About this role
Job summary
The Consultant in General Adult Psychiatry (Inpatient and Acute Mental Health Team) is responsible for delivering high-quality, patient-centred care to adults with severe and complex mental health conditions within inpatient settings at Antelope House, Southampton. The post holder acts as Responsible Clinician for a defined caseload of patients across Saxon and Abbey wards, providing expert assessment, diagnosis, and treatment, including care under the Mental Health Act.
The role focuses on managing patients with acute presentations and high levels of clinical complexity, using a biopsychosocial approach to inform treatment planning and promote recovery and independence. The Consultant works closely with multidisciplinary teams, ensuring coordinated, safe, and effective care, while maintaining strong engagement with carers and partner services.
The Consultant is also expected to supervise and train junior medical staff, contribute to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, and participate in research and continuing professional development. Working collaboratively with other consultants and senior leaders, the post holder plays a key role in shaping and improving acute mental health services, ensuring compassionate, evidence-based care and positive patient outcomes within an integrated healthcare system.
Main duties of the job
Ensuring evidence-based practice and service user-centred recovery principles to assess, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate all interventions provided by the liaison team to promote recovery and independence.
Focusing on the management of service users presenting with the greatest complexity and severity will necessitate the consultant working with a small case load in order to be able to respond in a flexible and timely way to the needs of the most unwell and or most urgent.
Managing complex information, make formulations using a biopsychosocial model.
Ensuring appropriate and effective engagement with carers and ward teams.
Management of risk and weighing complex risk information to deliver care that is in the best interests of the recovery of the individual. Supporting the MDT in this by clear communication, containing anxiety, and maintaining hope for the patient.
Ensuring the service works in line with care planning, risk management and safeguarding policies.
Maintaining a focus on outcomes, both in terms of clinical outcomes and patient experience.
Providing education, supervision and oversight over the caseload with consultant MDT/triage meetings.
Providing Responsible Clinician care for those detained under the Mental Health Act.
Supporting learning from good practice, incidents, complaints or concerns across the team
To escalate any shortfalls in clinical practice in a timely fashion to the Divisional Medical Director
About us
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a newly established organisation, bringing together expertise from across mental health, learning disabilities, community, and physical health services. We are dedicated to delivering compassionate, high-quality, and accessible care to the diverse communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
With over 13,000 dedicated staff working across more than 300 sites, we place patients and staff at the centre of everything we do. Our goal is to create an integrated healthcare system that improves accessibility and ensures more consistent care for patients. By working together, we aim to improve patient outcomes, drive innovation, and meet the unique needs of the populations we serve.
Our Trust unites services from Southern Health, Solent NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trusts community and mental health teams, as well as Hampshire CAMHS, originally part of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. This transformation enables us to deliver more seamless care across the region, ensuring that patients receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.
Join us as we embark on this exciting journey to shape the future of healthcare across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We are deeply committed to our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect, and excellence, and offer outstanding opportunities for career development, training, and collaborative working.
Job description Job responsibilities
Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone - if as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert. The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.
We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Full Registration with the General Medical Council MRCPsych or recognised equivalent Eligible for inclusion in the Specialist Register or within 12 months of CCT at time of interview. CCT in general adult psychiatry. Approved under section 12(2) of the Mental Health Act 1983.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Address Antelope House
Brintons Terrace
Southampton
Hampshire
SO14 0YG
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://hiowhealthcare.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)