Consultant Psychiatrist - Rehabilitation Service in Somerset

Willow Ward is an 11-bed inpatient rehabilitation ward which provides a county wide service for female and male adults who require a high level of support and intensive rehabilitation due to severe and enduring complex mental health conditions. These patients may also have one or more of the following: cognitive impairments associated with their illness, coexisting mental health conditions such as substance misuse, pre-existing neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and physical health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or pulmonary conditions. These complex problems affect a person's social and everyday functioning.

Willow Ward accepts referrals from both inpatient services and community, and patients on the ward are both subject to the Mental Health Act or voluntary patients. Willow Ward also provides a service to those people who have a primary diagnosis of a non-psychotic illness. Willow Ward will give appropriate advice/assessment/treatment and support patients in the mental health services and identify appropriate placements and or support packages for people with other mental health diagnoses or neurodevelopmental disorders.

Responsibilities

• Provide medical leadership to Willow Ward and the Open Mental Health Rehabilitation Team either through direct responsibility arising from the direct clinical involvement or distributed responsibility for the care of individuals whose care is distributed amongst other professionals.
• Maintain AC/RC responsibilities for any patients in the community who remain under the framework of the MHA.
• Collaborate with other senior clinical team members to make sure that colleagues understand the professional status and specialty of all team members, their roles, and responsibilities in the team, and who is responsible for each aspect of patient care.
• Collaborate with other senior clinical team members to make sure that staff are clear about their individual and team objectives, their personal and collective responsibilities for patient and public safety, and for openly and honestly recording and discussing problems.
• Communicate effectively with colleagues within and outside the team; making sure that arrangements are in place for relevant information to be passed on to the team promptly.
• Collaborate with other senior clinical team members to make sure that all team members have an opportunity to contribute to discussions and that they understand and accept the decisions taken.
• Encourage team members to co-operate and communicate effectively with each other.
• Collaborate with other senior clinical team members to make sure that each patient’s care is properly coordinated and managed, and that patients are given information about whom to contact if they have questions or concerns; this is particularly important when patient care is shared between teams.
• Collaborate with other senior clinical team members to set up and maintain systems to identify and manage risks in the team’s area of responsibility.
• Collaborate with other senior clinical team members to monitor and regularly review the team’s performance and take steps to correct deficiencies and improve quality.
• Collaborate with other senior clinical team members to deal openly and supportively with problems in the conduct, performance, or health of team members through trust procedures.
• Collaborate with other senior clinical team members to make sure that your team and the organisation have the opportunity to gain experience from mistakes.
• Provide cross cover for planned leave with the other medical staff.
• Respect the skills and contributions of team colleagues; not making unfounded criticisms of colleagues, which can undermine patients’ trust in the care provided.
• Participation in business planning for the locality and, as appropriate, contribution to the broader strategic and planning work of the trust.
• Prioritise clinical governance initiatives within his/her areas of responsibility.
• To undertake the administrative duties associated with the care of patients.
• To record clinical activity accurately and comprehensively and submit this promptly to the Information Department.
• To participate in service and business planning activity for the locality and, as appropriate, for the whole mental health service.
• To participate in annual appraisal for consultants.
• To attend and participate in the academic programme of the Trust, including lectures and seminars as part of the internal CPD programme.
• To maintain professional registration with the General Medical Council, Mental Health Act Section 12(2) approval, and to abide by professional codes of conduct.
• To participate annually in a job plan review with the clinical manager, which will include consultation with a relevant manager to ensure that the post is developed to consider changes in service configuration and delivery associated with modernisation.
• To collaborate with local managers and professional colleagues in ensuring the efficient running of services and share with consultant colleagues in the medical contribution to management.
• To comply with the Trust’s agreed policies, procedures, standing orders, and financial instructions, and to take an active role in the financial management of the service and support the medical director and other managers in preparing plans for services.