Job overview
The Specialist Perinatal Service (SPS) in Cluster 1 is responsible for the assessment and management of women with moderate to severe mental illness in the perinatal period, preconception counselling and obstetric liaison with maternity services. The maternity services for Cluster 1 are based at Manchester St Mary’s, Wythenshawe Hospital and Stepping Hill Hospital
We are looking for enthusiastic, committed individuals with a passion for delivering high quality perinatal mental health care. Effective and cooperative working with allied teams and agencies is essential, including the maternity services, health visiting services, infant-parent services, social services, secondary care mental health services and IAPT services
The team consists of:
• 2 x Substantive Consultant Psychiatrists with this being the third post
• 1 x Specialty Doctor ( WTE)
• 1 x Higher Trainee
• 1 x Team Manager
• Community Psychiatric Nurses
• OT
• Social Worker
• Community Nursery Nurses
• Psychologists
• Medical Secretaries
• Team Administrators
Main duties of the job
Clinical role
• Provide medical leadership for MDT meetings and medical leadership to the community team
• Carry out comprehensive psychiatric assessment and develop treatment plans for community patients
• Conduct patient reviews and lead multidisciplinary reviews and multi-professional meetings.
• Be the Responsible Clinician for the purposes of the Mental Health Act 1983 (amended 2007) and carry out duties in accordance with the code of practice
• Renew and maintain Responsible Clinician status according to agreed procedures
• Carry out comprehensive Risk Assessments and participate in Trust’s risk management processes
• Maintain a high level of effective communication and work flexibly and cooperatively with other parts of the service including other community teams, inpatient units, community mental health teams, maternity services and primary care
• Liaise with families and carers
Leadership role
• Lead clinical decision making in the multidisciplinary team to ensure the delivery of high-quality care
• Develop service clinical priorities in line with national and professional guidance and standards including Perinatal Quality Network (PQN) Standards
• Engage with service transformation programmes including attendance at consultant meetings for the service and directorate
• Develop clinical pathways
Working for our organisation
Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122 locations.
We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford, Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.
Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options.
Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity.
Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For more details about this role and the responsibilities please see attached full Job Description and Person Specification.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
1. MB BS or equivalent medical qualification
Eligibility
Essential criteria
2. Fully registered with the GMC with a licence to practise at the time of appointment
3. Included on the GMC Specialist Register OR within six months
4. Approved clinician status OR able to achieve within 3 months of appointment
5. Approved under S12 OR able to achieve with 3 months of appointment
Skills
Essential criteria
6. Excellent clinical skills using bio-psycho-social perspective and wide medical knowledge
The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.
Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer.
The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities. If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications
A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application. The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges.
We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.
Sponsorship
We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website – click .
If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.
The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it.
Do you have experience outside the NHS?
We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.
We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment.