Principal Clinical Psychologist - £7k Incentive*

Lancashire Care Foundation Trust; Preston; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 80,000

Job description

Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism and community based services for the populations we serve.

As an integrated mental health, learning disability and community Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including:

1. Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, forensic services including low and medium secure care.
2. Specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
3. Community physical health and well-being services for children and adults.

The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,000 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health and general nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers.

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust supports flexible working, believing that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, home/remote working, and flexi-time.

Job overview

Role: 1.0WTE Lead Psychologist, Access and Urgent Care Services Central Lancashire (0.5WTE Central Lancashire Home Based Treatment Team & 0.5WTE Acute Therapy Service).

Band: 8B

Network: Central and West Locality

Tenure: Permanent

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Lead Psychologist for Access & Urgent Care Services across the footprint of Central and West Lancashire. We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual, who has a proven track record of clinical leadership. The successful applicant must be able to demonstrate a robust understanding of collaborative working.

Main duties of the job

The above exciting opportunity has arisen as a result of investment in the Clinical Psychology resource within the Urgent Care Pathway. This senior post will contribute to short-term interventions, as well as supervision, service development, and research as appropriate. The post-holder will be joining a supportive team of nine Clinical Psychologists and one CBT Therapist across various teams in the Central and West Lancashire Locality. We have good links with the Lancaster, Liverpool and Manchester training courses, and strongly support CPD.

Working for our organisation

*The £7k Welcome Bonus package applies to this role.

*The Welcome Bonus is only available to candidates who are not currently employed (or who have not been employed in the last 12 months) by any NHS provider Trust in the Lancashire & South Cumbria (LSC) Integrated Care System (ICS) in a like-for-like role or core profession. For example, a Band 6 Occupational Therapist / Social Worker / Mental Health Nurse at another Trust in the LSC ICS would not be eligible for the bonus if moving to a Band 6 Occupational Therapist / Social Worker / Mental Health Nurse role at LSCFT or in a role such as Mental Health Practitioner Role that requires the same profession.

These trusts are:

• University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust
• East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
• Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Bank only workers for Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust are eligible for the scheme if they have not held a substantive role in Lancashire & South Cumbria Integrated Care System in the last 12 months (subject to all other terms and conditions being met). These incentives are subject to recovery clauses within the first 6 months of employment. This bonus is applicable from 1st July 2024 - 30th April 2025.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The £7k Welcome Bonus package is designed to attract and retain the very best staff in post. The amount a new starter would receive is shown in the Welcome Bonus Payment Schedule below:

• £3,000 after 2 months of employment (counted from start date with LSCFT)
• £2,000 after 12 months
• £2,000 after 24 months

PLEASE NOTE: This bonus scheme is subject to a repayment clause should the post holder leave this role within 6 months of commencing employment.

Person specification

Qualifications
Essential criteria

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS

Knowledge
Essential criteria

• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
• Knowledge of legislation and its implications in relation to the client group and mental health

Experience
Essential criteria

• Substantial assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist at senior level
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of multidisciplinary care plans
• Experience of teaching, training and supervising

Skills
Essential criteria

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Please be aware that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when submitting an application is monitored and if you have used AI to generate an application, you are required to declare this on your application form. Failure to do so may result in your application being withdrawn.

We want to highlight the importance of integrity and authenticity in your application form and ask you to use AI tools responsibly to ensure your application form is a true reflection of your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Please consider that AI-generated content may lack specificity and fail to address key criteria outlined in the job description providing impersonal and inaccurate information.

Please ensure that you read the person specification attached below as your application will be measured against this document.

Applications from job share partners are welcome and other forms of flexible working will be considered for all posts.

For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).

You are advised to consider applying for LSCft vacancies as soon as possible as in some instances vacancies are closed as soon as a sufficient number of applications have been received. If you are not invited to interview within three weeks of the closing date then please assume that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful, as it is not possible to contact all unsuccessful candidates.

LSCft is committed to celebrating difference as an asset and we know that recruiting talent from diverse backgrounds helps to create a more flexible, creative and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from people regardless of age, disability (particularly those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion or belief or sexual orientation. Our goal is for the Trust to be truly representative of the communities we serve so we are particularly keen to receive applications from people in under-represented groups. If there is anything you'd like to discuss in relation to your application then please ask.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

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 PS (PDF, 400.4KB)
• NHS Staff Benefits - 2023 (PDF, 556.9KB)
• We Do More at LSCFT (PDF, 654.2KB)