Principal Clinical Psychologist

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

This is an exciting opportunity to shape a brand-new formal leadership position as a Principal Clinical Psychologist / Deputy Service Lead at the North West Regional Spinal Injuries Centre located in Southport. You will be joining a whole new team that is being recruited into alongside the Consultant Clinical Psychologist / Service Lead, consisting of Senior Clinical Psychologists and a Counsellor.

All psychologists are trained in EMDR with new pathways being developed. There are ample service development opportunities to implement the standards and recommendations (BASCIS, 2023), to span from pre-admission outreach into the region's Major Trauma Centres to inpatients, develop values-based discharge planning etc. There are varying levels of complexity and needs, both for individuals, their carers / significant others and groups, as well as opportunities for staff training and systemic culture change. The service is looking to recruit dynamic staff who are keen to identify projects for quality improvement, research, publications and present at conferences.

Please note, this recruitment process will involve an assessment centre which is due to be held on 28th January 2025.

Main duties of the job

The Principal Clinical Psychologist will be responsible for further development and provision of the clinical psychology service within the NWRSIC at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The post holder will provide specialist assessment, treatment and consultancy services for individuals with spinal injuries and their families. The range of care provided embraces both that related to complex specialist care, as well as that related to generic care needs. The post holder will also provide a service in the areas of teaching and training, consultancy and staff support, and research and evaluation. Multidisciplinary care is achieved through liaising closely with other disciplines both within and outside the hospital.

Job responsibilities

KEY DUTIES

1. To provide a highly specialist clinical psychology service to inpatients within the NWRSIC, across the acute and rehabilitation wards with some outreach where clinically indicated.
2. To deliver and supervise highly specialist psychological assessment and treatment to adult inpatients at the NWRSIC, on an individual and group basis.
3. To provide advice and consultation regarding inpatients psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues.
4. To provide consultation to the NWRSIC outreach service regarding admission of inpatients with complex psychological / psychiatric needs.
5. To contribute to the strategic planning of clinical psychology services within the NWRSIC, with the aim of maintaining high levels of psychosocial care for patients.
6. To represent Clinical Psychology in the NWRSICs wider organisational and national forums.
7. To lead the planning, development and delivery of the Departments teaching and training commitments.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996, including specific models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.
• Professional registration as Practitioner Psychologist with HCPC.
• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
• Spinal Injuries and trauma CPD.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical psychology including highly developed specialist knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, particularly the literature pertaining to two or more distinct psychological therapies for use with adults, their families and carers.
• Highly developed skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, neuropsychological assessment and intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Knowledge and skills relevant to the assessment and treatment of people who have suffered a spinal injury or physical health trauma.
• A high level of ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers, and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• High level skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Knowledge of safeguarding, MHA and other key legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and supervision regarding work with children, young people adults and their families/carers.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists and professionals.
• An interest in healthcare leadership, management and promotion of Clinical Health Psychology.
• Advanced word processing skills. Advanced use of presentation software such as MS PowerPoint. Use of internet for searching documents and research. Use of email.
• Extensive experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist including in a specialist area.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups across the lifespan, with presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity, across a range of care settings including inpatients and outpatients.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client's psychological care and treatment both as a professionally qualified autonomous practitioner and also within the context of multidisciplinary care plan.
• Experience of working across different presentations, including trauma, establishing the most effective methods of working with adults and their carers.
• Substantial experience of contributing a psychological perspective within the context of multidisciplinary care.
• Substantial experience of supervising others as well as teaching and training.
• Demonstrable experience of conducting complex audit/research and service evaluation.
• Experience of supporting teams through change and contributing to transformation of services.
• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups.
• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in spinal injuries.
• Developed neuropsychological knowledge and/or training and qualification.
• Well-developed knowledge of theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies and assessment methodologies.
• Accreditation in a therapeutic modality relevant to working with spinal/physical trauma, in accordance with NICE guidance.
• Experience of working within the specialist field of spinal injuries with adults and their carers/families.
• Experience of working with trauma and clinical risk.
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of selection and recruitment of staff.

Personal

• Ability to sustain intense levels of concentration, responding and participating as required.
• Ability to self-reflect and use clinical supervision appropriately.
• Ability to cope and deal with highly distressing emotional circumstances.
• Ability to cope with unpleasant working conditions.

Other

• Ability to line manage psychology colleagues and have a deputised leadership role for the NWSIC psychology service.
• Working to professional guidelines.
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Ability to identify, provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
• Ability to articulate and clearly interpret the role of the profession of clinical psychology based upon a good understanding of the framework of government and national professional policy.
• Ability to travel between Trust sites in a timely way in order to meet clinical and service need.
• Experience of working within a multi-cultural framework.
• Record of having published in either peer reviewed or academic or professional journal and/or books.

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.

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Address

£62,215 to £72,293 a year, pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time, Job share, Flexible working, Compressed hours

Reference number

409-S6848420