Principal Practitioner Psychologist - Eastbourne Acute & Urgent Care

NHS; Eastbourne; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job description

We are recruiting to this post as either an 8b Principal Practitioner Psychologist or 8a/8b Preceptorship opportunity depending on experience. The job will be to provide a clinical service, alongside colleagues, for our working age acute wards and crisis team in Eastbourne and Seaford, and professional leadership for our acute and urgent care psychology and psychological therapy colleagues across East Sussex.

The Eastbourne urgent care service is well established, and this would be an excellent opportunity to develop your clinical and leadership expertise alongside a team of committed colleagues in psychology, psychological therapy and other disciplines.

There is considerable scope to be part of exciting developments under way in East Sussex mental health services. We are currently spearheading the establishment of a dedicated Multiple Admissions Patient Pathway (MAPP) with consultant psychologist leadership based on the systemic principles of Open Dialogue. This post would work alongside MAPP and have supervision and support from the MAPP consultant.

We are building a new hospital in Bexhill to replace our inpatient services at the Department of Psychiatry. This means that, if you are successful in your application, you will be asked to transfer to the new facilities when they open in 2025.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will ensure that the multi-disciplinary teams have access to a psychological opinion, and contribute to the development of psychological thinking, understanding and interventions/approaches within the multi-disciplinary teams. As well as offering consultation, assessments and focused, short-term individual and group interventions, they will contribute to the training and clinical supervision of other staff and offer reflective practice opportunities.

The post holder will also provide leadership and supervision to the other psychological staff in the Eastbourne mental health urgent care. They will also support in the supervision of psychological colleagues those in the other urgent care team in Hastings.

About us

The post holder will be a part of the wider East Sussex Psychological Professions group who work closely together and collaborate to promote and support the development and implementation of effective psychological services across our county. They will also be part of the Trust's Adult Acute Psychological network, which provides specialist guidance and support on governance and best practice, including specialty CPD days.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is a leading teaching and research mental health trust. We were granted teaching status in 2008 in recognition of our research background and our links with the Brighton and Sussex Medical School and other academic institutions. Currently we are in the top 12 mental health trusts in terms of research participants. Applicants with an interest in research will be welcomed.

Working here offers continued training and development, variety and a rewarding challenge, plus the benefits of living in Sussex, by the sea, in the beautiful South Downs or in any one of the exciting towns and cities we have to offer.

If you would like to ask anything or have a chat about this opportunity, please do get in touch.

Job responsibilities

The successful candidate will ensure that the multi-disciplinary teams have access to a psychological opinion, and contribute to the development of psychological thinking, understanding and interventions/approaches within the multi-disciplinary teams. As well as offering consultation, assessments (ideally including neuropsychological assessment) and focused, short-term individual and group interventions, they will contribute to the training and clinical supervision of other staff and offer reflective practice opportunities.

The successful post holder must be flexible, confident and thrive on working within a multidisciplinary context. Experience or specialist skills in working with specific conditions, such as psychosis or personality disorders would be useful, as would a systemic or psychodynamic understanding of teams. Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is committed to the delivery of high quality, safe, effective, and therapeutic adult acute services based upon innovation and evidence-based practice.

Please see job description for further details.

For further information, or to arrange an informal visit, please contact: Patrick McGuinness, Lead Psychologist East Sussex Division

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 or outside the UK] as approved by the HCPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council (HCPC)

Knowledge/Experience

• Significant assessed experience of working as a qualified psychologist
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings 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 coordinator and also within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group.
• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies and assessment methodologies
• Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists

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.

Department of Psychiatry, Eastbourne District General Hospital