Physician Associate in Watford

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust are seeking enthusiastic Physician Associates to play a key role in the management of patients and to support the effective functioning of community teams and contribute to wider service developments. The post holder will be accountable for ensuring that high quality patient care is delivered at all times. The Physician Associate will be supervised by a designated consultant with regular meetings to support on-going development within the role. The Physician Associate will attend regular CPD sessions to support on-going development.

Responsibilities

• Conduct initial psychiatric assessments, take patient histories and perform physical examinations
• Establish differential diagnosis, making appropriate treatment plans under supervision of Consultant Psychiatrist.
• Participate in multidisciplinary team meetings, handovers and other relevant clinical meetings
• Treat patient and their family members using a high degree of empathy and advanced communication skillso
• Record clinical notes about patient contacts and provide advice to staff on further management / investigations / interventions
• Work collaboratively with the relevant team
• Liaise with primary care and relevant secondary health care providers relating to a patient\'s care or treatment
• Liaise with community teams about a patient\'s on-going care and treatment needs
• Support health promotion activities including those relating to smoking, drugs and alcohol
• Provide psycho-educational support to patients and carers / families
• Support proactive screening and interventions with regard to the physical health of patients.
• Liaise with pharmacy regarding issues relating to medication
• Contribute to the development of physical health competencies in mental health staff in a range of settings.

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is an outstanding organisation with ambitions to match. We are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of \'Outstanding\' from the Care Quality Commission, and our aim is to be the leading provider of mental health and specialist learning disability services in the country.

Our family of over 4000 members of staff provide health and social care for over 400,000 people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. We also deliver a range of nationally commissioned specialist services including Tier 4 services for children and young people, perinatal services, plus medium and low secure learning disabilities services.

The care we provide makes a fantastic difference to the lives of our service users, their families and carers - everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout