Job overview

We are looking for a Consultant Psychiatrist to join our Whiston Mental Health Liaison teams delivering assessment and treatment to General Adult Patients based on the Acute Hospital Inpatient wards. 

The Mental Health Liaison Team (MHLT) operates within the A&E department and Medical Assessment Wards and provides a rapid assessment service for individuals aged 18 and above with the Older Person’s Service accepting new referrals from age 70+years. With expertise working at the interface between physical and mental illness, including psychological reactions to physical illness, they are crucial to reducing adverse outcomes associated with hospital admissions, increased costs and lengths of stays.

It is a thriving team, with lots of activity and excellent relationships between different teams and colleagues. The services are delivered as part of a Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) that works with individual patients. A range of other professionals with varying level of expertise supports the MHLT: operational manager, team manager, clinical leads, liaison nurses, support workers, administrative and secretarial staff.

Your workload will comprise attending daily team meetings, assessing and providing expert advice for, and in relation to, patients on the wards and AED; delivering training and supervision to the team and the wider hospital staff group, as well as participating in service delivery activities. 

Main duties of the job

    The post-holder will include assessment of urgent referrals from acute medical wards and AED. Medical support is provided for more complex cases and those requiring the specific skills of a liaison psychiatrist. This will include leading on the training of other hospital staff and interacting with other medical professionals throughout the hospital.

·     Demonstrate an understanding of the interface between physical illness and mental illness; undertake diagnosis and formulation of management plans in complex cases; advise medical teams on appropriate integrated care and assess and manage risk (e.g. suicide risk, violence/aggression, absconding) relating to psychiatric conditions in general hospital settings.

  Provide advice on prescribing to medical teams on psychotropic medication; provide expertise, and fulfil a statutory role, in managing medico-legal issues in the general hospital, including application of mental health and mental capacity legislation; understand the medical issues in assessing patients with medically unexplained symptoms and understand the medical issues in mental health patients associated with long-term conditions.

Collaboration with medical colleagues to ensure availability for emergency liaison assessments through the daytime (9am to 5pm) and also to provide cross-cover during periods of annual/study leave.

Assessment and management of patients under the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act.

Working for our organisation

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.