Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist in Ealing

London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH) cares for the people of Brent, Ealing, Harrow and beyond. Our team of more than 8,200 clinical and support staff serve a diverse population of almost one million people.

Northwick Park Hospital: home to one of the busiest emergency departments (A&E) in the country. The hospital provides a full range of services including the country’s top-rated hyper-acute stroke unit and one of only three hyper-acute rehabilitation units in the UK.

St Mark’s Hospital: an internationally renowned specialist centre for bowel disease.

Ealing Hospital: a busy district general hospital providing a range of clinical services, as well as 24/7 emergency department and urgent care centre, and specialist care at Meadow House Hospice.

Central Middlesex Hospital: our planned care site, hosting a range of surgical and outpatient services and collocated with an urgent care centre.

We are a university teaching NHS trust, in recognition of the important role we play in training clinicians of the future and bringing the benefits of research to the public.

Job overview: St Mark's is inviting applications for a part-time Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist post. This exciting opportunity to join St Mark's Hospital to support in the delivery of specialist Bowel and Gastrointestinal care. The successful candidate will be a key member of the Psychological Medicines Unit (PMU) team delivering key psychological support services to St Mark's patients across a range of sub-speciality services (IBD, Polyposis, Stoma, Intestinal Rehabilitation) delivered across multiple-Trust sites (Northwick Park & Central Middlesex Hospital).

The PMU is a unique resource, based within an acute Trust (LNWUH) in Harrow and Park Royal. It is a busy service fielding approximately 200 referrals each year. All referrals are of patients with gastrointestinal symptoms or disorders, emanating mainly from the local physicians, surgeons and specialist nurses, but also commissioner approved referrals from GPs and other health professionals from outside our local boroughs (Brent and Harrow), resulting in a mix of local and national referrals.

The PMU has one Consultant Clinical Psychologist (8c), two part-time specialist Clinical Psychologists (8b, 0.4 FTE each), one full-time 8a Clinical Psychologist and one part-time (0.2 FTE) band 7 Clinical Psychologist. The psychologists’ expertise traverses Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy.

Main duties of the job: The PMU is a unique, highly specialised psychiatric and psychological assessment and treatment unit, based within St Mark’s Hospital, itself a specialised hospital for patients with complex intestinal and colorectal disorders. The current post provides an opportunity for a psychiatrist with a strong academic background to help build the impact and profile of the PMU. In addition to clinical duties, the post holder will be expected to increase the research profile of the PMU. This research can be tailored to their particular interests of the post holder within gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery. The post holder will be expected to build wider research collaborations, for example with academic institutions and other hospital trusts. The post holder will be expected to be active in clinical audit and quality improvement. They should have the skills to evaluate the performance and impacts of the service and, where appropriate, build a business case for expanding the service. The post holder will be expected to provide psychiatric assessment and consultation to staff. The PMU is highly valued within St Mark’s Hospital and there is a clear wish to expand the service depending on resources. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic there is particular interest in expanding the links between physical and mental health services. This post offers a unique opportunity to develop clinical services in this direction.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

• Psychiatric assessment, treatment and further referral where necessary of patients referred to the St Mark’s Psychological Medicine Unit (PMU) both from within and outside the LNWH NHS Trust.
• Consultation to and supervision of other staff members regarding patients with psychological needs.
• Teaching, research and audit.
• Developing the Unit and the service.
• Setting up and leading innovative research studying mental health in gastroenterology and/or gastrointestinal surgery.
• Managerial responsibilities as a senior member of PMU. The structure of PMU is under review and the post holder will be expected to contribute to shaping a management structure which best supports safe, high quality patient care.

Person specification:

• Primary Medical Degree.
• Full GMC Registration.
• Higher Research degree.
• Section 12 MHA approved.
• CCT in General Psychiatry (or expected within 6 months of interview date).
• CCT in Liaison Psychiatry (or expected within 6 months of interview date).
• MRCP.

• Experience working as part of MDTs.
• Experience of working with medically ill/symptomatic patients.
• Experience of working with IBD patients.
• Proficiency in assessment and management.
• Experience in managing research studies.
• Experience of delivering care in an NHS environment.
• Evidence of research.
• Demonstrate knowledge of national service developments.
• Experience of teaching clinical colleagues.

The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We promote the wellbeing and safety of all our patients and carers by acting promptly on concerns, communicating effectively and sharing information appropriately, according to the standards determined by our policy and procedures.

All posts working with vulnerable groups will be subject to an enhanced criminal records check upon appointment and staff will need to give their consent for the Trust to receive regular updates on their criminal records status throughout their employment.

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive for certain posts, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. After the closing date we strongly advise you check the email account which is registered. If you have not heard from us within four weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been shortlisted.

Our employment checking processes require that all shortlisted applicants provide the contact details of their current HR Department. If shortlisted you will be sent an email reminder to present the contact details of your HR Department at the interview. Please note the Trust uses identity checking software for verifying the authenticity of identity documents provided by candidates.

As part of our commitment to the Equality and Diversity at LNWUH, we are encouraging applications from BME (Black, Minority Ethnic) candidates as we seek to ensure our workforce structures are representative of the diversity of the communities we serve.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.