Clinical Psychologist

NHS; Cheltenham; On-site; GBP 53,000 - 61,000

Job description

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

We are looking for an experienced and enthusiastic Clinical Psychologist to work at Charlton Lane Hospital in Cheltenham. Charlton Lane is a 48-bedded Later Life Mental Health Inpatient unit with three wards - two focused on functional illness and the third specialising in dementia.

The post encompasses a variety of roles including individual therapy and carer support as well as behavioural and neuropsychological assessment. The psychology service also supports psychological care in the hospital through the provision of training, supervision, consultation, formulation and facilitation of reflective practice with staff. The post holder will also provide supervision and leadership for other psychology colleagues working in the hospital including a band 4 Assistant Psychologist.

We are particularly keen that psychological care for patients with dementia is valued and emphasized, and that the post holder supports the ward team who work in this area.

The hospital benefits from good interdisciplinary relationships and a growing understanding of the role psychology can play. We have a dedicated therapy suite, secretarial support, office space and car parking with potential facilities for family therapy. Allied professional resources include a sensory room and committed OT and Physio services.

We welcome discussion/applications both from those with the relevant experience and HCPC registration.

Main duties of the job

This post will suit an outgoing, mature and resilient person with an understanding of how to develop strong interdisciplinary relationships and a good reputation within an inpatient environment. Other useful characteristics will be a flexible, approachable and pro-active working style and a commitment to improving patient-focused and psychologically informed care.

We are keen to support the professional development of psychology staff and would encourage the post holder to consider and pursue further training opportunities in relation to leadership and/or relevant therapeutic modalities.

The successful candidate will join the collective group of Psychologists specialising in work with older people across the whole of Gloucestershire. The team currently comprises a Consultant Lead Psychologist, seven Clinical Psychologists and two assistants. We meet regularly for CPD, clinical and professional supervision and to work on joint service development and training projects. There are also good links with the local Clinical Psychology Training Course at Bath University with psychologists in Gloucestershire inputting to the Older Adult teaching programme, having trainees on placement and contributing to the selection process.

Job responsibilities

• To carry a caseload and provide a direct service for psychological issues which demand more than a standard therapeutic approach. (e.g. low intensity psychological interventions may have been tried unsuccessfully, methods may need significant adaptation, particular challenges exist in maintaining a therapeutic relationship.)
• To draw appropriately from a range of assessment tools and methodologies including relevant neuropsychological tests. To interpret and integrate complex data and information from a variety of sources to develop psychological formulations and identify the most relevant intervention strategy. To monitor and evaluate progress, refining formulations and interventions as necessary. To assess and manage risk within an appropriate psychological framework.
• To evaluate and make decisions about assessment and treatment options taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models, highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group, and the views of other professionals involved.
• To plan and prioritise workload, exercising autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment, and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based care plans.
• To work primarily within a multi-disciplinary approach/team where a variety of opinion and expertise is brought to bear on a situation.
• To maintain appropriate records in electronic or hard copy in line with Trust policies and Professional guidelines. To include workload data and word processing skills to produce client related reports.

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Registered as Practitioner Psychologist with the HCPC
• Post Graduate doctoral level training in Clinical Psychology (or equivalent Applied Psychology qualification), as accredited by the B.P.S

Extent and Nature of Experience

• Receipt of at least 25 hours clinical supervision while working at a highly specialist level in a directly relevant area and in an increasingly autonomous capacity
• Evidence in application of Psychological knowledge to improve and develop practice in work to date
• Experience of maintaining working relationships and a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical aggression.
• Broad range of post-qualification experience
• Examples of contributing to service development initiatives

Personal Skills and Abilities/Attributes

• Emotional robustness to frequently work with the intense distress of others.
• Ability to work within a multidisciplinary team and promote psychological interventions as appropriate.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

£53,755 to £60,504 a year (pro rata)