Locum Consultant in Liaison Psychiatry

Are you looking for mental health jobs in Leeds, York or with one of our regional services operating across the country? We have a range of NHS job opportunities, placements and specialities in our clinical, research, and professional support teams across Leeds and York. At Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT), we strive to provide high-quality mental health and learning disability services as an employer of choice. We can only achieve this by putting our staff and the people using our services at the centre of everything we do. This starts with the people we employ. We recruit based on values and qualifications (where required) and believe lived experience is an advantage. We look for potential, not perfection, and this means that together, we are as diverse as the communities we care for. Simply put, we seek out people who care, act with integrity and have the right skills. We want to add to our incredible colleagues, students and volunteers who share these principles, with people like you, who find empathy comes easily and who treat everyone with respect without thinking.

Main area: Hospital Mental Health Team (Working Age Adult)

Grade: Consultant

Contract: Fixed term: 6 months (Locum position)

Hours: Full time - 40 hours per week

Job ref: 173-28025-MED

Site: The Becklin Centre

Town: Leeds

Salary: £105,504 - £139,882 Per Annum

Salary period: Yearly

Closing: 28/05/2025 23:59

All references should be directed through the Employers HR Department wherever possible to comply with NHS Check Standards. Please ensure that a HR address/email is provided for each referee named.

Job overview: The Trust is seeking a Consultant psychiatrist in the Hospital Mental Health Team for working age adults at St James University Hospital. This vacancy is a 10 PA trust locum post in Liaison Psychiatry based at the Becklin Centre from 4th August 2025 until 3rd February 2026, with the potential for a 3 to 6 month extension. You will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team providing input to the Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust at St James University Hospital.

Main duties of the job: To work with the Hospital Mental Health Team to ensure that patients referred from general hospital wards to the liaison psychiatry team are assessed and managed appropriately and to provide medical expertise and medical leadership within a multi-disciplinary team.

Working for our organisation: The Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT) is the main provider of Mental Health and Learning Disability services in Leeds. We also provide specialist inpatient services in York and some highly specialised services across the country. As a teaching trust with strong links to local universities, we are a centre of excellence for teaching, research and development. There are many benefits of working for LYPFT including fantastic employee wellbeing support, 27 - 33 days annual leave, flexible working and remote working arrangements, the NHS Pension Scheme, coaching, support and opportunities for career development and training and education support alongside a range of exclusive discounts and payment schemes including for cars, extra leave days and more NHS Discount Offers.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities: This is a consultant liaison psychiatrist post. Clinically, the postholder will work with the Hospital Mental Health Team (HMHT) and provide medical leadership and medical expertise to the MDT and ensure that patients referred from general hospital wards are assessed and managed appropriately. This is an opportunity to work in one of the most comprehensive Liaison Psychiatry services in the country alongside several other Liaison Psychiatrists. The HMHT receives between 3 to 4 referrals each day from the general hospital wards. A team meeting is held each morning so that the referrals can be managed and allocated effectively. The consultants normally lead in allocating new assessments and follow up reviews between themselves and the rest of the team. Referrals are prioritised at the point of referral and those that are deemed to be urgent, have to be discussed with one of the liaison consultants. The post holder will be expected to provide direct assessments for complex cases as well as supervision to other team members as required, this will typically equate to the postholder undertaking 2 to 3 new patient assessments and 4 to 6 follow up/review assessments per week. The postholder would not be expected to carry a caseload.

Person specification: Qualifications & Experience: Completion of formal training programme in General Adult Psychiatry, on GMC specialist register for psychiatry. To be approved under s12 of the MHA 1983 and hold Approved Clinician status as defined within the Mental Health Act by commencement of post. Endorsement in liaison psychiatry seen on GMC register, or at least one year experience of liaison psychiatry in training or non-training role.

Applications are welcomed from candidates who wish to apply for a position based on a smarter (Hybrid) or flexible working arrangement – please contact the Recruitment Team if you have any queries regarding this in terms of your initial application. Where candidates are successful at interview, flexible working arrangement requests will be taken into consideration and may be accommodated where the needs of the service allow.

Please note that from 1st July 2018, all new employees are required to subscribe to the DBS Update Service, DBS checks for volunteers remain free of charge. Patient Safety is a priority at LYPFT with a focus on system-based improvement and creating opportunities for learning. We will ensure compassionate engagement with all those involved in an incident and all incidents are met with a proportionate response. LYPFT is committed to upholding its statutory responsibilities in relation to safeguarding adults and children.

LYPFT is a member of the Disability Confident scheme and is committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. As part of the Trust's commitment to its Gold Standard Armed Forces Covenant status, members of the Armed Forces Community are entitled to a guaranteed interview subject to meeting the role criteria. We welcome applicants with lived experience of providing unpaid care and/or support to a family member or friend with a disability, health condition, frailty, mental health problem, addiction or other health needs.

Please note that the Trust reserves the right to close the vacancy before the closing date if enough applications are received. It is in the candidate’s best interest to apply as soon as possible. In submitting an application form, you authorise Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to confirm any previous NHS service details via the ESR IAT process should you be appointed to the post. In applying for a role please ensure that you only declare qualifications that are relevant to the role itself. We reserve the right to check all declared qualifications on an application form, whether they are directly relevant to the role or not. If you have not received any communication from us within four weeks you are asked to assume that your application has been unsuccessful. If you should have any queries regarding progress with your application form please contact us.