Evidence of helping others who have suffered physical, mental or social misfortune Evidence of seeking feedback as a way of improving one's skills

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).