Locum Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist-Learning Disability

We are currently looking for a 2 PA locum consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist to work within our Learning Disability Team in Harrow CAMHS (CNWL) for 6 months to cover maternity leave and provide additional support to the team.

This is an exciting opportunity for an energetic, innovative and dedicated doctor with interest/experience in LD and creative ideas for service development, keen to work with dynamic and passionate consultant colleagues and MDT clinicians and to collaborate with paediatricians, schools, children's services, Tier 4 services and allied health professionals.

Main duties of the job:

• This 2 session post is within the Harrow CAMHS LD team. The Learning Disability Team in Harrow CAMHS see young people with a moderate or severe learning disability presenting with significant mental health problems and/or challenging behaviour and offers assessment and management of comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders.
• This post will involve leadership of and clinical work within the LD team. The LD team are a multi-disciplinary team (including psychologist, nurse, behavioural analyst and an assistant psychologist). A holistic approach is offered with medication part of this, combined with psychological interventions.
• The team sign up to the STOMP/STAMP principles. The current caseload is approximately 16 cases on medication at present. The post holder will provide psychiatric assessments and reviews and oversee pharmacological treatment and will provide leadership to the LD team.

Working for our organisation:

Central and North West London (CNWL) specialises in caring for people with a wide range of mental and physical health needs and is one of the largest mental health trusts in England. Each CAMHS service has its own local management structure: Harrow CAMHS has a Lead Psychiatrist, Therapies lead and team manager who work closely with their service manager (who is responsible for Harrow, Hillingdon and Westminster CAMHS). Each sub-team has a psychiatry and therapy lead and they, together with the team and service manager form the local senior management team which meets monthly. The postholder will be part of the SMT.

The Harrow CAMHS team is well established and staffed by a large multi-disciplinary team of clinicians. We aim to provide an accessible, flexible and responsive local service for patients and professionals working with children in the area using a range of therapeutic interventions including behaviour, systemic, CBT, IPT-A, DBT, psycho-dynamic and group therapies as well as psychopharmacological approaches. Harrow CAMHS is a Tier 3 service, accepting referrals from GPs, paediatrics, schools and Children’s Services. The service has active service user groups for young people and parents. The team has a monthly CPD session and local care quality meeting, a doctors meeting twice a month which includes peer group case discussions, a weekly local consultants meeting and a monthly senior management meeting which the postholder will be part of.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities:

• To join the LD referrals meeting and to participate in the assessment of cases where a psychiatric assessment is required due to the complexity of mental health presentation or risk or where there is a request to consider medication as part of a management plan or in order to provide ongoing medication monitoring.
• Support case managers in assessing and managing risk.
• Liaison with paediatric colleagues when further physical assessment is required or to devise joint treatment plans where appropriate.
• Work along with other LD MDT colleagues to develop the team, offer consultation, work with colleagues from local authority and education, assess and manage children as appropriate.
• Utilising CETR/LAEP/DSR and accessing Tier 4 provision as clinically appropriate and reviewing the management and care of the young person during inpatient admission to ensure the most effective use of resources.
• The postholder may be asked to support team development including recruitment.
• To provide Responsible Clinician and Section 12(2) responsibilities under the Mental Health Act (1983) to CAMHS patients where necessary or appropriate.
• To provide specialist advice to colleagues with regard to LD patients presenting in crisis through A+E.
• To maintain accurate and up to date clinical records.
• To contribute to the collection and monitoring of Clinical Outcome data across the service to assist delivery of KPIs.
• To complete and contribute to the completion of Serious Untoward Incident Reports as required.
• Participation in the development of clinical protocols as required.
• Participation in the training and supervision of other members of the multidisciplinary team as required.
• Supervision: The post holder will participate in 2-weekly case-based discussions with other consultant and junior medical colleagues.
• Maintaining up to date Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Person specification:

Education And Qualifications:

• Essential criteria: Primary Medical Degree, Full GMC Registration, Section 12 MHA Approved, Approved Clinician status or willing to apply for approval, GMC Licence to Practice.
• Desirable criteria: MRCPsych (or equivalent), An additional post graduate qualification of relevance to working with children and Adolescents, Inclusion on the Specialist Register for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (or CCT expected within 6 months of interview date).

Experience, Skills And Abilities:

• Essential criteria: Competence in psycho-pharmacology and also non-medication therapeutic approaches, Experience and training in the assessment and management of neurodevelopmental disorders including cases with psychiatric comorbidity, complex presentations and associated high risk, Knowledge of Clinical Governance/Care Quality, Able to participate in Medical Audit and Quality Improvement, Experience of teaching and supervision of junior staff and other disciplines.
• Desirable criteria: Experience working with young people who have moderate/severe LD, Management Training, Experience of Research, Publication in peer-reviewed journal, Experience in Paediatrics, ADI-R training, ADOS training.

Personal Skills & Qualities:

• Essential criteria: Excellent communication and empathic skills with a range of different people, Demonstrable leadership skills, Experience of team working, Sound organisational skills, Ability to work on own initiative, Ability to cope with considerable pressure and adapt to new demands, Ability to balance competing demands and prioritise, Cultural Sensitivity and ability to work in multi-ethnic environment.
• Desirable criteria: Computer Literate, Full UK car driving licence.