Specialty Doctor in Psychiatry: Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders

Main area: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

Grade: NHS Medical & Dental: Specialty Doctor

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time - 10 sessions per week

Job ref: 334-CHI-7705421-JA

Employer: South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Site: Michael Rutter Centre, London

Salary: £61,542 - £99,216 per annum

Closing: 19/02/2026 23:59

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.

We are committed to providing high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for the care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission rates our services as ‘good’.

We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.

The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special.

As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview

We are delighted to invite applications for an exciting full-time (10PA), Specialty Doctor post in the Maudsley Centre for Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders (MCCAED) Outpatient Team. MCCAED is situated within the CAMHS Clinical Academic Group of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, the most comprehensive mental health service for children and young people in the country. This is one of three full-time Specialty Doctor posts within MCCAED. This post would be suitable for a wide range of doctors, especially those with a background in eating disorders, paediatrics and/or community CAMHS. In addition to extensive opportunities to develop clinical knowledge, experience and skills in child and adolescent eating disorders, there are also excellent opportunities for quality improvement activities, research, teaching and training.

Main duties of the job

• Assessments and therapeutic work with children, adolescents, and parents
• Undertake physical examinations and order investigations as required
• Prescribe and monitor psychotropic medication
• Liaise with paediatric colleagues and general practitioners around the physical health care of patients
• Co-work with and consult to other colleagues within the team

Working for our organisation

The post will be located on the Maudsley site, location of our Trust headquarters, which is less than 5 minutes from Denmark Hill train station (zone 2). In the next few months our clinic will be moving from the Michael Rutter Centre to a larger new purpose-built clinic with state-of-the-art facilities on the same site called the Pears Maudsley Centre.

About us

MCCAED is a nationally recognised example of best practice in specialist outpatient eating disorders care for children and adolescents. The multidisciplinary team is large, well-established, and cohesive, and the service has three main components: a specialist outpatient service for children and adolescents from 7 local boroughs; a new clinic for children and adolescents with Avoidant Food Restrictive Intake Disorder (ARFID); and a national intensive day service treatment programme for adolescents with Anorexia (ITP). MCCAED does not have an inpatient unit. Occasionally, our patients may have brief admissions on the paediatric ward at Kings College Hospital, which is across the road from our clinic at the Michael Rutter Centre. The admissions are usually less than 5 days and are normally for re-feeding and/or medical stabilisation. Our admission rates to eating disorder units are very low. Over the last 10 years we tend to admit less than 1-2% of patients we assess each year.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Responsibility areas:

Accountability: The appointee will be professionally responsible to The Associate Medical Director via the Joint Head of Service, Dr Mima Simic, and Dr Elizabeth Tyrrell Bunge. The appointee will be managerially accountable to the Lead Clinician, Dr Sacha Guglani and the Service Manager for National & Specialist CAMHS, Donna Underwood, who work in partnership with the MCCAED Senior Clinicians to deliver this service.

Clinical Duties:

The postholder will assist in the assessment and management of children referred to MCCAED. The postholder will join colleagues and co-work cases where necessary; undertake physical examinations as required; order investigations e.g. blood results and ECGs, and check their results. They will also be responsible for prescribing and monitoring psychotropic medication. The postholder would be expected to have a small caseload of patients from the outpatient service. These may be seen for monitoring of medication, mental state, psychiatric, or physical risk, or because the postholder is care-coordinating as the lead therapist.

The postholder is not expected to have responsibilities for management, strategic service development, or business planning. However, if the postholder was interested in these areas then opportunities to develop and apply knowledge and skills in these areas could be explored.

Further responsibilities are described below.

Secretarial Support and Office Facilities

This post will be based at The Michael Rutter Centre / Pears Maudsley Centre at the Maudsley Hospital, with offices above the clinical area. The MCCAED administrative team provide administrative and appropriate secretarial support to the team. The postholder will have access to own desk and computer facilities. The office will be shared with other members of the multi-disciplinary team.

The service is networked to the Trust intranet with IT support from the central services of the trust. The trust is committed to the digital development of all staff and in line with the Digital Me programme to enable more flexible working the post holder will have his/her own Trust computer/laptop, and, if desired, their own Trust mobile phone. The post holder will be expected to keep their own diary, preferably electronically.

Provision and Cover During Absences:

Cover for colleagues is prospective. The postholder should therefore ensure that leave arrangements should be agreed with their supervising consultant and peers in advance.

Medical Practice:

All members of the Trust’s medical staff are expected to practice within current GMC guidelines, those contained within the booklets on Good Medical Practice and Maintaining Good Medical Practice. These booklets outline the duties of doctors who are registered with the GMC, emphasising the responsibility of every doctor to ensure standards of good clinical care, to keep up to date with clinical skills, to work in teams and to maintain good relationships with colleagues in all disciplines. The Trust is committed to these principles and will provide support for education and development of all grades of staff.

Clinical Governance:

The Trust has established multi-disciplinary clinical governance mechanisms that the postholder will be expected to participate in including evidence-based practice implementation of local policies and procedures that support best practice - both uni-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary. Risk management processes to ensure clinical and non-clinical risks are identified and actions taken as appropriate.

Audit and Quality Improvement:

The Trust undertakes regular quality improvement and clinical audit of their activities and the appointee will be expected to take part in this programme and further develop specific projects and associated data collection relevant to their work and their department.

Teaching, Supervision and support to training and non-consultant speciality doctor posts:

Weekly supervision for the post-holder will be ring-fenced and provided by Dr Elizabeth Tyrrell Bunge, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. There is also weekly supervision for trainee doctors. There are two multi-disciplinary Case Discussion groups each week where clinical cases can be discussed. In addition, there is weekly Systemic Supervision and supervision for other treatment modalities is offered.

Other Elements of the Role:

Ensure that electronic patient clinical records relating to post holder's work are well maintained and meet Trust standards for documentation and communication with referrers and users are met. Contribute to the development of policies and procedures to support good practice and ensure that appropriate high-quality clinical services are delivered. Ensure that policies and procedures are implemented to safeguard and protect children and young people, and where necessary implement the CPA process. Promote good links with GPs, nursing and medical colleagues, local CAMH services, schools. Provide a service which promotes diversity, meets the needs of service users from diverse ethnic, cultural and religious traditions, is accessible and sensitive to needs relating to disability, gender, and sexual orientation. Collate activity information as requested to meet the demands of Performance Management and Service Planning. Apply quality standards to all work undertaken, in line with Trust Clinical Governance policies. Attend professional meetings as appropriate within and outside the Directorate, in accordance with CPD and agreed Personal Development Plan. Assist in the implementation of research and evaluation where required.

Job Plan:

The contract states that there is a requirement for all staff to have firm job plans. These plans are intended to give the Clinical Director a more explicit input into the arrangements and review of doctors' duties. A job plan is a detailed description of the duties and responsibilities of a doctor and of the facilities available to carry them out. A job plan and a work programme are an integral part of the doctor's contract of employment. Appraisal and job planning occur annually with the Consultant Psychiatrist of the service.

Person specification

Qualifications:

• Full Registration with the General Medical Council (GMC)
• MBBS or equivalent
• Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, or equivalent, or in process of completion

Experience/Knowledge/Skills:

• Clinical experience of working with children and adolescents OR in eating disorders
• Competence in physical assessments
• Competence in psychotropic prescribing and monitoring
• Experience of Safeguarding Children framework
• Has completed at least four years’ full-time postgraduate training (or its equivalent gained on a part-time or flexible basis)
• At least two of these years need to be in a specialty training programme in a relevant specialty or as a fixed term specialty trainee in a relevant specialty or the doctor has equivalent experience and competencies

Teaching and Training:

• Experience of multi-disciplinary teaching

Research:

• Experience of co-operating in Clinical Research

Quality Improvement:

• Experience of QI activity

Information Technology experience and skills:

• Basic computer skills, including ability to use e-mail and Internet

The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights.

Please note:

• All applications for this post will need to be made online
• Read and understand the Job Description and Person Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria
• The closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible
• Once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs
• Should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not been successful
• Priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
• Should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
• We are a smoke-free Trust
• SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion