Speciality doctor in mental health services for older people

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

Specialty Doctor in Mental Health Services for Older People

The closing date is 17 June 2026

Durham & Tees Valley Mental Health Services for Older People (MHSOP) provides a comprehensive mental health service to older people living in the region and works in partnership with acute and community health services provided by 3 acute Trusts.

This is a full‑time Specialty Doctor post providing clinical and medical input to a Community Mental Health Services for Older People team in Northwest County Durham. The post‑holder will work into a well‑established community team covering the Bishop Auckland & Dales sector, and will be based at Auckland Park Hospital in Bishop Auckland.

The post holder will provide psychiatric input to Bishop Auckland & Dales CMHT, working alongside a consultant psychiatrist. The team covers a population of 31,360 people over the age of 65.

The team provides a dementia assessment, diagnostic and treatment service as well as mental health services to older people with mental health problems and frailty‑related complexities. We also accept referrals for young onset dementia patients. The team has good administrative support and co‑located social workers.

Main duties of the job

The expectation is that the postholder will attend daily huddles to support multi-disciplinary working and provide medical input and leadership for the team under supervision of the consultant psychiatrist, as well as providing supervision and advice to non‑medical prescribers.

Clinical contact each week will include complex initial assessments, dementia diagnostic appointments, and patient review appointments. The mix will be determined by the current demand of the team, with the expectation that there will be approximately fifteen to twenty patient appointments each week, the majority of which will be review or diagnostic appointments.

The vast majority of initial assessments for new referrals are seen by nursing colleagues but on occasion for more complex referrals or specific medication queries, the post‑holder may carry out the initial assessment. This will be the case for only small numbers of patients, around 1‑2 per week. The post holder would not tend to hold a personal caseload and the vast majority of patients are allocated to other colleagues as care coordinator or lead professional.

Person Specification

Teaching & Training

• Able to deliver undergraduate or postgraduate teaching and training.
• Evidence of achievement in education, research, audit and service improvement: awards, prizes, presentations and publications.
• Participated in continuous professional development.
• Evidence of annual appraisal and commitment to appraisal and revalidation.

Clinical Knowledge & Skills

• Good knowledge of psychiatry.
• Excellent clinical skills using bio‑psycho‑social perspective and wide medical knowledge.
• Able to manage clinical complexity and uncertainty.

Research, Audit & Quality Improvement

• Has actively participated in clinical audit.
• Shows commitment to quality through knowledge of quality improvement and lean thinking methodology.
• Participated in research and/or service improvement.

Experience

• At least 4 years postgraduate experience, including at least 2 years in a core psychiatry training programme in UK or abroad.
• Postgraduate experience in mental health services for older people.

Qualifications

• MB BS or equivalent medical qualification.
• Fully registered with the GMC with a licence to practice at the time of appointment.
• At least 4 years postgraduate experience, including at least 2 years in a core psychiatry training programme in UK or abroad.
• Approved under S12 of MHA or able to achieve within 6 months of appointment.
• In good standing with GMC with respect to warning and conditions on practice.

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.

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust