The Trust is seeking a consultant psychiatrist to join Southport & Formby CMHT based at the North Sefton Hub. New referrals average approximately 4 per week.
Clinics will be used flexibly for all patients. Most new to service assessments are carried out by team trainee medics, the post-holder will provide supervision as required for such assessments.
The average numbers of CTO patients is 6-8. While primarily responsible for delivering a quality clinical service, the consultant CMHT psychiatrist is also expected to be actively involved in the strategic development of the team as part of wider community mental health services of the Local Division.
As part of the community transformation program, the team are working towards the delivery of intervention-based care, with fully developed a functional pathway already, such as the depot pathway. The consultant will work with the team to provide timely reviews for patients.
The Consultant will operate a consultation, formal supervision & advice model with this group rather than have direct & continuing open episodes. Junior doctor resources are allocated by the Medical Education department, the Post Holder will be supported to develop Educational & Clinical Supervisor Responsibilities for the junior trainee.
The post holder will be included in the on-call rota for Liverpool (currently 1 in 5). There is a 1% supplement available for the on-call banding.
This is a 10 sessionpost which is split into 7.5 sessions for Direct Clinical Care & 2.5 sessions for Supporting Professional Activities.
Clinical- Consultant psychiatrist responsibility for their CMHT caseload. To supervise & support team members who carry out assessments of patients referred to the team. To carry out comprehensive psychiatric assessments & provide treatment for patients. Supporting staff to manage psychiatric emergencies. To conduct patient reviews & lead Multidisciplinary reviews, patient reviews & multi-professional meetings. To be the responsible clinician & carry out duties in accordance with the code of practice. To carry out comprehensive Risk Assessments & participate in Trust’s risk management processes.
Liaison- Maintain high level of effective communication with other parts of the Mental health service across the Trust. Liaison with families, aspects of the Criminal Justice System. Maintain effective communication with Access services, community mental health teams, & primary care.
Governance- Programmed activity time will allow for management & audit of the service & reporting of audit programmes. Regular stakeholder meetings if required. Partnership Forums involving service user representatives & advocacy. Involvement with critical/serious reporting & response. Protocol development. Attendance at twice monthly Consultants meetings.
Training- Direct supervision of junior medical staff. Role in in-house MDT training / education sessions.
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.
This is a 10 sessionpost which is split into 7.5 sessions for Direct Clinical Care and 2.5 sessions for Supporting Professional Activities.
Clinical:
· Consultant psychiatrist responsibility for their CMHT caseload.
· To supervise and support team members who carry out assessments of patients referred to the team.
· To carry out comprehensive psychiatric assessments and provide treatment for patients.
· Supporting staff to manage psychiatric emergencies.
· To conduct patient reviews and lead Multidisciplinary reviews, patient reviews and multi-professional meetings.
· To be the responsible clinician for the purposes of the Mental Health Act 1983 (amended 2007) and carry out duties in accordance with the code of practice.
· To carry out comprehensive Risk Assessments and participate in Trust’s risk management processes such as Health Risk Assessment and Management Meetings (H-RAMM) and Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangement (MAPPA) Meetings.
· To provide medical leadership to the team.
Liaison:
· Maintain high level of effective communication with other parts of the Mental health service across the Trust.
· Liaison with families / carers
· Liaison with aspects of the Criminal Justice System regarding patients.
· Liaising with other stakeholders and interested parties.
· The post holder will be expected to maintain effective communication with Access services, community mental health teams, and primary care.
Governance:
· Programmed activity time will allow for management and audit of the service and reporting of audit programmes.
· Regular stakeholder meetings if required.
· Partnership Forums involving service user representatives and advocacy.
· Involvement with critical incident / serious untoward incident reporting and response
· Protocol development.
· Attendance at twice monthly Consultants meetings.
Training:
· Direct supervision of junior medical staff
· Role in in-house MDT training / education sessions
· Education of other services / professions with relation to CMHT (including all stakeholders)
· Participation in Research and Clinical Audit
· Service development.
· Work with CMHT transformation within the Trust.
Suggesteddrafttimetable:
Thisisa 10 session post which is splitinto7.5sessionsforDirectClinicalCareand2.5sessionsforSupporting Professional Activities. The timetable is expected to be led by the consultant clinician, to adapt to the needs of the service. As we move towards Community Mental Health Framework, there will no longer be a distinction between CPA and non-CPA patients, and therefore clinics will be used flexibly for all patients. The post holder is expected to carry out clinical activity in line with best practice, and to adhere to the Trust’s key performance indicators in relation to clinical reviews and timelines.
The timetable is indicative only. A formal job plan will be agreed between the post holder and the lead consultant&ClinicalDirectorthreemonthsaftercommencingthepostandatleastannuallythereafter.Thereis some flexibility in finalising the timetable however any agreed timetable must take account of the needs of service users and coherence of the team. Each of the clinic sessions consists of 5 slots with 1 new patient and 4 follow ups. There is, however, flexibility with this.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
AM
AM
AM
AM
AM
Admin / MHRT work
DCC
Academic meeting &
Consultant meeting
SPA
Urgent reviews and admin
DCC
CPA / non CPA clinic
DCC
MDT 2-4
DCC
SPA activity
PM
PM
PM
PM
PM
CPA / non-CPA clinic – urgent slots
DCC
DCC
CPA / Non – CPA clinic
CPA / Non – CPA clinic
DCC
Clinical Admin/ junior doctor supervision etc
DCC
CPD / audit /
team performance
SPA
*each clinic can accommodate approximately 5 review slots, in line with the Community Mental Health Framework there will be less reliance on the outpatient model, in favour of full MDT working, so a flexible approach is expected in line with the national directives.
The post holder will have access to allocated office space at Hartley Hospitalwith a computer with Internet access.Asmartphoneandlaptopwillbeprovided.Otherspecifictechnicalsupportcanbenegotiated. Thepostholderwillhaveaccesstoadedicated0.5WTEband4medicalsecretarialanddedicated0.5 WTEband 3 transcriptionist support in post.
The Trust insists on participation in the CPD programme of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and the postholdermustjoinalocalCPDpeergroup.Consultantsareencouragedtotaketheirstudyleaveentitlementin linewithlearningobjectivesidentifiedinpersonaldevelopmentplans.
Newly recruited consultants will attend the Essential Mandatory Trust Induction and be provided with a local induction by their Medical Manager.Induction includes training on the Trust’s clinical information system.A mentoringschemeexistsformedicalstaffintheTrustandisavailabletoalldoctors,includingconsultants,for guidanceandsupportforaslongastheyfeeltheneedforit.Thisisactivelyencouragedforallnewlyappointed colleagues in their first Consultant post.
Job planning is conducted annually and led by the post holder’s Lead Consultant with support from the Clinical DirectorandChiefOperatingOfficerasnecessary.IndividualjobplanswillbealignedtoTrust,Division, Service Line and personal objectives respectively.
The post holder will receive any necessary training as provided by HENW in order to achieve Level One trainer status,whichwillallowthemtoactasaclinicalsupervisortotrainees.Onceapprovedthepostholderwillhave the opportunity to take on the role of clinical and educational supervisor responsibility for the trainees based with the team.
The post holder will regularly attend the Tuesday morning Virtual postgraduate programme as part of their weekly SPA sessions.This is well attended by consultants and is a lively meeting.It includes case conferences,journalpresentations, mandatory training slots and guest speakers.
The Consultant Group has one lunchtime continuing professional development meetingeach month. This involvespresentationsbyinvitedspeakersontopicsagreedbytheConsultantgroup,ordiscussionsofclinical cases primarily intended for peer support.
Thereisawell-resourcedandexpandingclinicaleffectiveness,researchandresourcelibrarydevelopedwithin the Trust.It has a dedicated space at Rathbone Hospital site where there is access to various databases both locally held and Internet based.
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust has an active audit culture and the post holder will be involved in audit and supervising junior Doctors’ audits. As part of its new “Perfect Care” strategy the Trust is keen to expand and develop existing research opportunities for interested Consultants.
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and University of Liverpool have teamed up to create the Mental Health Research for Innovation Centre (M-RIC). A ground-breaking research facility based in Liverpool that will impact directly on NHS mental health services.
The Trust actively supports its consultant staff who may wish to undertake roles outside the Trust that are of benefittomedicalpracticeatregional,nationalandinternationallevel,andrecognisesthevalueofsuchroles for the reputation and standing of the Trust.Consultants should however undertake such duties only after discussion withcolleagues and with the agreementoftheClinicalDirectoror DeputyMedicalDirectorandshouldbesensitivetotheincreasedworkload undertaken by colleagues in support.
From time to time, it may be necessary for the postholder to carry out such other duties as may be assigned, withagreement,bytheTrust.Itisexpectedthatthepostholderwillnotunreasonablywithholdagreementto any reasonable proposed changes that the Trust might make.
The post holder will be included in the daily on-call rota for South Liverpool. There is usually always a higher trainee ST4-6 first on call at night. On-call availability supplement is 1% - Band B low frequency, low intensity andhasbeenconsistentformanyyears.Therotaiscurrentlysharedwithapproximately 15FTEcolleagues, from adult, addictions and learning disability services.
ThepostwillbecoveredbythetermsandconditionsofserviceforHospitalMedicalandDentalstaff(England and Wales) as amended from time to time. Contracts have been agreed with the BMA local negotiators, but individuals may wish to discuss this further before acceptance.
Mersey Care is committed to the principles of Equality and Human Rights. The Trust promotes health equalities for our colleagues, patients, service users, carers, volunteers and visitors to the trust.
This advert closes on Saturday 3 May 2025