Chris Abbott

Chris joined the Tavistock and Portman in August 2023 and has worked in the NHS since qualifying in 2007.

Chris was previously Associate Medical Director for CAMHS at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (taking up post the day the first Covid 19 lock down was announced). He led on CAMHS provision for Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Croydon throughout the pandemic ensuring services could continue to function and helped set up alternative to A&E space for CAMHS presentations during the first lock down.

Chris has led on CAMHS benchmarking and activity definitions for NHS benchmarking across all-London CAMHS providers. He was the Lead Clinician for Lambeth CAMHS and responsible for the restructure of the service based on the THRIVE model and secured £900K to support this.

Chris has also worked as a consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in a community crisis service specialising in psychosis and high-risk adolescents. This was a service that Chris was responsible for setting up in 2015, securing funding and growing the team from two staff to ten.

He is also actively involved in research into early onset psychosis in adolescents with three published papers in the last 12 months.