StR/ SpR POST DETAILS 2009-2010

DETAILS OF PLACEMENT:

The post is based at West Strand House, which is a new purpose built community mental health facility near the centre of Preston. The building is shared between the primary care mental health team (PCMHT), the community mental health team (CMHT), the crisis and home treatment team and the assertive outreach team. The person in this post will work closely with the PCMHT and the CMHT in the assessment and treatment of new referrals, acute cases and people with chronic and severe mental illness. Most clinical work is carried out at West Strand House, and there are opportunities for home visits and visits to review clients in residential facilities. Trainees have their own office at West Strand House with a suite of computers.

EXPERIENCE WILL THE TRAINEE GAIN / DUTIES:

Assessment of new PCMHT referrals: assessment, formulation, diagnosis, risk-assessment, management planning (following evidence based-practice), recording and corresponding/liaising with GPs and mental health professionals for 1-2 new referrals from primary care each week. Review, assessment and CPA meetings for CMHT clients, usually held at West Strand House, occasionally at client’s place of residence. This involves working closely with Care Coordinators and other CMHT members in assessment, formulation, risk-assessment, management planning (following evidence based-practice) and recording, plus corresponding/liaising with GPs and other mental health professionals. There is opportunity to discuss every case with Consultant trainer, and regular workplace based assessment (ACE, min-ACE, CBD) of cases seen. The cases seen reflect the difficulties and range of diagnoses seen by a consultant working in general adult community psychiatry. Assessments and reviews are carried out in the context of Trust policies, national guidelines and other implementations of clinical governance.

There is an ST1-3 trainee attached to the team.

ON CALL COMMITMENT:

On call duties are approximately 1 in 10. These include: assessment of emergencies in hospital (A&E, medical wards and psychiatry wards) and in a range of community settings (e.g. police cells, home visits); Mental Health Act assessments; supervision of on-call junior doctors; telephone discussion of cases with GPs, hospital doctors and nurse managers; and occasional seclusion reviews. Clinical supervision is provided through weekly group supervision of on-call issues, and an on-call Consultant is available for supervision at all times.

TEACHING / ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE:

The holder of this post is encouraged to take up a variety of teaching opportunities. These include clinical teaching and supervision of junior doctors; organisation of teaching and clinical teaching of medical students attached to the team, planning and delivery of interactive class-room teaching for groups of medical students on the Mind and Movement module, and acting as tutor for problem based learning modules. For those who are interested there may be opportunities to become involved in the planning, organisation and delivery of parts of the MRCPsych/MSc in Psychiatry Course.

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES:

There is a developing interest in medical education research being led by Dr Gater and Dr Duddu. Dr Gater is the Director of the MSc in Psychiatry and is taking a lead in the mental health aspects of the undergraduate medical programme at the University of Manchester. He has carried out health services research, pathways to care, primary care mental health research, and ethnic minority research.

MANAGEMENT TRAINING:

The holder of this post has opportunities to learn and gain experience in management, for example: planning and organisation of the educational programme for SHOs, organising the medical student programme for students placed with the Consultant team, planning class-room medical student teaching, and possibly involvement in planning parts of the MRCPsych/MSc programme. For those who are interested, specific management experiences can be arranged with Trust managers (e.g. service planning, clinical governance or finance).

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE AVAILABLE:

If there are specific areas of interest or development that the post holder wishes to pursue, then these can probably be incorporated into their timetable. Previous post-holders have carried out special interests (or enhanced their experience) in, for example, assertive outreach, acute inpatient care, and Trust management.

PROBABLE TRAINEE TIMETABLE (FIXED COMMITMENTS IN BOLD):

IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL DETAILS:

Although this post is community based arrangements can be made with inpatient consultants to gain inpatient experience. The specialist registrar can take responsibility for Dr Gater’s patients who are admitted to the inpatient wards.