Consultant Psychiatrist in Crisis and Assessment Team

Job responsibilities

Jersey health and social care services are undergoing a major redesign with a move towards more community focussed, patient centred provision.

This post is a new role in a new crisis and assessment team that will help streamline the process of referral and assessment and provide short term intervention for crises. After this brief intervention service users will be directed to the correct part of the service for their needs or returned to the GP with advice for ongoing care if needed. This post will involve work with working age adults and older adults. It will also cover police referrals and some mental health law assessments. The Crisis and assessment team will work 24/7 but the medical posts are for working hours with an on-call commitment.

This is a new post with new money to help resource the acute part of Mental Health service provision. The medical provision within the team consists of 1wte Consultant (this post), 2wte staff grade psychiatrists (Dr Ute Seibold and the other coming from new monies to be advertised at the same time as this post). Cover arrangements will be provided by a cross cover arrangement with the Liaison Consultant for annual leave and holidays (this is also a new post being advertised at the same time as this one with new monies). This is a new post and as such the timetable and workload will be under review. It is part of a redesign of the assessment function of our service. We now have excellent systems in place to track referral numbers and workload and this is going to be reviewed monthly for 6 months after implementation to look at whether staffing is adequate.

Jersey has a small population, and it has made sense to provide acute services in a different way to the standard UK models. This is still a developing model of acute service provision and there is a real opportunity to shape and influence the future provision of services to suit Jersey.

The team base will be at La Chasse and clinic sessions will be also in this building. But it will also involve work in the community and cover urgent assessments in the Emergency Department (although the service aim is to redirect away from ED).

There is a separate Liaison Team which covers Jersey General Hospital wards for all ages and will be moving to a 7 day a week service 8am-9pm.

There is a separate Home treatment team (HTT) work as a step up/step down service to prevent admission to hospital and facilitate early discharge. They are actively involved with the inpatient unit to facilitate early discharge and will provide a gatekeeping function.

There is dedicated administrative support in line with RCPsych standards (0.5 wte medical secretary and ward and team secretarial support). The Consultant has a dedicated individual office at La Bas. A mobile, PC and laptop are provided and IT training and support are arranged on arrival with a 1:1 training session and ongoing support available as required.

Places of Work:

1. Community Mental Health Centre, 20 La Chasse, St Helier, Jersey JE2 4UE

Tel: (01534) 445841 (Outpatient Unit)

2. General Hospital,The Parade St HelierJerseyJE1 3QS

3. Le Bas Centre, St. Saviours Road, St Helier (Office Base).

Non-medical staff within the service

1wte team manager

1 wte clinical lead

11 wte MH nurses (including 1 for older adults)

2 wte social worker

2 wte OT

3 wte senior support workers

Referral statistics for the last 12 months

It is difficult to give the right statistics about the workload as the service is being remodelled from a number of different services. Below are some statistics that might help give a flavour of the referral rates. Please note that not all of these patients are taken on for active treatment and not all who are accepted require medical input. It is also important to note that not all these services will fully fall under the scope of the new service for example it will only be ED referrals from the Liaison statistics and there will be a new Article 136 suite for most mental health law assessments. The Primary care team will also continue to take its own referrals and there will be a new Adult primary care team which will take some of the referrals currently coming to the crisis service. As part of our service redesign we are looking at new ways of tracking patient data and we will be more able to accurately reflect the workload when the team is established.

The successful applicant will be expected to provide medical expertise in the field of Liaison psychiatry and crisis care. The key responsibilities and expectations are:

Responsibility for the investigation, diagnosis and management of psychiatric disorders (functional and organic) in the community

Provision of specialist medical advice and consultation to a range of health and community care staff as appropriate to promote effective delivery of person-centred mental health care.

Taking an active role in the developing good working relationships between mental health, the community, the police and the emergency department.

Working collaboratively with service users, families, carers and the voluntary sector.

Providing clinical leadership, support and advice to the team.

Liaising with other medical specialties and primary care colleagues.

Participating in the in-house teaching programme.

Fulfilling the CPD requirements set by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and participating in a peer group.

Participating in the development and delivery of training programmes for a variety of disciplines aimed at improving the level of expertise and the standard of care for adults with mental health needs within Health and Community Services.

Participating in the all-age 1:11 on-call rota for psychiatry.

Working with managers and professional colleagues to ensure the efficient running of the services and to share with consultant colleagues the medical contribution to the management of the service.

Complying with Health and Community Services agreed policies and procedures.

Working effectively with partner organisation who provide services to people with mental health problems and co-morbidity issues as appropriate.

The above is intended to indicate the primary range and type of duties required. It is noted however that the duties of the post may alter to reflect changing practices and demands within the service.

Key requirements for this post: See section 6.

Start date: We would like the appointee to take up the post within 3 months of appointment but are open to discussion if this is difficult to achieve.

Skills & Personal Qualities

Essential

• Ability to take a leadership role in a multi-disciplinary team, ensuring high-quality care and staff morale
• Ability to manage own time, workload and prioritise clinical work
• Ability to appraise own performance
• Excellent written and oral communication skills

Desirable

• Evidence of specific achievements that demonstrate leadership skills

Qualifications

Essential

• Recognise basic medical degree
• Full GMC registration with license to practice
• Eligibility for inclusion on the Specialist Register or CCT in adult psychiatry or older adult psychiatry (or within six months at time of interview) or equivalent
• Eligibility for Section 12 approval

Desirable

• MRCPsych or equivalent approved by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
• Relevant higher degree, e.g. MD. PhD, MSc or other additional clinical qualifications
• Section 12 approval
• Wide range of specialist and sub-specialist experience relevant to post within NHS or comparable service
• Sub-specialty certification in Liaison Psychiatry
• Joint CCT in adult and older adult

Experience

Essential

• Experience of assessing and treating adult patients and older adults in acute and community psychiatric settings
• Knowledge of UK hospital systems (or equivalent)
• Knowledge and evidence of participation in CPD
• A sound understanding of clinical governance

Desirable

• Experience as part of a psychiatric assessment service

Skills/Personal Qualities

Essential

• Ability to take a leadership role in a multi-disciplinary team, ensuring high-quality care and staff morale
• Ability to manage own time, workload and prioritise clinical work
• Ability to appraise own performance
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Evidence of leadership attributes
• Commitment to service development
• Ability to deal effectively with pressure
• Thoroughness and attention to detail
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to community effectively with service users, carers and all grades of staff
• Reliability and honesty
• Flexible approach to working practice
• Positive approach to the job planning and appraisal process
• Demonstrates core values by treating clients and colleagues with respect, consideration, dignity and courtesy.
• Seeks feedback from service users and treats criticism as an opportunity for service improvements and not as a trigger for defensiveness.

Desirable

• Evidence of specific achievements that demonstrate leadership skills

Knowledge

Essential

• Understanding of the management skills required to function successfully as a consultant
• Ability to use IT, including email and the internet
• Knowledge of risk management
• Knowledge of recent developments and drug advances in psychiatry and allied disciplines

Teaching

Essential

• Commitment to and experience of undergraduate and postgraduate learning and teaching
• Understand principles of teaching

Desirable

• Teaching qualification or previous experience as teaching lead

Management

Essential

• Knowledge of the management and structure of mental health services and the wider health economy

Desirable

• Formal management qualification
• Evidence of management training

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).