Specialty Doctor in Adult Mental Health - Inpatient Rehabilitation

Job summary

The post is a 10 PA post new post that is split between inpatient rehabilitation units across North and South Durham localities. The rehabilitation services serving the North & South Durham localities operate primarily from the in-patient units at Primrose Lodge (Chester-le-Street and is 15 bedded) and Willow Ward, West Park Hospital (Darlington and is 15 bedded). There is a provisional plan for Primrose Lodge is due to relocate to Jubilee House. Jubilee is an 8 bedded ward (4 males, 4 females) based at Shildon, County Durham. The post is created to support a motivated Multidisciplinary team dedicated to patient care and to promote recovery.

The main acute in-patient beds for North Durham are at Lanchester Road Hospital, Durham and the main acute in-patient beds for South Durham are at West Park Hospital, Darlington. There are two wards admitting patients with acute mental health problems at the Lanchester Road Hospital and currently three wards admitting patients with acute mental health problems at West Park Hospital.

In the North Durham locality, the community mental health teams are based at Lanchester Road hospital Durham, Derwent Clinic Shotley Bridge, Chester-le-Street Health Centre and Merrick House Easington. In the South Durham locality, the main community bases are West Park hospital, the Goodall Centre, Bishop Auckland and Green Lane, Spennymoor.

Main duties of the job

To complete new patient assessment for patients admitted to Primrose Lodge and willow wards, including taking a thorough history, mental state examination and complete physical examination in line with the trust policy. This also included making an initial assessment of risks, and forming an initial management plan in collaboration with the admitting nurse.

To ensure continuous monitoring of physical health of patients admitted to primrose lodge and willow ward and where necessary to arrange further investigation or referral as required.

To attend the 24 hour Morning Report Out meeting when key decisions are made about patient care and the management plan, risk and leave arrangements are reviewed.

To complete medication review and ensure ongoing monitoring.

Prescribing and medication management

To attend and fully contribute to the formulation meetings, MDT reviews and discharge planning meetings.

To liaise with community, inpatient, and specialist services within the Trust as is clinically appropriate.

To adhere to good and timely record keeping, including making specific comment about mental state examinations, risk assessment, management and the plans agreed.

To complete timely transfer of care documents

Mental Health Act assessments (for section 12 approved)

To complete mental health tribunal reports and present evidence to tribunal/manger meetings.

To participate in the local on-call rota.

About us

We are one of the largest specialist mental health and learning disabilities trusts in the country, with an annual income of £320m and a workforce of some 6,700 staff operating from around 100 sites in Durham, Teesside, North Yorkshire and York and Selby. We provide a range inpatient and community services to 2m people living in County Durham, the Tees Valley, Scarborough, Whitby, Ryedale, Harrogate, Hambleton and Richmondshire. We also provide additional specialist services to other parts of Northern England.

We are a multi-award winning trust and are included within the Health Service Journals Best 100 Places to Work. The trust take a positive and proactive approach to support staff in their personal development and has embedded the Talent Management approach within the Trust.

Psychiatrists are essential contributors to the majority of our mental health teams. Service users expect and are justified to expect collaborative relationships with dedicated psychiatrists who work consistently as part of effective services. Our medical staffing shortage puts strain on services and puts strain on workforce wellbeing and costs extend beyond the financial. The Medical Directorate and Medical Development Team are striving to improve medical workforce recruitment and retention in a variety of ways and the cornerstone of these efforts is The TEWV Charter for the Medical Workforce. (Please see attached Supporting Document).