Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist

at  Whittington Health NHS Trust

We are pleased to invite a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist to join the Neurodevelopmental Team in Islington CAMHS, following the retirement of the current post holder.
The Neurodevelopment team offer a diagnostic and post diagnostic service to Islington children and young people who present with concerns about possible neurodevelopmental difficulties. There is a strong emphasis on consultation to other parts of the service.
Islington Community CAMHS is a well-established service providing community-based assessments and mental health interventions for Islington children with mental health needs up to the age of 18 years. The team is a large multi-disciplinary team and accepts 1100 new referrals per year.
This is a full-time role but flexible working and less than full- time applications will also be considered. The post holder will join two other Consultant Psychiatrists, a Specialty Doctor and a Core P sychiatry Tr ainee in Islington CAMHS, and an active Consultant Psychiatry peer group across Whittington Health NHS Trust.
Interview date: 8th January 2025
Please see the full Job Description and the Person Specification for further details about the job role.
Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.

Provide psychiatric reviews, including risk assessment, shared decision-making with patients/parents/carers and treatment for children and young people referred to the service.
Work in partnership with young people, parents and carers to develop effective, evidence based, management plans with ongoing review of the formulation and of these management plans
Provide consultation, advice, supervision and appropriate support to colleagues within CAMHS as well as to professionals in the wider network of the child, young person or family. This is via MDT meetings and psychiatry consultation.
Management of complex clinical information from many sources to formulate management of the relative effectiveness of medication, therapeutic approaches for the child / young person and family, and therapeutic / consultation approaches within the child / young person’s network.
Management of complex information, including knowledge of mental illness, child development, interpersonal/family dynamics, the Children Act 2004, Mental Health and Mental Capacity legislation, to reach decisions in the best interests of children and young people.
Support the MDT to coordinate multi-agency packages of care, treatment and support for young people and their families with complex mental health problems.
Clinical liaison with clinicians in other community and specialist children’s services as well as with specialist inpatient or other residential services.
Manage a caseload of approximately 100 CYP, the majority for management of ADHD. We have a shared care policy with local GPs; CYP currently in the ADHD medication clinic are expected to be seen once or twice a year, once stabilized, depending on complexity. The caseload includes about 30 CYP presenting with behaviours that challenge in the context of LD and/or ASC, attending special school, for medication management. For these cases, the post holder will be expected to work closely with the children disability service, school staff, and other professionals (eg the Keyworking service), as appropriate.
Neurodevelopmental assessments are carried out by the MDT. The post holder is expected to contribute to diagnostic consultations via weekly MDT meetings to help the team arrive at a diagnosis.
Together with colleagues - develop links between the team, primary care, other local services and schools.
Be responsive and flexible in seeing children and families for urgent assessment, or signpost to appropriate crisis services, where there is risk of self-harm or suspicion of severe mental illness, when asked to assist by the team, for example, when a child in their caseload presents in mental health crisis.
Contribute to the whole service psychiatry consultation (daily virtual drop ins, shared between all psychiatrists). The post holder will be expected to lead 2 weekly drop ins.
Contribute to quality improvement through audit of both psychiatric and multidisciplinary team work.
Provide cross cover for colleagues on annual leave or study leave.
Professional Leadership
To use local knowledge to assist the Clinical Lead in identifying and making provision for the training and development needs of relevant clinical staff
To play an active role in developing services under the Transforming care agenda
To ensure the highest standards of clinical effectiveness in the clinical area, including the delivery of local and national recommendations including NICE guidelines, College guidelines or national reports.
To assist the Clinical Lead in developing and reviewing strategies for quality and safety in line with Trust policy, and be responsible for the delivery of that strategy within the Clinical area, including strategies for Clinical Audit, Clinical Risk Management and Public and Patient Involvement.
To support the Clinical Lead in placing Patient Safety at the center of ICSU activity
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details and a sample timetable