Specialist Senior Clinical Psychologist (Annex 21)

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity at a newly developing Psychology Service 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 a Principal Clinical Psychologist / Deputy, Senior Clinical Psychologists (Band 7 Preceptorship considered) and a Counsellor. All psychologists are trained in EMDR.

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 Centre 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 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.

Main duties of the job

• 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.
• To support the ongoing development and delivery of a highly specialist clinical psychology service and supervise junior colleagues as needed.
• To deliver highly specialist psychological assessment and treatment to adult inpatients at the NWRSIC, on an individual and group basis.
• To provide advice and consultation regarding inpatients' psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues.
• To provide consultation to the NWRSIC outreach service regarding admission of inpatients with complex psychological / psychiatric needs.
• 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.
• To represent Clinical Psychology in aspects of the NWRSIC's wider organisational development.
• To contribute to the planning, development and delivery of the Department's teaching and training commitments.

About us

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Date posted

16 April 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£53,755 to £60,504 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

409-6634769

Job locations

Southport General Hospital, Southport, PR8 6PN

Job description Job responsibilities

Please see Attached Job Description for full details.

To provide specialist psychological assessments of adults referred to the Clinical Psychology Service based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of highly complex psychological data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in a person's care.

To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a person's psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the person's problems, and employing methods of proven efficacy as appropriate for their age and physical health condition, across a range of contexts including inpatients and outpatients.

To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individual adults and groups, adjusting and refining psychological formulations, drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account their physical health condition, current medical treatment, both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual.

To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based treatment plans.

To ensure that professionals in other agencies have access to a psychologically based formulation and treatment plan for adults within the service, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory.

To screen/assess and manage factors which may indicate a level of psychological or physical risk for individuals, and to provide general advice to other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management.

To coordinate multi-agency or multi-disciplinary input, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of psychological treatment, and communicating effectively with the service user and all others involved in the network of care, and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary interventions.

To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of service users under their care and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of care. To communicate highly complex and/or sensitive information to service users and other professionals involved in their care.

To refer on to appropriate agencies/professionals for treatment or an opinion that is in the person's best interests.

To provide expertise and specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to the person's diagnosis, formulation and intervention plan.

To demonstrate awareness of potential communication difficulties and/or cultural considerations and, where appropriate, adapt professional practice accordingly, involving identification of, and effective liaison with, appropriate support services (e.g., advocacy, family support, translators).

Advertising Date - 16th Apr 2025

Closing Date - 7th May 2025

Proposed Interview Date - 10th Jun 2025

Person Specification Qualifications Essential

• Post-graduate doctoral level training (or equivalent) in clinical psychology, 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.

Desirable

• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Knowledge Essential

• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical psychology including highly developed specialist knowledge of clinical psychology in physical health, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, particularly the literature pertaining to two or more distinct psychological therapies for adults referred to Clinical Health Psychology.
• Skills in the use of highly complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• A high level of ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to adults, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology.
• Knowledge of safeguarding vulnerable adults and other key legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and supervision regarding work with adults and their families/carers.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.
• Ability to plan and prioritise own clinical workload and research programmes.
• Advanced word processing skills. Advanced use of presentation software such as MS PowerPoint. Use of internet for searching documents and research. Use of email.

Desirable

• Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in Spinal trauma.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies and assessment methodologies.
• Experience of conducting holistic and comprehensive assessments for the purpose of producing psychological reports.
• Completion of supervisor training to enable the supervision of practicing Clinical Psychologists/ trainees.
• Skills in the use of statistical packages such as SPSS. Use of MS EXCEL or similar spreadsheets to analyse data numerically and graphically.

Skills Essential

• Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist at a specialist level.
• Experience of working with adults with long term physical health problems in a hospital setting.
• Experience of working with adults with complex psychological presentations.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified autonomous practitioner and also within the context of a multidisciplinary treatment plan.

Desirable

• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
• Experience of assessing and treating adults across the full range of care settings, particularly inpatient and outpatient.
• Experience of working in pain management and complex pain.
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of working with clinical risk.

Other Essential

• Ability to sit in constrained positions when working with clients.
• Ability to sustain intense levels of concentration, responding and participating as required.
• Ability to self-reflect and use clinical supervision appropriately.

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.

Employer details

Employer name: Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Address: Southport General Hospital, Southport, PR8 6PN

Employer's website

https://www.merseywestlancs.nhs.uk/