Consultant Psychiatrist - Old Age Mental Health Liaison Team

We are looking for a Consultant Psychiatrist who will work within an old age Mental Health Liaison Team to join the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Liaison teams delivering assessment and treatment to Older Adult Patients based on the Acute Hospital Inpatient wards and AED.

The mental health liaison team based at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals is a well-established multidisciplinary service looking after patients with severe and enduring mental illness and complex needs. 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 16 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.

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

You will be expected to take a lead in ongoing developments in the community mental health team and support the Trust's strategic aims of delivering "Perfect Care"., Mental Health Liaison is an integral part of the 24/7 Urgent Care Model and the Trust is seeking for an enthusiastic Old Age Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist covering Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Liaison Teams. The post holder will carry no responsibility for psychiatric inpatients.

The post-holder will include assessment of urgent referrals from the inpatient wards.

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 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 leave.

Assessment and management of patients under the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act. Taking Part in Old Age oncall rota.

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.