Emergency CAMH experience as a higher trainee

As a senior trainee you would take part in the psychiatry second on-call rota, which could vary depending on the area. You could also be included in a day on call rota for CAMHS emergencies specifically in certain trusts.

If you are training in Cambridge you will be included in the child and adolescent day on call rota for Addenbrooke’s hospital. This means that you go to work as usual at 9:00am. You are considered being on call from 9:00am to 5:00pm. The first and second on call clinicians based at Brookside Family Consultation Clinic, Cambridge would call you if advice or additional help is needed for an assessment of a young person who presented at A&E or is on one of the paediatric ward at Addenbrooke’s hospital. On occasions a telephone advice is sufficient. At other times you go and see a patient at the general hospital. If you need advice from a senior you can contact the CAMHS consultant on call. The day on call rota provides you with additional opportunity to learn how to manage young people at a time of crisis.  

If you are training in Ipswich, you could ask to be included in the CAMHS Day on call system from 9:00am to 5:00pm. You would be the second point of call to respond to emergencies within the East of Suffolk. 

In some trusts you are required to be on the general Tier 2 on call Rota where you would be dealing with emergencies of all different patient groups. In other trust you could ask to be on the Rota (such as CPFT) if you need more experience. It would be useful to read the induction booklet for more information on specific trusts