Dr Ajay Bhatnager | Adult Acute and Crisis Mental Health Services | Our clinical directors

Dr Ajay Bhatnagar qualified as a doctor in medicine in 1991 in India.  He acquired a diploma in psychological counselling and worked as a GP with special interest in psychiatry until he came to the UK in 2000. Here he trained in psychiatry in the Guys, Kings and St Thomas training programme. Ajay became a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2004.

He joined Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust as an associate specialist with Dr Geraldine Strathdee in 2004, who encouraged him to take on higher training. As a SpR he gained  experience in forensic psychiatry and also completed a post graduate diploma in forensic mental health from St George’s University, London.

Ajay was appointed as a consultant psychiatrist in Greenwich in March 2008 and since then has worked in various inpatient and community settings in both Bromley and Greenwich Borough. He is passionate about teaching and has been actively involved in teaching medical students.

He was appointed to the position of a Firm Head in 2008 and subsequently became the teaching lead in the Trust. Ajay has authored a textbook chapter on schizophrenia in an Oxford publication.  He was awarded a honorary Senior clinical lecturer title by Kings college London and has won numerous awards for excellence in teaching, including in 2020 an education excellence award for his work for the GKT School of Medical Education.

In 2019 Ajay was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists as a mark of distinction and for contributions in the field of psychiatry. In August 2020 he took over as the clinical director in Greenwich.

He was appointed as the Clinical Director for the acute and crisis service line covering Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich in November 2021.