Consultant Psychiatrist in Community Older Persons Mental Health - BW

at  Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

The Trust is seeking to appoint a Consultant Psychiatrist /Associate Specialist/Senior Doctor in Older Persons Mental Health to join the Community Mental Health Team and support patients in the Bridgwater area. The Team covers the Bridgwater area and surrounding suburbs/villages.
This is a part time, 6 PA post with a 1 SPA available for enhanced role
Teaching/Research/Management. You will be working a 1 in 12 rota operating 5pm to 9am on weekdays and at weekends the rota
operates from 9am on Saturday morning to 9am on Monday morning
The post will be based at Glanville House in Bridgewater
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is a progressive Trust who in addition to being the first Trust integrated with Mental Health Social Services are also one of the first in the Country to integrate Community and Acute Hospital Services within one organization. The Trust was recently awarded ‘Metal Health Trust of the Year’ by the Health Services Journal.
Provide assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental health needs of community patients in their community area.
Work closely with the community teams to provide effective multidisciplinary collaborative care: this will include availability for consultation, regularly attending team meetings and providing case discussion and advice at the request of team members and / or team managers.
Act as Responsible Clinician for community patients subject to a compulsory treatment order under the Mental Health Act; (CTOs)
Undertake MHA assessments as the Trust Section 12 doctor for patients in their care (including those detained under S136);
Provide Mental Capacity Act s49 reports for patients in their community area.
Provide visible and clear clinical leadership to the mental health service both locally and across the Trust.
As an organisation, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust offers employees a wide range of benefits including flexible working, NHS pension scheme, generous annual leave allowance and a commitment to career development.
You will be eligible for our Blue Light Card and a wide range of NHS exclusive shopping & leisure discounts.
We really value the impact that you as a Consultant will have on our patients and services; we therefore may be able to offer a relocation package (subject to criteria) which includes:
Welcome to Somerset Foundation Trust Payment
Relocation Assistance
We are proud of our skilled, diverse workforce and as an inclusive employer we welcome applications from all backgrounds.
Working in Somerset enables you to enjoy the idyllic countryside, areas of outstanding beauty and stunning coastlines whilst still only being a stone’s throw away from bustling city centres like Bristol, Bath and Exeter and only two hours away from London.
There are excellent educational facilities in the area and, when compared to other regions, house prices are reasonable.
Somerset offers the countryside and the cosmopolitan – there is truly something for everyone!
The Community OPMH Service is divided into four CMHTs (Sedgemoor, South Somerset, Mendip, Taunton & West). There is also a Central County Wide Dementia Assessment & Support Service (which undertakes much of the DASS work) and a county-wide Intensive Dementia Service IDS (which acts as a Crisis/Home Treatment Team for those with dementia)
The Clinical Role
This post is available as a result of changes in how we deliver mental health services to older adults across Somerset and following the retirement of the previous post holder. You will be working alongside a full-time consultant colleague who covers CMHT in North Sedgemoor and DASS services for the whole locality
The Bridgwater CMHT covers a community population of approximately 15 000 older adults 65+. The population is supported by a well-established multidisciplinary team and also by other County Wide teams such as central DASS and IDS. The post holder will be part of the medical team with one other full-time consultant (Dr Earle), who takes all memory service cases across Sedgemoor as well as CMHT cases for North Sedgemoor. There is also GP and core trainees and a full-time trainee Advanced Clinical Nurse Practitioner. The post holder will work closely with the community mental health team.
There is an emphasis on members of the CMHT seeing most initial assessments with a daytime duty rota dealing with urgent referrals. This helps to minimise consultant emergency work and keeps their individual community caseload at a manageable size. The CMHT will seek advice from the post holder, to guide management for the patient; this is achieved through formal team meetings, as well as ad hoc discussions with the team when required.
There are approximately 800 referrals each year across the CMHT (not all are taken on). The post holder will hold regular clinics, as well as undertaking domiciliary visits when required.
The community mental health teams are part of wider integrated teams. Each team is colocated with staff from district nursing and the integrated rehabilitation team (community OT and Physiotherapists). These links are very helpful when managing a patient from a holistic viewpoint. The links will also allow the post holder to work towards closer integration between physical and mental health care, as well as primary and secondary care. Being co-located with this team allows for a free flow of advice and ideas between the services.