StR/ SpR POST DETAILS 2009-2010

DETAILS OF PLACEMENT:

Tameside Low Secure Unit (Prospects Place) offers a psychiatric rehabilitation service for 44 male patients. Heathfield House is a refurbished step-down community rehabilitation unit in Stockport offering relational security for up to 22 males (including 3 step-down studio flats). There is a strong emphasis on multidisciplinary working, psychosocial intervention, social inclusion and the recovery model on both units. Dr Sandhu’s team is responsible for 6 patients at Prospects Place and 12 patients at Heathfield House. Trainees can apply for Rehabilitation endorsement if they complete a year in post.
Across the 2 services are 3 wte Consultants and the Trainee can, at their request, attend sessions with any of the consultants, although there is no requirement to do so.

EXPERIENCE GAINED AND DUTIES:

Review and management of patients with severe mental illness on a Low Secure Unit in Ashton and an intensive rehabilitation unit (Heathfield House) in Stockport. Attendance at multidisciplinary review meetings, and CPA planning meetings. Managing several of the patients as acting Responsible Clinician (under supervision), learning to lead the MDT and supervise the junior doctors, under consultant supervision. Visiting and assessing referrals from various sources in the NW Region, including acute wards, MSU’s, Special Hospitals, district general hospitals, prisons and units in the independent sector. Writing reports for and attending managers’ appeals and The Tribunals Service (Mental Health) on those patients for whom the ST has a special responsibility, under consultant supervision. Liaison with the Ministry of Justice with regard to restricted patients. Learning the principles of risk assessment and risk management. Learning the principles of rehabilitation, and to manage patients with severe and often intractable mental illnesses. Liaison with other services in the community. Learning to assess the needs of patients prior to discharge and to assess the appropriateness of proposed accommodation and treatment packages.

ON CALL COMMITMENT:

1 in 8 on Stepping Hill Hospital rota as middle grade. Supervised by on-call consultant and to provide supervision to Junior Doctors and other members of the MDT. Responsible for undertaking assessments where senior advice is required, including in Police Cells, A+E and in the community.

TEACHING / ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE:

Involvement in teaching programme for junior doctors in both Stockport and Tameside including case conferences, journal clubs and seminars. Participation in induction course for junior doctors. Opportunities for teaching non-medical staff. The post holder will be encouraged to participate in teaching at the local MRCPsych course. The Rehabilitation and High Support has its own monthly training afternoon which is specifically about Rehabilitation Psychiatry.

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES:

The directorate has numerous ongoing audits and is supported by the Trust’s Audit Department who will analyse data and produce reports. We have a dedicated governance manager who will also support audit and clinical effectiveness. The trainee is encouraged to make full use of their Research and Special Interest sessions.

MANAGEMENT TRAINING:

Dr Sandhu is the Lead Consultant for the Rehabilitation & High Support Directorate in Pennine Care and this allows the trainee to be involved in Trust Level Management. The directorate is currently expanding and there is work underway to develop a purpose built 45-bedded unit at the Birch Hill site in Rochdale, due to open in 2011. There will be numerous opportunities to be involved in this project. The ST will be encouraged to take on management responsibilities (under consultant supervision) for a specific management project which should be completed within the time frame that the Trainee is in post. This could include developing policy or protocols, depending on the interest of the ST.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE AVAILABLE:

This post provides an excellent opportunity to learn about the functioning of the NHS as a wider organisation as the Directorate has close working relationships with 8 Primary Care Trusts and with the North West Specialised Commissioning Team. The ST can attend numerous Service Level Agreement Meetings to learn about managing contracts and how to effectively deal with commissioners. There is exposure to working with performance indicators and outcomes based commissioning.

PROBABLE TRAINEE TIMETABLE (FIXED DUTIES ARE IN BOLD):

IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL DETAILS:

Endorsement in rehabilitation (see above).
Not a core training post.