Consultant Psychiatrist - Community Eating Disorders in Dunstable

East London NHS Foundation Trust runs a specialist Community Eating Disorders Service (CEDS) providing specialist assessment and treatment to people referred with severe and complex eating disorders. We have a stepped care partnership with local charity 'Caroline' who are commissioned to provide for mild to moderate eating disorders.

The team works in close conjunction with primary care and secondary mental health services and manages approximately 200-300 referrals per year with an ongoing caseload of circa 70, with an average of 30 at high risk. The EDS consists of a multi-disciplinary community team comprising psychology, psychiatry, mental and physical health nursing, GP with special interest, Occupational Therapists and dietetics colleagues. The current team delivers evidence-based treatments within a recovery model of care. We work using a motivational approach with patients to empower them in taking ownership of their recovery. To promote recovery, positive risk taking and effective risk management are essential.

Main duties of the job

• Provide consultant leadership and support the continued development of the Eating Disorder services.
• Ensure that service users consistently receive high-quality services that adhere to the best practice guidelines and achieve high professional standards.
• Provide a key role as the senior specialist clinician within the team and support the wider work of the multi-disciplinary team.
• Provide a comprehensive assessment of complex referrals requiring psychiatric review, including medical and psychiatric assessment, including eating disorder and non-eating disorder psychopathology.
• Provide consultations as part of the MEED pathway with colleagues from acute hospitals.
• Lead in the monitoring and treatment of the physical complications of eating disorders in collaboration with other health professionals.
• Supervise the team in charge of the medical monitoring and management of high-risk patients monitored in-house.
• Provide clinical advice and guidance to primary care physicians to manage patients in the least restrictive environment.
• Work with the Team manager to ensure KPI and national targets are met.

About us

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Person Specification

• Qualifications
• Fully registered with the General Medical Council.
• Eligible for inclusion in the GMC Specialist Register (or Specialist Registrar within 6 months of gaining CCT at time of interview).
• Membership or Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists or equivalent qualification.
• Eligible for Section 12 Approval (Mental Health Act)/ Approved Clinician or willing to apply for such approval once in post.
• Knowledge and Experience
• Experience of clinical work in Adult Psychiatry (with at least one year experience in eating disorder services) at SpR, SASG or consultant level within the last 3 years.
• Excellent working knowledge and experience of the application of the Mental Health Act.
• Appreciation and understanding of ethnic minority issues and a commitment to developing culturally sensitive practices.
• Understanding of social factors relevant to psychiatry.
• Robust experience of working with severe and enduring mental illness and risk assessment, management.
• Organisation Skills / Abilities
• Leadership skills.
• Ability to work as a part of multidisciplinary, multi-model team.
• Ability to manage complex workloads and support others to do that.
• Consultation skills to services, teams and individuals.
• Commitment to working in multidisciplinary setting.
• Commitment to working with service users on service development.
• Clinical Skills and Supervision
• Ability to work in multi-disciplinary team and provide leadership for the team.
• Self-motivating and innovative.
• Expertise in risk assessment.
• Confident in therapeutic risk taking.
• Commitment to clinical governance.
• Teaching
• Experience in teaching junior staff.
• Good teaching and communication skills.
• Experience of teaching medical undergraduates and postgraduates.
• Experience of teaching non-medical mental health professionals.
• Research and Audit
• Experience of research work, or be able to interpret research findings and apply them to clinical practice.
• Audit experience.
• Other Requirements
• UK Driving Licence.