The Early Intervention in Psychosis Service in Liverpool is looking for a full-time Consultant to work alongside the South Liverpool team. The service is well established, now 20 years old, and is rated as Performing Well in the National Audit of Clinical Psychosis.
The Early Intervention in Psychosis Team is a multidisciplinary community mental health service that provides treatment and support to people experiencing the first episode of psychosis. This support typically continues for 3 years. The service aims to improve the detection of psychosis, reducing delays in treatment and enhancing chances for immediate and long-term recovery. Key characteristics of the service include an ethos of hope and a whole-team commitment to enabling recovery through the provision of individually tailored, evidence-based interventions and support to service users and their families. Outreach work is common, and service users are seen in non-stigmatising settings where possible. Every service user is provided with a key worker and supported through the Community Mental Health Framework.
The service receives on average 90 referrals each month. Initial assessments for entry into the service are usually carried out by experienced early intervention practitioners who use the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States (CAARMS) to guide decision making.
This is a 10-session post which is split into 7.5 sessions for Direct Clinical Care and 2.5 sessions for Supporting Professional Activities.
Clinical
1. To supervise and support team members who carry out assessments of patients referred to the team.
2. To carry out comprehensive psychiatric assessments and provide treatment for patients.
3. Supporting staff to manage psychiatric emergencies.
4. To conduct patient reviews and lead Multidisciplinary reviews and multi-professional meetings.
Liaison
1. Maintain a high level of effective communication with other parts of the Mental health service across the Trust.
2. Liaison with families / carers.
3. Liaison with aspects of the Criminal Justice System regarding patients.
Governance
1. Programmed activity time will allow for management and audit of the service.
2. Participation in NHS initiatives relating to early intervention in psychosis.
Training
1. Direct supervision of resident doctors.
2. Support and supervision of advanced nurse practitioner.
3. Role in in-house MDT training / education sessions.
Service Development
1. Participate in the Trust implementation group for early intervention via monthly meetings.
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 is 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.
Summary of Duties of the Post
The post holder will provide medical input for the South Liverpool patch of the Early Intervention in Psychosis team and will be available to support and supervise other staff in the assessment and formulation of service users’ difficulties. They will be directly involved with the assessment of people referred with complex difficulties or prominent risk issues. They will ensure that all service users newly accepted into the service have a comprehensive medical review, with ongoing review within the Community Mental Health Framework, plus responding to need.
The consultant will work closely with colleagues to deliver a broad range of interventions. Treatment offered by the team will include medication, cognitive behaviour therapy, family interventions, access to specialist employment advice, regular physical health checks and activities groups. Service users are routinely offered a comprehensive psychological triage to assist in planning interventions.
While primarily responsible for delivering a quality clinical service, the consultant psychiatrist is also expected to be actively involved in taking a strategic lead in ongoing developments and supporting the Trust’s strategic aims.
Local Working Arrangements
The Trust has undergone a significant transformation program in line with the Community Mental Health Framework (NHS E 2019). Substantial additional resources have been invested in community services, including Primary Care Mental Health Teams, Integrated Care Teams, targeted psychological interventions, and services geared towards earlier interventions in eating disorders and personality disorders as well as investment in community rehabilitation. The Trust has also invested significantly within community teams in resources to diversify the clinical workforce.
Closer links with primary care are expected of the post holder, working alongside both Primary care colleagues and also supporting members of the Primary Care mental health team. The aim would be to make the post more effective, create time for closer liaison with Primary care, improve the quality of referrals into the service and improve the quality of training.
Junior doctor resources are allocated by the Medical Education department and will usually comprise a combination of junior doctors including GP+ trainees and psychiatry training grades. The Post Holder will be supported to develop Educational and Clinical Supervisor Responsibilities for the junior trainee. There is also a hub manager and team Manager.
While primarily responsible for delivering a quality clinical service, the consultant psychiatrist is also expected to be actively involved in the strategic and business development of the team as part of the wider community mental health services of the Mental Health Division.
All of the above has resulted in pathways which are more streamlined for patients, reduction in waiting times for first assessments and interventions and an overall reduction of caseloads within secondary care mental health services, as patients may have met their needs met also within other parts of the health system as part of a placed based model of health delivery.
The post holder will be included in the on-call rota for Liverpool. This is rolling and involves daytime cover. The rota is presently 1 in 15.
The Trust is committed to the provision of effective seven-day care and endorses the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ support of the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges paper Seven Day Consultant Present Care and the Government’s stance on this issue. There is a 1% supplement available for the on-call banding.
The post is with the South Liverpool Early Intervention in Psychosis Team, one of 5 Early Intervention in Psychosis teams within the Trust. The South Liverpool Team service currently provides care for approximately 260 service users between the ages of 14 and 65, all of whom are managed within the Community Mental Health Framework with a key worker. Medical care for those under 16 is provided by CAMHS.
In addition to clinical work, the post holder will play a key role in planning service developments. Evaluation of the service is routine and participation in NHS England initiatives relating to Early Intervention is expected.
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