Consultant Psychiatrist - Bedford PCN CMHT | East London NHS Foundation Trust
| Posting date: | 21 July 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | £105,504 - £139,882 Per annum |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 20 August 2025 |
| Location: | Bedford, MK40 2NT |
| Company: | East London NHS Foundation Trust |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 7321062/363-MRBED7321062 |
Summary
This is an established post into the Bedfordshire Community Mental Health Team Structure. The post will complement the current structure of consultant and trainee psychiatrists within the community mental health team covering Bedford.
The post holder will support the multidisciplinary team in the management of patients management of patients for new assessments, non CPA patients, as envisaged in relevant NICE Guidance. The post-holder will work with an MDT including pharmacy, psychology, social work, CPN colleagues, and trainees.
The Bedford community mental health team covers a borough population of approximately 103,000.
The caseload within the CPA Recovery Team currently stands at around 600. This caseload is between 2 full time consultants and each consultant has a caseload around 300. Around 20% of this cohort is in preparation for step-down to primary care.
The post-holder will:
1. Provide consultant leadership to the PCN team.
2. Provide comprehensive assessment, diagnosis and management of issues relating to mental and physical health for adults with acute and severe mental illness in the community (over 18 years) so that intensive and timely treatment can be delivered to prevent chronicity and dependency on psychiatric services.
3. Attend and be the clinical leader of weekly MDT meetings, supported by the team operational lead.
4. Provide clinical advice and guidance to primary care physicians to manage patients in the least restrictive environment
5. Undertake all work in the context of the recovery approach which is emphasised across the Trust, placing the service user at the centre of planning and decision making.
6. Fulfil Responsibilities as a Psychiatrist approved under Section 12 of the Mental Health Act 1983, where relevant.
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Details of the post
Role Summary
JOB TITLE:
Consultant Psychiatrist
CPA Recovery Team
ACCOUNTABLE TO:
Clinical Director
RESPONSIBLE TO:
Medical Director
BASE:
Florence Ball House, 3 Kimbolton Road, Bedford
CONTRACT AVAILABLE:
Full time (40 hours)
10 Programmed Activities (7.5 DCC, 2.5 SPA)
This is an established post into the Bedfordshire Community Mental Health Team Structure. The post will complement the current structure of consultant and trainee psychiatrists within thecommunity mental health team covering Bedford.
The post holder will support the multidisciplinary team in the management of patients subject to CPA, as envisaged in relevant NICE Guidance. The post-holder will work with an MDT including pharmacy, psychology, social work, CPN colleagues, and trainees. Post holder will clinically lead a sub-team within this service, overseeing the delivery of care under CPA for a cohort of patients registered with certain primary care clinical networks.
The Bedford community mental health team covers a borough population of approximately 103,000.
The caseload within the CPA Recovery Team currently stands at around 600. This caseload is between 2 full time consultants and each consultant has a caseload around 300. Around 20% of this cohort is in preparation for step-down to primary care.
Professional accountability will be to the Medical Director and operational accountability to the Chief Executive Officer.
The team consists of
· Team Manager (band 8)
· Lead MH nurse (band 7)
· Lead MH social worker (band 7)
· Fully staffed Nursing team (band 6) including physical health nurse.
· Social workers
· Support workers
· Junior Doctors on rotation
· Clinical Psychologist
· Occupational Therapist
· Students from nursing and medical backgrounds
· Team administrator
The directorate has committed to developing the roles of non-medical prescribers, pharmacists, advanced clinical practitioners and nurse consultants across the pathway.
Provisional Job Plan and Timetable
A standard whole time job plan will contain 10 Programmed Activities each consisting of 4 hours. For this post there will 7.5 PAs dedicated for direct clinical care and 2.5 Programmed Activities for supporting professional activities. These Programmed Activities are subject to formal appraisal together with the job plan. The job plan will be developed further in consultation with the Clinical Director.
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
AM
1DCC
Clinic
1DCC
Clinic
1DCC
1 DCC
MDT meeting
1DCC
PM
1DCC
Clinic
1SPA
Qi work/audit/Governance
1SPA
CPD/Trust teaching
0.5 DCC and 0.5 SPA
1DCC
Admin session
MAIN DUTIES OF THE POST HOLDER
The post-holder will:
1. Provide consultant leadership to the CPA recovery team.
2. Provide comprehensive assessment, diagnosis and management of issues relating to mental and physical health for adults with acute and severe mental illness in the community (over 18 years) so that intensive and timely treatment can be delivered to prevent chronicity and dependency on psychiatric services.
3. Attend and be the clinical leader of weekly MDT meetings, supported by the team operational lead.
4. Provide clinical advice and guidance to primary care physicians to manage patients in the least restrictive environment
5. Undertake all work in the context of the recovery approach which is emphasised across the Trust, placing the service user at the centre of planning and decision making.
6. Fulfil Responsibilities as a Psychiatrist approved under Section 12 of the Mental Health Act 1983, where relevant.
7. The service has a KPI targets and a requirement to meet them. The post holder will work with the Team manager to ensure the targets are met.
8. Provide support and training to other health care professionals and support service users through the care pathway as required
9. Lead on the delivery of highquality care in all settings and be mindful of quality targets set by the Trust and those set nationally.
10. Develop the service with a view to achieving HTAS accreditation at the earliest opportunity.
11. Work closely with the Crisis Resolution/Home Treatment Teams/ and liaise with inpatients services/primary care liaison service.
12. Work closely with colleagues from other specialist teams to provide a collaborative approach to the care of patients who are jointly under the care of these services. Develop appropriate referral pathways with these services to ensure collaborative working between different teams working ensuring good continuity of care for service users.
13. Develop an expertise and knowledge of local services for people with mental health problems and refer to facilities available to specialist mental health services including psychotherapy and psychology services based in secondary care.
14. Provide appropriate clinical supervision and training for junior medical staff and lead the multidisciplinary team.
15. Take part in mandatory Trust audit programmes and also develop local relevant audit cycles to improve the function of the team.
16. Actively participate in the Trust’s clinical and strategic development.
17. The post-holder will also be involved in the regular Consultant duty rota (1:26)
18. Engage in annual appraisal and job plan review with the Clinical Director.
19. Participate in Quality Improvement work and provide leadership to embed Quality Improvement into core business.
The post holder’s immediate line manager is the Clinical Director for Adult Services. Bedfordshire has a Medical Director whom the Clinical Directors report to, but overall responsibility rests with the Trust’s Chief Medical Officer. The Medical Director is based at Charter House, Luton.
The consultant will provide medical advice to the management process, including the design of protocols and policies and take on strategic and planning roles. Theywill have the opportunity to share in widermanagerialtasks within the Trust, such as Clinical Tutor, Chair of the Medical Advisory Group, Service Line Lead, Audit Consultants,Associate Clinical Director, ClinicalDirectorandMedical Directorandmay be supported to engage in external duties (e.g. to work at the Royal College) if such duties can be accommodated in job planning and do not impact negatively on core roles and responsibilities.
This advert closes on Sunday 17 Aug 2025