Consultant Psychiatrist - Forensic Psychiatry - Female Medium Secure

Job description

Job overview

We are seeking a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, with an interest in working I women's mental health, to join the Secure Services medical team.

This post has become vacant due to the current post-holder moving internally to take on a leadership role.

The post benefits from additional investment to increase the PA allocation and ensure a 25% SPA allocation.

The post holder will join a group of 16 consultants (12 WTE) working in the service. The inpatient medical team also includes 8 ward doctors (SAS and Trust Grade).

The service supports a number of core and advanced psychiatry trainee posts. The post holder will be Responsible Clinician for a caseload of 6 inpatients on Teign Ward. Teign is an integrated security ward for women.

There assessment and clinical leadership responsibilities associated with this role, as outlined in the Job Description. The service supports consultants to take additional leadership roles in medical education, management, quality improvement and research.

There are lots of opportunities for staff to be involved in service development work within AWP and SWPC. This includes the service's current cultural quality improvement project "Making Secure a Great Place to".

Interested candidates are encouraged to make contact with the Medical Lead to arrange a meeting and tour of the unit.

Interview Date : 22 October 2026

Main duties of the job

To act as consultant and Responsible Clinician for a caseload of 6 inpatients. To fulfil the responsibilities associated with this role including those relating to the MHA, MCA, MAPPA and MoJ.

To provide forensic psychiatric and medico-legal expertise into the team. To support the development of multi-disciplinary formulations, assessments and treatment plans for patients on the caseload.

To provide clinical leadership into the team by overseeing clinical decisions, contributing to multi-disciplinary meetings and offering supervision and advice to colleagues. To attend referral and bed management meetings as appropriate.

To undertake access assessments and admission assessments for patients referred into the service. To provider senior clinical leadership into their link ward. To work closely with the ward manager and to contribute towards the management, governance and development of the ward.

To regularly attend team meetings and reflective practice. To communicate effectively and work collaboratively with other teams and external stakeholders.

To work closely with other senior leaders within the medical team and wider service and contribute to quality improvement and service development projects.

To participate in the consultant on-call rota for secure services. To participate in teaching and educational initiatives, and to supervise trainee psychiatrists.

Working for our organisation

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust) a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care. We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.

Please note that Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust is not currently a sponsor under the GMC Sponsorship Scheme. As a result, we regret to inform you that we are unable to consider applications from individuals who require GMC sponsorship

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the accompanying job description for full details on the roles and responsibilities of this post.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• MB BS or equivalent medical qualification

Desirable criteria

• Relevant Higher Degree e.g MD,PHD,Msc or other additional clinical qualifications
• MRCPsych OR MRCPsych equivalent approved by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Eligibility

Essential criteria

• Fully registered with the GMC with a licence to practise at the time of appointment
• Included on the GMC Specialist Register OR within six months of gaining CCT
• Approved clinician status OR able to achieve within 3 months of appointment
• Approved under S12 OR able to achieve with 3 months of appointment

Desirable criteria

• CCT in Forensic Psychiatry or CCT in General Adult Psychiatry with significant experience of working in the community

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of assessing and treating patients in a inpatient setting.
• Knowledge and evidence of participation in CPD
• Evidence of effective multidisciplinary team involvement

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working in forensic psychiatry.

Personal Skills

Essential criteria

• To possess leadership skills and be able to work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team.
• Ability to manage own time, workload and prioritise clinical work
• Ability to appraise own performance as a Consultant.
• Able to demonstrate excellent communication skills, in order to effectively work with patients, carers and staff.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills

Desirable criteria

• Evidence of specific achievements that demonstrate leadership skills

Clinical Skills

Essential criteria

• Ability to assess and treat adults of working age with complex mental health and risk issues.

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience of working with individuals in secure services.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Understanding of the management skills required to function successfully as a Consultant.
• Awareness of current issues in mental health service provision, policy and legislation.

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of alternatives to inpatient admission care approaches

Teaching

Essential criteria

• Commitment to and experience of undergraduate and postgraduate learning and teaching.
• Understand principles of teaching.

Desirable criteria

• Experience as an Educational Supervisor for trainees

Research and Audit

Essential criteria

• Experience or involvement in a research project and publication.
• Experience of carrying out an audit project.

Management

Essential criteria

• Evidence of management/leadership skills training.

Desirable criteria

• Previous management experience including that of other junior medical staff

We are proud to be fostering a diverse workforce that reflects our communities. A key commitment to this is improving staff representation from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, those from the LGBTQ+ communities, people with 'lived-experience' of mental health conditions and people living with disabilities,- we are a 'Disability Confident Employer' offering a guaranteed interview to Disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. This includes people with a variety of disabilities and neurodivergent conditions (for example autism, ADHD, sensory, physical and learning disabilities).

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service users.

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