Consultant Old Age Inpatient Psychiatrist Cook Ward in Ilford

The closing date is 27 March 2026.

Substantive or Fixed Term (as preferred). Flexible working available – including job share, part-time, remote sessions considered. The job description is pending Royal College approval.

Main duties of the job:

• Inpatient Consultant Psychiatrist in Older Adults, for functional and dementia care.
• This is a less than full-time position that has been available for some time and is covered by a locum.
• It is an 8 Programmed Activities (PAs) post with 6 Direct Clinical Contact activities (DCC) and 2.0 Supporting Professional Activities (SPAs).
• The expectation of the post holder is to support their team, department and organisation to follow the Trust's Values in their day-to-day work; we are kind, we are respectful and we work with our communities.

About us:

This less than full-time post is for an Old Age Consultant Psychiatrist position on an Older Adult Acute Ward for women (Cook Ward) with an excellent, stable and well-resourced multidisciplinary inpatient team.

On-call responsibilities:

• The postholder will be part of the Senior Psychiatrist on-call rota covering out of hours for Mental Health Services in NELFT.
• The on-call covers Adult and Older Adult services. This is currently a 1:40 rota with a 3% Category A salary supplement.
• The Trust also has a Daytime (9 am‑5 pm) Section 136 rota with an approximate frequency of 1 day every 3 months, with all Section 12 approved doctors expected to take a lead on emergency Mental Health Act assessments in the Section 136 suite on the Goodmayes site.

Job responsibilities:

• The post holder will be a Consultant Older Adult Psychiatrist with Approved Clinician (AC) certification committed to establishing a culture of care and collaborative working on the unit.
• You will work as the Consultant for a multidisciplinary team including direct input to clinical cases.
• You will be expected to provide clinical leadership and supervision to the team, work directly with older adult female patients and their families and liaise as appropriate with community older adult consultant psychiatrists.
• You will also develop the links with our acute Trust Emergency Departments, inpatient and community geriatric services and NELFT community mental health services for older people to continually improve our services.
• We are currently piloting innovative ways of working with our clinical skill mix to support the best care to patients; we have a number of Multi-Professional Approved Clinicians and there is an expectation that they too will hold clinical responsibility for a caseload from the inpatient cohort.
• The successful candidate to this post would have an important role in shaping and supporting this pilot.
• The proposal is for the MPAC Consultant Psychologist associated with two Older Adult Wards will be the Responsible Clinician for a case load across both wards.
• They will work closely with the consultant psychiatrists to provide clinical leadership and MDT working, and they will also provide some continuity of care into the community to support better pathway working and reduce readmissions and length of stay for more complex patients.

Person Specification:

• Qualifications: Inclusion in/eligibility for the Specialist Register for Psychiatry (or within 6 months of CCT). Approved Clinician status/eligibility.
• Knowledge: Comprehensive understanding of biological, psychological and social determinants of mental health disorders. A range of evidence-based treatment approaches. Awareness of NHS and NELFT strategic priorities and clinical governance.
• Clinical Skills: Excellent diagnostic and therapeutic skills for adult mental health. Ability to manage time and workload effectively.
• Leadership & Organisation: Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and build relationships with partner teams/organisations. Ability to manage time and workload effectively.
• Teaching: Experience training junior doctors and other professionals.
• Academic Skills: Willingness to engage in research and quality improvement methodology.
• Personal Skills: Enthusiasm, integrity, flexibility, resilience under pressure.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check: This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£109,725 to £145,478 per annum pro rata.