Community Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Job summary

As a Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist working for Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust you will be responsible for ensuring that our service users’ needs are met through the delivery of high quality care.

As a leader of the outpatient multi-disciplinary team at The Beckett Unit, Hollins Park, you will manage the community mental health team and Memory service, providing clinical care to service users who have been referred for older adults mental health care and specialist cognitive assessment.

You will work closely with a wide range of clinical and professional disciplines in order to deliver holistic care by completing assessments of new referrals to the team, making formulations and managing their treatment in order to optimise the quality of life of the service users under your caseload.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be the Responsible Clinician for patients in their caseload within the Later Life & Memory Service based at The Beckett Unit. There are allocated GP surgeries for each caseload within the service and these are allocated to ensure equity in terms of number of referrals. In line with New Ways of Working, the post holder will provide a consultative, supervisory and supportive role to the multidisciplinary team’s work. They will take an active part in the clinical work of the team and a lead role in the development of the service.

The post holder will be expected to provide leadership to the Team whose role is to provide assessment, management and support to older adults who have been referred for assessment of cognitive function and functional mental disorders. Practitioners within the team will support access to services in a timely manner, as well as ensure arrangements are in place to enhance smooth pathways between primary care and secondary services. The post holder will be enabled to work in a consultative manner, being accessible to team members, GP and primary care staff, patients and carers, for the provision of expert advice and interventions in a timely manner. The post holder will operate within multi-disciplinary integrated and co-located teams, which including Health staff and Social services staff. The post holder will be expected to be part of the allocation procedure within the team and be responsive and flexible to the needs of the team.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

Essential

  • MbChb, MBBS or equivalent

Desirable

  • Qualification or higher degree in medical education, clinical research or management
  • Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists or equivalent
  • Undertaken ‘Train the Trainer’ and ‘Equality and Diversity’ Training

Registration

Essential

  • Full registration with General Medical Council
  • Inclusion on or eligible for inclusion on the Specialist Register of the General Medical Council or within 6 months of CCST/CCT or equivalent in Old age Psychiatry at date of interview
  • Section 12 (2) Approval + Approved Clinician Status or demonstrated ability to gain approval

Desirable

  • In good standing with GMC with respect to warning and conditions on practice

Transport

Essential

  • Holds valid UK driving licence and will use own car for work related travel OR provides evidence of proposed alternative

Clinical Skills, Knowledge and Experience

Essential

  • Excellent clinical knowledge in specialty
  • Excellent clinical skills using bio-psycho-social perspective and wide medical knowledge
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills in English Able to manage clinical complexity and uncertainty
  • Makes decisions based on evidence and experience including the contribution of others
  • Able to meet duties under MHA and MCA

Desirable

  • Experience in working previously in similar roles at a relevant level
  • Training or worked as a DoLs assessor
  • Experience in management and service development Knowledge and use of IT systems

Academic Skills and Lifelong Learning

Essential

  • Able to deliver undergraduate or postgraduate teaching and training
  • Participated in continuous professional development
  • Participated in research or service evaluation
  • Able to use and appraise clinical evidence
  • Has actively participated in clinical audit

Desirable

  • Able to plan and deliver teaching and training relevant to this post
  • Reflected on purpose of CPD undertaken
  • Experienced in clinical research and / or service evaluation
  • Has led clinical audits leading to service change

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).

Closing Date: 21 July 2026

To apply for this job please visit apps.trac.jobs.