South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Job summary
This is a 0.5 whole time equivalent consultant psychiatrist post within the Counselling and Mental Health Support Service at King’s College London. It supports psychiatric assessment, advice, risk formulation and treatment planning for students with complex mental health needs, working in close partnership with the King’s CMHS multidisciplinary team, King’s Health Centre, GPs and statutory NHS services.
Main duties of the job
This is an opportunity to provide consultant psychiatric input into a large, complex and specialist university mental health service. The post holder will work alongside established clinical and managerial leaders in CMHS and will provide senior psychiatric assessment, advice, risk formulation, treatment planning and consultation for students whose needs are beyond short-term counselling alone and who are not open to, or are being transferred into or out of, secondary mental health services.
The post holder will support the safe and effective interface between the university service, primary care, NHS mental health services and other statutory or voluntary services. They will contribute to the development and review of psychiatry referral pathways, multidisciplinary working, clinical governance, audit, service development and staff consultation on matters related to student mental health.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Medical degree
- Membership or Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
- Qualification or higher degree in research, medical education, clinical leadership or management, either complete or in progress, where relevant to the post.
Desirable
- Additional qualification or demonstrable experience in student mental health, liaison psychiatry, psychological medicine, psychotherapy, public mental health, higher education mental health, neurodevelopmental disorders or service development.
Eligibility
Essential
- Fully registered with the GMC with a licence to practise at the time of appointment.
- Evidence for inclusion in the Specialist Register or within six months of gaining CCT.
- Able to work within GMC Good Medical Practice, Trust policies and King’s College London safeguarding and confidentiality procedures.
Desirable
- Section 12 approval and Approved Clinician status, or willingness to obtain these if required by the Trust and agreed through job planning.
- Experience in a consultant psychiatrist role within the NHS or a comparable service.
CLINICAL SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
Essential
- Excellent clinical skills using a bio-psycho-social perspective and wide medical knowledge.
- Evidence of excellent knowledge in the assessment and management of complex mental health presentations in young adults and adults, including risk assessment and management.
- Experience of working with multidisciplinary teams and providing psychiatric advice to non-medical colleagues.
- Ability to provide assessment, formulation and treatment planning, including medication advice to GPs where appropriate.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills in English
- Able to manage clinical complexity, uncertainty, safeguarding concerns and competing organisational responsibilities.
- Makes decisions based on evidence and experience, including the contribution of others.
- High level of integrity and commitment to anti-discriminatory practice.
Desirable
- Experience in student mental health, university mental health services, liaison psychiatry, crisis/risk pathways, CAMHS transition or young adult mental health.
- Experience of working across organisational boundaries with GPs, NHS mental health services, higher education institutions and voluntary sector services.
- Knowledge of current developments in university mental health, safeguarding, reasonable adjustments and care pathways for students with severe or complex mental illness
ACADEMIC SKILLS AND LIFELONG LEARNING
Essential
- Ability to work in and lead a team.
- Demonstrated commitment to shared leadership and collaborative working to deliver improvement.
- Participated in continuous professional development and able to reflect on the purpose of CPD undertaken
- Able to use and appraise clinical evidence
- Has actively participated in clinical audit, service evaluation or quality improvement programmes
- Able to contribute to teaching, training and consultation for multidisciplinary colleagues
Desirable
- Evidence of achievement in education, research, audit, service evaluation or service improvement: awards, prizes, presentations, publications or demonstrable impact.
- Able to plan and deliver undergraduate or postgraduate teaching and training relevant to this post.
- Has led quality improvement projects leading to service change or improved outcomes for patients, students or service users.
Closing Date: 27 September 2026
To apply for this job please visit apps.trac.jobs.