Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist (Psychological Medicine)
The closing date is 01 May 2026
Applications are invited for this post in Psychological Medicine / Liaison Psychiatry at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The post-holder will join the flagship Acute Trust Psychological Medicine Centre, which comprises 13 consultant psychiatrists and more than 40 psychologists.
Oxford University Hospitals offers an exceptional opportunity to excel in the field of Psychological Medicine. The award‑winning Psychological Medicine Centre provides an innovative, fully‑integrated approach to meeting psychological and psychiatric needs within medical and surgical specialties and across the lifespan. Our psychiatrists and psychologists work as members of medical and surgical teams. As well as seeing patients and families in the inpatient and outpatient settings, they support their colleagues to deliver holistic, biopsychosocial care for all the Trust's patients.
Our unique setting provides an exceptional range of clinical exposure. The Trust delivers the full spectrum of secondary and tertiary specialties, and our consultant team boasts several members with subspecialty expertise including maternity, neuropsychiatry, psycho‑oncology, ITU psychiatry, and child and adolescent liaison psychiatry.
Join us at the Oxford University Hospitals Psychological Medicine Centre where your skills will thrive, your expertise will be honed, and your contribution to patient care will make a significant impact.
Main duties of the job
The specialty area for this post will be predominantly in Acute General Medicine services, but there is scope to work in other areas our service covers in parallel, and in due course other specialties too. The appointee will work alongside a large number of psychiatrists and psychologists, who are integrated into medical teams across the Trust.
This is a Trust appointment with a base at the John Radcliffe Hospital site.
The appointment is on a whole‑time basis. However applications are welcome from those who wish to job‑share or who, for personal reasons, cannot work full‑time. If such a person is appointed, job content will be modified on a personal basis in consultation with the clinical lead and consultant colleagues.
This post would suit a psychiatrist with a CCT in adult psychiatry or a dual CCT in adult and old‑age psychiatry and experience of working in an acute hospital setting. An endorsement in liaison psychiatry is not essential.
Senior trainees in the final months of their training are eligible to apply.
About us
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the country. It provides a wide range of general and specialist clinical services and is a base for medical education, training and research. www.ouh.nhs.uk
The Trust comprises four hospitals – the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.
The Trust is committed to being an active partner in healthcare innovation, research and workforce education, with the aim of forming an effective bridge between research in basic science and in healthcare service provision, and the delivery of evidence‑based, best‑practice care, turning today's discoveries into tomorrow's care. We also enjoy a close partnership with a world‑class university, offering unparalleled research and teaching opportunities.
Our values, standards and behaviours define the quality of clinical care we offer and the professional relationships we make with our patients, colleagues and the wider community. We call this Delivering Compassionate Excellence and its focus is on our values of compassion, respect, learning, delivery, improvement and excellence. These values put patients at the heart of what we do and underpin the quality healthcare we would like for ourselves or a member of our family.
Job responsibilities
The John Radcliffe Hospital provides a full range of acute medical and surgical services including maternity, trauma, intensive care, cardiothoracic and clinical neurosciences services.
This post is predominantly focused on acute general medicine. The time spent seeing patients as part of the integrated team and other activities will be agreed with the post‑holder in their collaboratively produced job plan, which will in turn reflect the agreement with the relevant medical service. As an indicator of the direct patient care activity a consultant working in the medical team might expect to see on average 10 new and 20 follow‑up patients each week.
As part of the consultant (emergency cover, daytime) rota, periodically the post‑holder will also be expected to work at any of the Trust's other locations: the Churchill Hospital (specialties including renal and transplant, intensive care, haematology, oncology and palliative care services), the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (a specialist orthopaedic hospital, which also houses rheumatology and rehabilitation) and the Horton General Hospital (HGH) in Banbury, a smaller associated District General Hospital. The psychiatric service to the emergency departments is provided by the local mental health trust.
The post‑holder will be a consultant of the Acute Trust and will work as a member of one or more of the Trust's medical teams.
The post‑holder will have the opportunity to collaborate with academic colleagues on relevant clinical research projects.
The specific medical team(s) the appointee works in will be negotiated according to availability and the applicant's preference.
Person Specification
Qualifications/Training
* CCT in general adult psychiatry/old age psychiatry or shortly to achieve CCT at time of interview (within 6 months) or CESR
* GMC with licence to practice
* Successfully completed training in general psychiatry/old age psychiatry including some recent experience in a medical setting
* Recognised Medical Degree
* CCST sub‑specialty accreditation in liaison psychiatry or CCT in general adult psychiatry with equivalent to one year's supervised training in liaison psychiatry
* Section 12 and Approved Clinician (or eligibility for Section 12 and Approved Clinician)
* Training in other relevant specialties
Experience
* Significant recent experience in adult and/or old age psychiatry
* Evidence of ability to make decisions at consultant level and to manage complex clinical problems
* Experience working in medical settings
* Previous experience of working at consultant level
Skills and Knowledge
* Evidence of ability to provide leadership to a multidisciplinary clinical team at the level required of a consultant in a teaching hospital
* Effective administrative and time‑management skills
* Evidence of significant contribution to successful teamwork
* Able to work flexibly in response to the changing needs of services
* Familiarity with information technology and general computer skills
* Highly developed communication and interpersonal skills
* Ability to work effectively with physicians, surgeons, nurses and other staff who have not had specific mental health training
* Evidence of formal and informal contributions to teaching and training including medical students
* Ability to provide training and education to staff who have not had specific mental health experience or training
* Evidence of effective and sustained contribution to clinical governance, clinical risk management and clinical audit activities
* Evidence of understanding of clinical research and experience of audit and/or research
* Evidence of reflection on own practice
* Training or experience in clinical management
* Knowledge of the organisation of the NHS
* Evidence of significantly enhanced capability in a relevant area of psychiatry
* Evidence of ability to effectively explain psychiatric illness and treatments to other professionals and patients
* Evidence of skill in training and supervising non‑mental‑health‑trained medical, nursing and other staff
* Experience of effective participation in delivering clinical research
Other Requirements
* Transport and availability: Must have access to appropriate transport to undertake duties linked to the post
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.
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
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