Liaison Psychiatry
Many of the people who use our Liaison Psychiatry Service are referred from the general hospital and have been receiving treatment for physical health problems. They often say it can be confusing and sometimes frightening for them to be referred to a “mental health team”.
Our team has produced a short film to help people understand what the service does, who it is for and how it helps people.
The film features three people; Val, Russ and Yvonne, who have benefited from the service. They agreed to talk on film about their experiences of mental health difficulties and describe how they developed psychological difficulties after becoming physically unwell, and how working with our team helped improve both their mental health and their quality of life.
The film also features Dr Chris Hosker, Medical Director at our Trust, who talks about how the service works.
The Leeds Liaison Psychiatry Service has a number of specialist sub-teams split into outpatient, acute and inpatient service groups.
Liaison Psychiatry Outpatient Services
The outpatient team has particular expertise in addressing problems that have arisen at the interface between mental and physical health. We offer assessment and treatment to people who have a mixture of psychological and physical difficulties.
Leeds and West Yorkshire ME / CFS Service
This is a specialist NHS service that seeks to meet the needs of people who have a diagnosis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).
Find out more on our ME/CFS Service webpage.
Psychosexual Medicine Service
The psychosexual medicine service provides a service for people experiencing sexual problems such as impaired sexual interest or arousal, erectile problems, ejaculatory problems, orgasmic problems, vaginismus, dyspareunia and sexual aversion/phobias.
Acute services
In-reach Liaison Psychiatry Team
The Liaison Psychiatry In-reach Service accepts referrals for general hospital inpatients aged 18 to 64 years who are receiving treatment at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT), who staff feel are presenting with a mental health condition.
The aim of this service is to provide a biopsychosocial assessment, formulation, treatment and management plan for the wide range of mental health conditions associated with physical health problems, which present on the wards of Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) and St James’s Hospital.
Healthcare professionals at LTHT can refer service users into the Liaison Psychiatry Inreach Service using the details below:
- LGI and Chapel Allerton
Telephone referrals can be made from Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm, tel: 0113 392 3204 - St James’ Hospital and Seacroft Hospital
Telephone referrals can be made from Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00 pm, tel: 0113 855 6730.
The service operates Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm. Out-of-hours cover is provided by on-call psychiatry core trainees and referrals can be made by calling our Trust’s switchboard on 0113 85 55000.
Acute Liaison Psychiatry Service (ALPS)
Our Acute Liaison Psychiatry Service (ALPS) consists of a team of multidisciplinary mental health professionals who have specific expertise in helping people who harm themselves or have acute mental health problems.
The team operates over a 24 hour period, seven days a week, assessing men and women over the age of 18 years who are experiencing acute mental health problems and present to either of the Leeds’ Emergency Departments, or those who have self-harmed and are in either St James’s Hospital or LGI.
Healthcare professionals can make referrals into ALPS 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling our Trust’s switchboard on 0113 85 55000.
Inpatient services
National Inpatient Centre for Psychological Medicine
The National Inpatient Centre for Psychological Medicine (NICPM) is based at Leeds General Infirmary and offers an eight bed inpatient unit. The service delivers biopsychosocial care for people with complex medically unexplained symptoms or co-existing physical and psychological disorders.
Find out more on the NICPM webpage.
Get in touch
Our Liaison Psychiatry Service is based across three different locations:
- The Department of Liaison Psychiatry (St. James’ Hospital) at The Becklin Centre, tel: 0113 85 56730
- The Department of Liaison Psychiatry (Leeds General Infirmary) in the Rose Garden Suite at
- Leeds General Infirmary, tel: 0113 392 3204
- The Leeds and West Yorkshire Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / ME Service at The Newsam Centre, tel: 0113 85 56330 / 56331 / 56334.