Consultant Psychiatrist - Royal Free Hospital | North London NHS Foundation Trust

The post offered is that of Consultant Psychiatrist in General Adult Psychiatry (Liaison). The post is based within the well-established Royal Free Hospital Liaison Service at the Royal Free Hospital Pond Street London NW3 2QG.

The post offered is that of Consultant Psychiatrist in General Adult Psychiatry (Liaison). The post is based within the well-established Royal Free Hospital Liaison Service at the Royal Free Hospital Pond Street London NW3 2QG. The post is vacant due to the current post-holder moving to a different liaison team within NLFT.

The role of the Consultant is to be the clinical lead of the team and to ensure high, quality, patient-centered, effective, safe, and efficient care is delivered by the teams.

North London Foundation Trust was inaugurated on 1st November 2024 following the formal merger of Barnet, Enfield and Haringey NHS Trust and Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust following over 2 years of partnership working.

Our four Strategic Aims for the Partnership over the next five years are that

• We provide consistently high-quality care, closer to home
• With our partners in North London and each Borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all
• We create great places to work, providing staff with a supportive environment to deliver outstanding care
• We will be more effective as an organisation by pioneering research, Quality Improvement and technology
• The post-holder will join the well-established Royal Free Psychiatric Liaison Service, working within a multidisciplinary team to provide senior medical leadership across a range of clinical settings, primarily acute medical inpatient wards, with occasional work in the A&E/AAU department as required.
• The team consultants will usually be expected to provide direct assessment of more complex and higher risk cases in both the RFH and HBPOS teams but the post-holder will also assist with this and will work closely with the team manager to ensure that all referral demands are met as far as possible within the commissioned timescales. On average they will directly review approximately 1-3 patient contacts per clinical session dependent on complexity and on whether or not the patient has had a prior assessment by another team member. They will also provide oversight and guidance to the team in relation to triage and liaison with the police and other services. It is expected that the post-holder will conduct on average 14-20 direct patient contacts per week.

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• The role involves the assessment, diagnosis and management of patients with complex mental health needs referred from inpatient wards and emergency settings. Referrals will be allocated in line with clinical complexity and service need. The post-holder will attend and provide clinical oversight to daily handovers and multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings, contributing to collaborative decision-making and continuity of care.
• Working alongside consultant psychiatrist colleagues and junior doctors, the post-holder will provide clinical leadership within the liaison service, offering consultation, advice and support to MDT members. They will be expected to hold Section 12(2) approval and to participate in Mental Health Act assessments on medical wards and, when required, in the A&E/AAU setting. Acting as Responsible Clinician will be required in appropriate cases.
• The post-holder will be responsible for supervising and supporting junior doctors and other professionals within the team, providing day-to-day clinical supervision, case-based discussions, and formal educational supervision where appropriate. This includes contributing to induction programmes, maintaining trainer accreditation, and supporting higher trainees with special interest sessions.
• The role includes active participation in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, contributing to Trust and departmental teaching programmes, and developing relevant teaching materials and resources. Attendance at the Trust’s weekly academic and CPD programme is expected, alongside maintaining appraisal documentation and CPD records in line with RCPsych and Trust requirements.
• The post-holder will contribute to service development, clinical governance, audit, and quality improvement initiatives, supporting the ongoing development of the liaison service. Accurate and timely clinical record-keeping on Trust and hospital electronic systems is essential.
• Administrative support is provided to the service, with office space based at the Royal Free Hospital. This post has been created following the amalgamation of clinical sessions previously held across consultant and staff grade roles and offers an opportunity to shape and further develop senior liaison psychiatry input within the service.

This advert closes on Monday 22 Jun 2026