Consultant Psychiatrist - Community Eating Disorders
Join to apply for the Consultant Psychiatrist - Community Eating Disorders role at East London NHS Foundation Trust
ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job Overview
East London NHS Foundation Trust runs a specialist Community Eating Disorders Service (CEDS) providing specialist assessment and treatment to people referred with severe and complex eating disorders. We have a stepped care partnership with local charity ‘Caroline’ who are commissioned to provide for mild to moderate eating disorders.
The team works in close conjunction with primary care and secondary mental health services and manages approximately 200-300 referrals per year with an ongoing caseload of circa 70, with average of 30 at high risk. The EDS consists of a multi-disciplinary community team comprising psychology, psychiatry, mental and physical health nursing, GP with special interest, Occupational Therapists and dietetics colleagues.
The current team delivers evidence-based treatments within a recovery model of care. We work using a motivational approach with patients to empower them in taking ownership of their recovery. To promote recovery positive risk taking and effective risk management are essential.
Closing date: 30th October 2025
Interview date (AAC panel): 18th November 2025
Main duties of the job
* Provide consultant leadership and support the continued development of the Eating Disorder services.
* Ensure that service users consistently receive high-quality services that adhere to the best practice guidelines and achieve high professional standards.
* Provide a key role as the senior specialist clinician within the team and support the wider work of the multi-disciplinary team.
* Provide a comprehensive assessment of complex referrals requiring psychiatric review. This includes medical and psychiatric assessment, including eating disorder and non-eating disorder psychopathology.
* Provide consultations as part of the MEED pathway with colleagues from acute hospitals.
* Lead in the monitoring and treatment of the physical complications of eating disorders in collaboration with other health professionals.
* Supervise the team in charge of the medical monitoring and management of High-risk patients monitored in House (checking bloods when needed, taking appropriate actions).
* Provide clinical advice and guidance to primary care physicians to manage patients in the least restrictive environment.
* Work with the Team manager to ensure KPI and national targets are met.
Working for our organisation
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities
The Team currently consists of:
* Consultant Psychiatrist (This post)
* GPSI
* Consultant Psychologist & Team Lead
* Clinical Psychologist
* Principal Psychologist
* Operational Manager
* Therapist / Nurse Practitioner
* Occupational Therapist
* Eating Disorder Practitioners / Nurse / Clinical Nurse Specialist
* Clinical Support Workers
* Admin Team
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
* Fully registered with the General Medical Council
* Eligible for inclusion in the GMC Specialist Register (or Specialist Registrar within 6 months of gaining CCT at time of interview).
* Membership or Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists or equivalent qualification (in accordance with Royal College of Psychiatrists guidelines)
* Eligible for Section 12 Approval (Mental Health Act)/ Approved Clinician or willing to apply for such approval once in post
Desirable criteria
* A higher degree such as MD or PhD
Knowledge And Experience
Essential criteria
* Experience of clinical work in Adult Psychiatry (with at least one year experience in eating disorder services) at SpR, SASG or consultant level within the last 3 years
* Excellent working knowledge and experience of the application of the Mental Health Act
* Appreciation and understanding of ethnic minority issues and a commitment to developing culturally sensitive practices
* Understanding of social factors relevant to psychiatry
* Robust experience of working with severe and enduring mental illness and risk assessment, management
Desirable criteria
* Experience of service development and introducing new services in mental health
* Experience of working at consultant level in a community environment
Organisation Skills / Abilities
Essential Criteria
* Leadership skills
* Ability to work as part of multidisciplinary, multi-model team
* Ability to manage complex workloads and support others to do that
* Consultation skills to services, teams and individuals
* Commitment to working in multidisciplinary setting
* Commitment to working with service users on service development
Desirable criteria
* Formal leadership and management training
* Experience of team /service leadership
* Experience of organisational development work
* Project management ability
Clinical Skills and Supervision
Essential Criteria
* Ability to work in multi-disciplinary team and provide leadership for the team
* Self-motivating and innovative
* Expertise in risk assessment
* Confident in therapeutic risk taking
* Commitment to clinical governance
Desirable criteria
* Experience in supervising trainee doctors and SAS doctors
Teaching
Essential Criteria
* Experience in teaching junior staff
* Good teaching and communication skills
* Experience of teaching medical undergraduates and postgraduates
* Experience of teaching non-medical mental health professionals
Desirable criteria
* Medical education qualification
Research and Audit
Essential Criteria
* Experience of research work, or be able to interpret research findings and apply them to clinical practice
* Audit experience
Desirable criteria
* Experience of grant-funded project work
* Publications in peer-reviewed journals in relevant academic fields
Other Requirements
Essential criteria
* UK Driving Licence
Desirable criteria
* Car Owner
Making Things Better
Quality Improvement is a key part of our work to improve our services and refine how we do things. We have a global reputation for our quality improvement work and we don’t stand still! So we offer a fantastic opportunity for our staff to learn, lead and contribute towards improving our services.
We launched our Five Year Strategy in April 2018, which identified four main strategic outcomes to improve: population health outcomes, experience of care, staff experience and improve value. This complements the NHS Long Term Strategy and sets out our direction of travel.
Our Community
We provide a wide range of community health and mental health inpatient services to children, young people, adults of working age, and older adults in The City of London, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Bedfordshire and Luton. We also provide psychological therapy services to the London Borough of Richmond, and provide Forensic services to the whole of North East London. We provide services in urban and rural settings, sometimes in our inpatient units, but mostly in the community close to where people live. Integrated care is key in making the best use of resources and providing effective care.
Aiming High
We were rated ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC in 2016, were proud to be rated ‘Outstanding’ again in 2018 and continue to be rated 'Outstanding' in 2021. We were named in the HSJ’s Top 10 best places to work in healthcare and were voted Provider Trust of the Year in 2018.
Staff and Service Users United
We strive to ensure that staff feel valued by the Trust and as they are truly pivotal in delivering better outcomes for our patients and service users. Our aspiration is to help to make ELFT the best place to work. This Trust is clinician-led and provides the highest possible level of clinical expertise throughout its services. We pride ourselves on our service user involvement. A service user will be on your assessment centre and interview panel if you are invited to meet us.
We especially welcome people with lived experience of health difficulties, with insight and understanding of different backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles in our population as we believe that this will equip staff to deliver a high standard of care to our service users and patients.
Diversity
ELFT Is committed to being a diverse organisation and our workforce is reflective of the population and communities we serve. We believe that having colleagues with a range of backgrounds and life experiences enriches and adds value to the outcomes we have set out to achieve. Having partnered and endorsed by organisations who are representative and experts in various areas of equality and diversity, we can ensure we are meeting the pre-set standards all the way from recruitment stage throughout the career journey of our employees by being accessible, having fair inclusive practices and a host of staff networks to support, nurture and celebrate our valued staff in the workplace.
Other Reasons To Apply
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s job share, part time or another flexible pattern.
As part of the relocation scheme we presently have, the Trust could support you with offering up to £10,000 for removal and associated expenses. This is subject to change and terms and conditions apply.
AI in applications
If you use AI or other tools to assist in writing your job application, make sure you add your own personal touch— especially in the supporting information section. AI can make writing easier, but it doesn’t fully understand the position you’re applying for and might generate false or misleading information. Applications written only by AI often sound generic and may not show your real skills, knowledge, or experience. It’s important to write your supporting statement in your own words. East London NHS Foundation Trust does not recommend relying only on AI, as it could negatively impact on your chance of success in the application process.
We carefully check applications to make sure no one has an unfair advantage, and we verify all references. At the interview, you’ll be asked about your experience, so be honest and ensure everything in your application is accurate. Please remember that using AI during the interview is not allowed.
What Next?
Apply now! We sometimes close adverts early if there is a high response, so apply now!
As part of our recruitment process we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS. We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same.
If you do not hear from us within four weeks of the closing date, please consider that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion. You must provide professional email addresses for all referees as we will contact them as soon as an offer has been made. Please note we do not request references prior to interviews. All applications made through NHS Jobs account will be processed by TRAC System. Please note that some emails may go to your spam/junk mailbox so make sure you check this regularly.
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