SOUTH WESTERN DEANERY - South West Peninsula Deanery

POST:
TRAINER:
EMPLOYING TRUST:
TRAINING BASE:
Old Age Liaison Psychiatry
Dr Colm Owens
Devon Partnership NHS Trust
Wonford House Hospital Exeter/ Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital
JOB DESCRIPTION: The Older People’s Liaison Psychiatry Service was set up in July 2010 it is provided by the
Devon Partnership Trust but hosted by the Royal Devon & Exeter acute trust. All patients aged over 65 (or
patients of any age where a dementia is present) who require psychiatric input are eligible to be assessed by
the service. Patients with both functional and organic problems are seen.
The work is hugely varied and involves everything from advice on placement and psychotropic medications to
complex neuropsychiatric assessments and brief psychotherapies. Team members also attend ward based
multi-disciplinary meetings and are involved in teaching nursing and medical staff about mental health and
related matters.
The team consists of a full time consultant psychiatrist, a band 7 Clinical Team Leader, three band 6 specialist
nurses, a part time foundation doctor and full time admin and secretarial support.
Medical SpRs join the team for attachments, as well as medical students.
The OPMH Liaison Service is co-located with the younger adults’ liaison service and the Research and
Development team at Wonford House Hospital in Exeter. Patients are seen in the Emergency Department,
Acute Admissions unit and inpatient wards at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital which is next door to
Wonford House.
This post would suit either an old age trainee or a trainee who was considering working in Liaison Psychiatry.
In addition to the allocated sessions for educational and clinical supervision, there will be regular clinical
contact with the consultant for discussion of cases etc. The timetable for the ST4-6 trainee is flexible and will
depend on the training needs of the doctor. It is anticipated that the workload will consist of a mixture of
reviews, consultation advice and support to the team and acute medical staff, together with single handed and
multi-disciplinary assessments.
The cornerstone of liaison psychiatry work is education and it is expected that the higher trainee would take
part in teaching programmes in the general hospital for junior doctors and nursing staff.
Any pre-existing special interest sessions and research projects would be fully supported. Dr Owens would be
extremely happy to work with the trainee to develop special interests and research projects. The team have
close links with both the trust Research and Development department and medical consultants and teams in
the acute trust. Audit projects would be strongly encouraged and fully supervised.
There is a well attended journal club and education meeting every week. The trainee may also wish to consider
attending medical grand rounds in the acute trust.
Dr Owens has been a consultant for three years and is familiar with the training needs of ST4-6s and the
preparation required for consultant interviews and transition. He is currently the clinical director for Older
People’s Mental Health and there would be opportunities for exposure to and project work in management
and service development. He has interests in psychodynamic psychotherapy, neuropsychiatry and medical
education.
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