Consultant Psychiatrist in Adult Mental Health Community Psychosis

OverviewThis is a replacement post for a full time Consultant working in North Durham Mental Health Team. North Durham Community Mental Health Team serves Adults aged 18 upwards who present with a mental illness. The team is integrated with Durham County Council and provides statutory care act assessments alongside mental health assessment. Patients with an organic illness are managed by Service for Older People. The service operates Monday to Friday between the hours of 9 to 5, with flexible working to see patients from 8am to 6pm. The team is based at Chester Le street Health Centre. Patients are seen both at base and in the local community. The team covers the North Durham Area, Chester Le street, Stanley and Consett (3 WTE Consultants for the 3 areas). There are excellent working relationships with primary care and works closely with the local community/voluntary sector.

Team and workloadThe team receives on average 30 referrals per month, with at least 30% increasing to 50% during term time for neuro (ASD and ADHD diagnostic assessment). Referrals are received from urgent care (crisis/inpatients/liaison), transition patients from CAMHS and new patients from primary care. The caseload for the team is 680 - however, we are currently validating and moving patients to neuro-waiting list so it is likely this will reduce to 620. There are currently no MOJ patients and 2 patients on CTO.

Main duties of the jobClinical duties of post holder

The Consultant will provide committed, proactive and responsible leadership working with the team.

The Consultant will attend the Daily Huddle and daily decision meetings where decisions are made about patient care and the management plan and to promote the safety and well-being of the patients. The Consultant will undertake assessments for new patients and follow up and review patients, the Consultant will also provide a diagnosis and treatment plan.

The Consultant will ensure evidence-based prescribing and monitoring of pharmacological treatment and ECT.

The Consultant will provide consultation and advice on a daily basis to the team, and review patients as required.

The Consultant will act as Responsible Clinician for patients on a Community Treatment Order within the team. The consultant is expected to comply with RC duties and complete necessary documentation and patients reviews in timely manner. The consultant will be expected to renew RC approval according to agreed procedures.

The Consultant will be responsible for Mental Health Act Assessments in the community and participate in the day On-call Rota.

The Consultant will be expected to provide appropriate supervision to postgraduate Medical Staff and Non-Medical Prescribers in the team.

The post holder will be expected to liaise with other community and in-patient teams and Consultants.

The consultant will be expected to participate in out of hours on-call rota.

About the TrustWe are one of the largest specialist mental health and learning disabilities trusts in the country, with an annual income of £320m and a workforce of some 6,700 staff operating from around 100 sites in Durham, Teesside, North Yorkshire and York and Selby. We provide a range inpatient and community services to 2m people living in County Durham, the Tees Valley, Scarborough, Whitby, Ryedale, Harrogate, Hambleton and Richmondshire. We also provide additional specialist services to other parts of Northern England.

We deliver our services by working in partnership with eight local authorities and clinical commissioning groups, a wide range of voluntary organisations, as well as service users, their carers and the public.

NotePsychiatrists are essential contributors to our mental health teams. Service users expect and are justified to expect collaborative relationships with dedicated psychiatrists who work consistently as part of effective services. The Medical Directorate and Medical Development Team are striving to improve medical workforce recruitment and retention in a variety of ways and the cornerstone of these efforts is The TEWV Charter for the Medical Workforce. (Please see attached Supporting ..... full job details .....