Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist

Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust; London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job description

Guy's and St Thomas' is among the UK's busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.

Guy's is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas' has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children's Hospital.

Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.

Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.

We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King's Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King's College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of 'good'. Our adult community services achieved a rating of 'outstanding'.

The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.

Job overview

We have a great opportunity for a Band 8a Practitioner Psychologist to join our innovative multidisciplinary Acute Stroke Service at St Thomas' Hospital. The post is advertised as a permanent contract for 37.5 hours / week. You will provide a specialist clinical service to people with a stroke and other neurological conditions, as well as senior support within the multidisciplinary team.

The Stroke Unit operates a robust clinical governance framework within the Medical Directorate and has completed successfully the key stroke standards set locally as well as consistently scoring a grade A at SSNAP (Stroke Sentinel National Audit Programme) level. There is a strong multidisciplinary education focus within the service and the unit is highly productive in its research delivery with Clinical Research Network stroke trials. The postholder would have chance to work closely with neuropsychology colleagues across the stroke pathway in managing complex cases.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for someone who is able to demonstrate:

1. specialist neuropsychological expertise in assessment and evidenced based approaches
2. strong collaborative working skills, alongside a positive and flexible approach
3. use of knowledge and experience to support teams with a stepped care model of psychological distress and complex clinical decision making

We can offer you:

1. a rewarding opportunity to build upon your prior experience and enhance your skills in an acute setting
2. clinical supervision from a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and a close network of psychology colleagues
3. close support from your line manager within the ward team
4. MDT and partnership working in a friendly and supportive team

Working for our organisation

Introduction to the Post

The Department of Stroke Medicine is seeking to recruit a 1.0 WTE Band 8a Psychologist to join an enthusiastic, dynamic and forward thinking multidisciplinary team on the Stroke and Neurorehabilitation Unit at St Thomas' Hospital. The post-holder will be responsible for the ongoing development and delivery of a high quality specialist neuropsychology service within the unit. The post-holder will exercise autonomous professional responsibility for his/her own actions to provide specialist psychological, behavioural and neuropsychological assessment and interventions for adults with stroke and neurological conditions.

The post holder will be expected to participate in the teaching and research programmes of the department. The postholder will be supported and supervised by a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and work closely with community-based colleagues. The postholder will join a large and dynamic team of Clinical and Health Psychologists at GSTT, with opportunities for CPD, peer supervision and collaboration.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Important: Please see Job Advert / JD / PS for further details

Interviews will be held on: TBC

Please feel free to contact us for informal discussion or further information about the post.

For further details / informal visits contact:

• Angela Roots, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Stroke and Neurorehabilitation
• [e-mail]
• Dr Laura Smith, Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist
• [e-mail]

Person specification

Knowledge/ Qualifications

Essential criteria

• BSc (Hons) in Psychology
• Doctorate level qualification in clinical psychology, counselling psychology or health psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS)
• HCPC Registration as Practitioner Psychologist
• Full member of the BPS division of clinical, health or counselling psychology

Desirable criteria

• A track record of conference presentations and publications in clinical area or a related area.
• Completion of or interest in attaining the Qualification in Clinical Neuropsychology.

Previous experience

Essential criteria

• Experience delivering highly skilled psychological assessments, interventions, follow-up and data monitoring across at least 2 populations utilising at least 2 therapeutic models including CBT.
• Consolidated experience of working as a qualified practitioner psychologist
• Experience of working with a client group of adults presenting with acquired neurological difficulties.
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of supervising pre-qualified psychologists including post-graduate students and other disciplines.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of patients with physical health problems and a range of neuropsychological needs of a complex nature
• Experience of working at the Highly Specialist Level in a Clinical Neuropsychology post.
• Experience of working a stroke or neurorehabilitation service.
• Experience of working within a physical health context within the full range of acute and community contexts.

Skills

Essential criteria

• Ability to cope with challenging caseloads and ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Ability to work as an autonomous practitioner with appropriate level of clinical and managerial supervision.
• Ability to assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
• Knowledge of MCA and MHA legislation in relation to the client group.
• Ability to or working towards a supervision qualification with a view of supervising band 7 psychologist and pre-qualified psychologists with a clear understanding of the theory and practice of psychology.

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of Stroke and Neurorehabilitation clinical guidance documents.
• Knowledge of a range of neuropsychological assessment tools
• Knowledge and/or skills in facilitating reflective practice for multi-disciplinary teams
• Knowledge of models of coping and adjustment to a long-term condition.

Additional Information

Essential criteria

• Must be capable of identifying and employing, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive situations and challenging behaviour.
• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings
• A commitment to promoting equality of opportunity through all aspects of working and professional practice with both colleagues and all client groups
• Willingness to broaden range of skills and take initiative in both own professional development and the development of the service
• The post holder may be required to travel between sites

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working within a multi-cultural environment.

Guy's and St Thomas' celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitably according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or studies at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.

Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.

As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.

Flexible working

We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work-life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking into account the individual's personal circumstances as well as the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.

Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.

Please apply for this post by clicking "Apply Online Now."

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• JD and PS Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist (PDF, 456.4KB)
• FRF Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist (PDF, 151.8KB)