Specialty Doctor - Older Adult Inpatient Psychiatry

We are looking for a Specialty Doctor to support our Later Life inpatient wards, Cove and Dune, at the Long Fox Unit, Weston General Hospital. Cove is a 10 bedded functional ward and Dune is a 14 bed organic ward.

The wards are primarily nurse and medic led with an excellent and robust therapies and OT department with a full timetable of weekday activities. We aim to provide care for older adults in an inpatient setting, building on the patients’ strengths, maintaining levels of independence and promoting well-being.

You will join a multi-disciplinary team and work alongside a consultant and resident doctors (foundation and GP) to provide assessments and treatments for patients from BNSSG area. The wards are based on the Weston General Hospital site which allows access to advice from physicians’ colleagues if needed.

The post is well supported and provides excellent opportunities for professional development in old age psychiatry. It offers the chance to broaden knowledge and learn new clinical skills, including supporting the consultant with running ward rounds, MHA work and CPAs. We hope to offer a degree of flexibility to the post holder in order to enable them to pursue their special interests within Later Life Psychiatry (e.g. ECT, cognitive assessments, physical comorbidities etc.).

There will be one hour of protected supervision with the supervising Consultant each week. You will also be able to attend Balint group and academic meetings.

As the post holder you will provide psychiatric and medical expertise to the inpatients on Cove and Dune wards, including clerking new admissions, working closely and collaboratively with the rotational doctors in training and under the leadership of the Consultant.

You will liaise with colleagues in all disciplines involved in patient care and with others including key workers and Care Coordinators in the community as well as with patients’ families. Where necessary you will be involved in referring and liaising with GPs and specialists in general hospitals and at times may assess patients either transferred to the local District General Hospital from the wards or referred back to the wards from the local DGH (Weston General Hospital).

You will be expected to deputise for the consultant in various duties as requested, including writing reports for Mental Health Review Tribunals and attending such hearings as well as participating alongside other doctors in training in the team in writing discharge summaries and ensuring the smooth operation of admissions and discharge arrangements.

You will provide medical leadership to the doctors in training based on Cove and Dune and deputise for the consultant where appropriate, under the supervision of the Medical Lead or other consultant.

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust) a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care. We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Dr Ali Lerant Job title: Consultant Psychiatrist Email address: [email protected]