Consultant in Psychiatry of Intellectual Disabilities

1) To provide expert assessment of mental health in people with learning disabilities.

2) To provide patients, referrers and carers with diagnostic and management advice;

3) To promote and develop best practice in the management of adults with learning disabilities and mental health problems, locally, regionally and nationally;

4) To make contemporaneous clinical notes on the electronic patient record system employed by the Trust and adhere to Trust/service requirements

5) To lead the MDT in assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating treatment options, including liaison with the patient, carers and the wider multi-disciplinary team;

6) To appropriately elevate patients 'at risk' to the Dynamic Support Register, which is led by the local Integrated Care Board.

7) To facilitate admission and discharge pathways of patients with learning disabilities who require mental health admission, either into adult mental health wards or into specialist inpatient services, working with the MDT, patients, carers, referrers and commissioners to ensure effective processes and good communication;

8) To facilitate liaison with relevant external agencies as appropriate, including with mainstream community mental health services and other specialist services,

9)
To participate in on-going education, training and research.

10)
To undertake mandatory training, annual job planning and annual NHS Appraisal as required by the Trust.

MHLD works in partnership with the Community Learning Disability Team (CLDT), an integrated health and social care team within Croydon Health Services, where there is joint up working on a foundation of strong inter-team relationships with clinical psychology, behaviour specialists, community nursing, acute liaison nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists.

Where necessary, MHLD services admit to general adult mental health inpatient wards, in line with 'Valuing People', and work to support adult mental health in achieving the purposeful and appropriate hospital admissions, excellence in aspects of care related to intellectual disability, and well-coordinated discharge pathways to ensure safe transition to community and ongoing management which minimises the risk of re‑admission to hospital.

The post-holder will be an integral part of the team involved in developing our neurodevelopmental disorders services. There is a highly supportive peer group.

They will take part in clinical and organisational meetings, including CLDT MDT meeting, joint CLDT–MHLD dementia meeting, and mortality review.

Please note that if the balance of clinical activity changes the consultant may be required to alter the balance of the components of this post. This would only take place after discussion with the relevant clinical and managerial leads.

The post holder will be expected to lead research. It is essential that they provide clinical and academic support to the ongoing research projects and facilitate the work of others, as appropriate. The post holder will be expected to actively contribute to the research agenda of the Clinical Academic Group.

The Behavioural and Developmental CAG undertakes a wide range of training activities both within and without the organisation. The post holder will be encouraged to become involved in sharing and developing their expertise as appropriate.

The post-holder will be expected to initiate, participate and implement clinical quality improvement projects on a range of matters relating to quality of service delivery and outcome.

The post-holder will participate in disseminating knowledge about our service and our clinical/research outcomes.

The consultant will need to be approved under Section 12 of the Mental Health Act 1983 and be able to take up…