Job description

Job responsibilities

This is a replacement post across two services:

1. Croydon Primary Care Mental Health Support Service (PCMHSS)

2. Croydon Central Assessment and Liaison (A&L) team

The post has become available as the post-holder in PCMHSS is on long term sick leave and the post-holder in Central A & L has commenced working part-time.

PCMHSS: This supports patients aged 18-65 years by providing supported transitions, either whilst transferring back to primary care or whilst undergoing longer term stabilization in secondary care with the goal of eventually discharging to primary care.

Croydon North A & L team: This is one of three distinct A & L teams, each providing a service for people aged 18-65 who live in the North, Centre and South of the London Borough of Croydon respectively. They are short-term services that provides mental health assessment and treatment to service users who are experiencing moderate to severe mental health difficulties within the community.They provide advice on the best treatment and care options available for mental disorders including anxiety, depression, psychosis and personality disorder.

Croydon Primary Care Mental Health Support Service

The post holder (0.5 WTE) will be one of 3 (2.0 WTE) Consultant Psychiatrists within the Croydon MH Primary Care Support Service. The team is based at Jeanette Wallace House (JWH), 1 Edridge Road, Croydon CR0 1FE. The service incorporates principles of recovery at the centre of their work with service users and carers. The key element of the recovery journey is empowering and supporting a person to build a meaningful life as defined by themselves, with a focus on hope for the future, as well as their health, wellbeing, strengths and empowerment.

PCMHSS supports service users in this journey of recovery by moving away from a focus on pathology, illness and symptoms; by encouraging opportunities for personal empowerment; and by supporting social inclusion. Many of our patients have been pharmacologically stabilized on advanced treatments, and the team establishment includes a senior pharmacist who is a non-medical prescriber.

JWH is a modern, spacious and light 8 floor purpose-built office suite with a mix of private and open plan spaces. The building has clinical rooms and assessment rooms on the ground floor which can be booked by all staff members. We share the building with other Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) in Croydon as well as other services like Croydon Talking Therapies, the Croydon AMHP service and Medical HR. The post-holder will have an allocated office on the first floor and access to a PC or docking station, a laptop for remote working, and a mobile phone. There are excellent transport links in the area, as well as a PCN car park across the road, and substantive employees will be able to have a Croydon Carers parking permit to allow for community working/home visits when this is required.

The team has close working relationships with Croydon CMHTs and Mental Health Crisis Services. It also works closely with the community addictions provider Change Grow Live (CGL), GPs, non-statutory providers like the Croydon Health & Wellbeing Hub and the Croydon Recovery Space, as well as the Local Authority.

The team provides a service Monday to Friday between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm (excluding bank holidays). There is an excellent focus on reflective practice, monthly sessions being open to all staff members.

In collaboration with senior colleagues, the post-holder is expected to provide clinical, operational and strategic leadership to PCMHSS. As part of the leadership team, the post-holder is expected to work proactively with managers and clinical staff to ensure that a high-quality service is provided to all patients. The job description/duties listed below are not exhaustive and may need to be reviewed in line with the evolving needs of the team as these arise.

Clinical responsibilities

Assess/ review patients and agree joint management plans with medical, pharmacy and nursing staff.

Review the safety and effectiveness of complex and/or novel psychopharmacological treatment regimes in patients with severe mental illnesses affective disorders.

Develop close working links with locality CMHTs, primary care networks, general practitioners, community pharmacists and consultant colleagues in order to facilitate efficient and effective clinical communication, as well as stabilization and discharge pathways.

Attend inter-agency multidisciplinary team meetings to contribute to clinical decisions and care plans e.g., for relapsing patients.

Be available to advise/supervise team members with their assessments and caseloads.

Ensure excellence in the provision of psychiatric assessments and evidence-based treatments to all referred patients to the service, including the Trusts risk assessment protocols.

Contribute to the training and support of medical and nursing staff in the delivery of psychiatric aspects of patient care.

Fulfil Responsibilities as a Psychiatrist approved under Section 12 of the Mental Health Act 1983

Establish a reliable and accessible work schedule with the team.

Ensure appropriate administration and documentation in relation to the duties of the post, including recording clinical activities on the Trusts Electronic Patient Journey System (ePJS).

Croydon Central Assessment & Liaison team

The post holder (0.4 WTE) will be one of two Consultant Psychiatrists (1.0 WTE) within the Central Assessment and Liaison Team. The three Croydon Assessment and Liaison teams are based at Jeanette Wallace House (JWH), Croydon and each team works with individuals for up to 12 weeks whilst providing a holistic package of care in collaboration with local care networks. The team of health and social care professionals is multidisciplinary including doctors, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, and psychologists. We also work closely with service users, and their carers, local organizations including social services and mental health charities, Primary Care Networks and GPs.

The team has close working relationships with Croydon CMHTs and Mental Health Crisis Services. It also works closely with the community addictions provider Change Grow Live (CGL), Primary Care, non-statutory providers like the Croydon Health & Wellbeing Hub and the Croydon Recovery Space, as well as the Local Authority.

The Central Assessment and Liaison team received 1660 referrals between January and December 2024 and has a current caseload of 172 patients. The team receive referrals from a range of services including HTT, Croydon Liaison Psychiatry, social care and Croydon GPs. The service has a 28-day target in which all referrals accepted for assessment are to be seen within 28 days of receipt of referral.

All referrals are screened on the day of receipt by the Duty Mental Health Practitioner. Referrals which require further discussion are brought to the daily Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) meetings where a decision is made as to whether the patient requires assessment by the A & L team. Referrals are accepted and managed in accordance with the NICE four stage stepped care model for mood and anxiety disorders (NICE 2011). This ensures that for non-urgent referrals, recommended interventions have been tried within primary care before a referral is made to A & L services. Patients accepted for assessment will usually be offered a Telephone Triage call and risk screen followed by a face-to-face practitioner assessment or a medical assessment (depending on clinical needs and risks). Referrals are categorized by the MDT as Crisis (contact within 24 hours), urgent (contact within 7 days) or routine (contact within 28days).

The team provides a service Monday to Friday between the hours of 9 am -5 pm (excluding bank holidays). There is an excellent focus on reflective practice, monthly sessions are open to all staff members.

In collaboration with senior colleagues, the post-holder is expected to provide clinical, operational and strategic leadership to the Croydon Central Assessment and Liaison Team. As part of the leadership team, the post-holder is expected to work proactively with managers and clinical staff to ensure that a high-quality service is provided to all patients. The job description/duties listed below are not exhaustive and may need to be reviewed in line with the evolving needs of the team as these arise.

Clinical responsibilities

Assess/ review complex patients and agree joint management plans with medical and nursing staff

Attend inter-agency multidisciplinary team meetings to contribute to clinical decisions and care plans e.g., for high frequency users of services

Be available to advise/supervise team members with their assessments and caseloads

Ensure excellence in the provision of psychiatric assessments and evidence-based treatments to all referred patients to the service, including the Trusts risk assessment protocols

Contribute to the training and support of medical and nursing staff in the delivery of psychiatric aspects of patient care

Fulfil Responsibilities as a Psychiatrist approved under Section 12 of the Mental Health Act 1983

Develop close working links with general practitioners, consultant colleagues and clinical teams in order to facilitate efficient and effective clinical communication and care pathways

Establish a reliable and accessible work schedule with the team

Ensure appropriate administration and documentation in relation to the duties of the post, including recording clinical activities on the Trusts Electronic Patient Journey System (ePJS)

Person Specification

Essential

Essential

• At least 5 years consultant experience in community psychiatry

Desirable

• Experience of leading service transformation

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).

Employer details

Employer name

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Jeanette Wallace House

1 Edridge Road

Croydon

CR0 1ER

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://www.slam.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post-holder will contribute to the service in ensuring service users consistently receive high quality services that adhere to the best practice guidelines and achieve high professional standards. They will be required to actively contribute to the overall performance of the service to ensure that contractual output targets are achieved.

They will be required to record and input client data and information in order that the service operates within contractual, administrative and financial requirements.

The post-holder will be required to work flexibly across a number of operational sites as required and work flexibly within an agreed number of hours to maintain the most appropriate level of service provision. This will include some evening and weekend working as determined by service user need.

The post-holder will be expected to take responsibility for personal development, identifying personal training needs and participate in regular supervision, appraisal. They will be required to engage fully in the process for revalidation.

Role-specific responsibilities

This post-holder will be responsible to the Clinical Lead /Consultant Psychiatrist or Regional Lead Consultant in fulfilling the following duties:

Good medical care

• To provide a clinical assessment, including relevant psychiatric and physical investigation, of a wide range of substance misusers presenting to the service.
• In conjunction with other members of the Multidisciplinary Team to plan and deliver appropriate individually tailored treatment plans.
• To regularly review and monitor patients treatment progress (including results of urinalysis and other laboratory investigations).
• To keep accurate appropriate and up-to-date medical and administrative documentation including computer records. These should be entered on the same day or as soon as possible after the clinical consultation.
• To liaise closely with other relevant professionals and organisations including non-statutory addiction services, adult psychiatric services, general practitioners, medical colleagues, Social Services and Prison Services.
• To operate within guidelines, policies and procedures relevant to the post.
• To provide clinical advice, liaison and consultation as required to colleagues in primary care, community services and acute specialties in line with new ways of working
• Engaging with people who have substance misuse problems and providing them with general healthcare and general mental health assessments and contribute to the development of individual care plans.
• Provide specialist prescribing assessments to opiate, stimulant, tranquilizer, barbiturate, alcohol dependent clients, and those with novel psychoactive substance use.
• Initiate appropriate prescribing regimes to clients in line with national legislation and national and local guidance.
• Provide medical management and reviews of prescribed clients
• Provide sound evidence-based clinical practice to facilitate effective treatment decisions.
• Work with other team members to ensure effective administration in terms of record keeping, discharge summaries and correspondence to other relevant bodies. Work with management team to ensure all paperwork is regularly audited.
• Conduct phlebotomy tests if required and support nursing team in ensuring that the maximum number of service users are tested for BBVs and vaccinated against Hepatitis A and B.
• Be an active part of the management team to ensure service and organisational goals are met and that clinical standards are kept high.
• Support nursing team to titrate patients safely on to a treatment regime and ensure that procedures are constantly reviewed to promote best evidenced based practice in accordance with CGLs clinical guidelines.
• Support nursing team to offer wound care assessment.
• Promote understanding in relation to working with individuals suffering from addiction problems.
• Develop, review and audit recovery plans, provide health education especially in regard to harm minimisation, blood borne viruses and overdose prevention.
• Provide training, advice and support to other clinical staff to ensure safe and effective service delivery.
• Attend multidisciplinary meetings, promoting the nomination of named link workers and actively supporting the implementation of integrated care pathways.
• Support the provision of GP shared care in the locality where based.
• Be able when required to represent CGL at a range of meetings with other professionals and agencies in order to evaluate, monitor and develop treatment services for the service user group and minimise barriers to treatment.
• Take an active part in the implementation, adherence and development of internal and external clinical governance procedures.
• Will play a pivotal role in complete clinical audit process within service
• Support the service in carrying out research which will be of benefit to the future treatment of patients
• Utilise evidence-based psychosocial interventions such as motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioural techniques and brief interventions in both one-to-one and group settings to promote engagement in treatment services, encourage self-esteem, well-being, self-responsibility and enhanced motivation.
• When necessary, covering duties of their colleagues and other junior medical staff, in order to ensure continuity of medical care.
• To participate in cross-cover arrangements with medical colleagues from other CGL regional services.
• To provide guidance and support as appropriate to newly appointed and less experienced medical colleagues.
• To provide guidance and support as appropriate to Non Medical Prescribers.
• The post holder should also accept that he/she might be required to perform duties in occasional emergencies and unforeseeable circumstances at the request of the Consultant/Associate Medical Director.

Maintaining good medical practice

• All doctors are expected to participate in continuing professional development, annual appraisal and revalidation and to join appropriate supervision and PDP groups for the role. Doctors are actively encouraged to take their CPD entitlement in line with Royal College Guidelines and to support the development needs identified in their PDP, Peer Group reviews and appraisal.
• The post-holder will attend the monthly Doctors Meeting; which includes an academic programme of CPD, and complex case discussions. They will also be able to attend any other CPD activities organised by this group. There will also be a monthly management meeting for doctors to attend, and this will be chaired by the Associate Medical Director for the region.
• The post-holder will have an annual (GMC) appraisal with an appropriately trained appraiser

Relationships with others

• To work in partnership with users and carers so that they are fully involved in and empowered to make decisions about their treatment and care.
• To work constructively with managers and clinical colleagues to maintain effective team working and service improvement.
• Establish good communication and effective working relationships with all relevant agencies in relation to individual patients and service development.
• Build a knowledge of and links with voluntary and independent service providers locally.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Medical Degree and completing of Basic Medical Training Full GMC- UK Registration and Licence to Practice
• Evidence of participation in Clinical Audit

Desirable

• MRCPsych or equivalent Section 12 approved

Experience

Essential

• Experience in delivering evidence based treatments in Substance Misuse Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team setting and with other Agencies

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.

UK Registration

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

Employer details

Employer name

Change Grow Live

Address

Changing Lives

3 Blossom Street

YORK

YO24 1AU

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://www.changegrowlive.org/ (Opens in a new tab)

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post-holder will contribute to the service in ensuring service users consistently receive high quality services that adhere to the best practice guidelines and achieve high professional standards. They will be required to actively contribute to the overall performance of the service to ensure that contractual output targets are achieved.

They will be required to record and input client data and information in order that the service operates within contractual, administrative and financial requirements.

The post-holder will be required to work flexibly across a number of operational sites as required and work flexibly within an agreed number of hours to maintain the most appropriate level of service provision. This will include some evening and weekend working as determined by service user need.

The post-holder will be expected to take responsibility for personal development, identifying personal training needs and participate in regular supervision, appraisal. They will be required to engage fully in the process for revalidation.

Role-specific responsibilities

This post-holder will be responsible to the Clinical Lead /Consultant Psychiatrist or Regional Lead Consultant in fulfilling the following duties:

Good medical care

• To provide a clinical assessment, including relevant psychiatric and physical investigation, of a wide range of substance misusers presenting to the service.
• In conjunction with other members of the Multidisciplinary Team to plan and deliver appropriate individually tailored treatment plans.
• To regularly review and monitor patients treatment progress (including results of urinalysis and other laboratory investigations).
• To keep accurate appropriate and up-to-date medical and administrative documentation including computer records. These should be entered on the same day or as soon as possible after the clinical consultation.
• To liaise closely with other relevant professionals and organisations including non-statutory addiction services, adult psychiatric services, general practitioners, medical colleagues, Social Services and Prison Services.
• To operate within guidelines, policies and procedures relevant to the post.
• To provide clinical advice, liaison and consultation as required to colleagues in primary care, community services and acute specialties in line with new ways of working
• Engaging with people who have substance misuse problems and providing them with general healthcare and general mental health assessments and contribute to the development of individual care plans.
• Provide specialist prescribing assessments to opiate, stimulant, tranquilizer, barbiturate, alcohol dependent clients, and those with novel psychoactive substance use.
• Initiate appropriate prescribing regimes to clients in line with national legislation and national and local guidance.
• Provide medical management and reviews of prescribed clients
• Provide sound evidence-based clinical practice to facilitate effective treatment decisions.
• Work with other team members to ensure effective administration in terms of record keeping, discharge summaries and correspondence to other relevant bodies. Work with management team to ensure all paperwork is regularly audited.
• Conduct phlebotomy tests if required and support nursing team in ensuring that the maximum number of service users are tested for BBVs and vaccinated against Hepatitis A and B.
• Be an active part of the management team to ensure service and organisational goals are met and that clinical standards are kept high.
• Support nursing team to titrate patients safely on to a treatment regime and ensure that procedures are constantly reviewed to promote best evidenced based practice in accordance with CGLs clinical guidelines.
• Support nursing team to offer wound care assessment.
• Promote understanding in relation to working with individuals suffering from addiction problems.
• Develop, review and audit recovery plans, provide health education especially in regard to harm minimisation, blood borne viruses and overdose prevention.
• Provide training, advice and support to other clinical staff to ensure safe and effective service delivery.
• Attend multidisciplinary meetings, promoting the nomination of named link workers and actively supporting the implementation of integrated care pathways.
• Support the provision of GP shared care in the locality where based.
• Be able when required to represent CGL at a range of meetings with other professionals and agencies in order to evaluate, monitor and develop treatment services for the service user group and minimise barriers to treatment.
• Take an active part in the implementation, adherence and development of internal and external clinical governance procedures.
• Will play a pivotal role in complete clinical audit process within service
• Support the service in carrying out research which will be of benefit to the future treatment of patients
• Utilise evidence-based psychosocial interventions such as motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioural techniques and brief interventions in both one-to-one and group settings to promote engagement in treatment services, encourage self-esteem, well-being, self-responsibility and enhanced motivation.
• When necessary, covering duties of their colleagues and other junior medical staff, in order to ensure continuity of medical care.
• To participate in cross-cover arrangements with medical colleagues from other CGL regional services.
• To provide guidance and support as appropriate to newly appointed and less experienced medical colleagues.
• To provide guidance and support as appropriate to Non Medical Prescribers.
• The post holder should also accept that he/she might be required to perform duties in occasional emergencies and unforeseeable circumstances at the request of the Consultant/Associate Medical Director.

Maintaining good medical practice

• All doctors are expected to participate in continuing professional development, annual appraisal and revalidation and to join appropriate supervision and PDP groups for the role. Doctors are actively encouraged to take their CPD entitlement in line with Royal College Guidelines and to support the development needs identified in their PDP, Peer Group reviews and appraisal.
• The post-holder will attend the monthly Doctors Meeting; which includes an academic programme of CPD, and complex case discussions. They will also be able to attend any other CPD activities organised by this group. There will also be a monthly management meeting for doctors to attend, and this will be chaired by the Associate Medical Director for the region.
• The post-holder will have an annual (GMC) appraisal with an appropriately trained appraiser

Relationships with others

• To work in partnership with users and carers so that they are fully involved in and empowered to make decisions about their treatment and care.
• To work constructively with managers and clinical colleagues to maintain effective team working and service improvement.
• Establish good communication and effective working relationships with all relevant agencies in relation to individual patients and service development.
• Build a knowledge of and links with voluntary and independent service providers locally.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Medical Degree and completing of Basic Medical Training Full GMC- UK Registration and Licence to Practice
• Evidence of participation in Clinical Audit

Desirable

• MRCPsych or equivalent Section 12 approved

Experience

Essential

• Experience in delivering evidence based treatments in Substance Misuse Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team setting and with other Agencies

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.

UK Registration

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

Employer details

Employer name

Change Grow Live

Address

Changing Lives

3 Blossom Street

YORK

YO24 1AU

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://www.changegrowlive.org/ (Opens in a new tab)