Principal Clinical Psychologist

Band 8b
Job summary
Are you an enthusiastic and highly motivated clinical or counselling psychologist with a commitment to sharing specialist knowledge and skills in the context of community neuro rehab? This new post offers a rare and exciting opportunity to work as a senior psychologist and trust wide leader at Sussex Community Trust. The Trust is proud to be at the forefront of integrated physical and mental health approaches to patient care and employs psychological practitioners across a wide range of teams to support people living with long term conditions. The post holder would have the opportunity to be part of the Trust Psychological Professions Forum with highly valued network and learning forums.

• To work as a senior Clinical Psychologist in the context of community neuro rehab and integrated physical and mental health psychology provision.
• To work as a trust wide leader for community neuro psychology, representing, setting standards and governance for the recruitment and delivery of psychology services within community neuro rehab.
• To lead on strategic developments that are especially relevant to neuro psychology, including community neuro rehab and stroke pathways.

Main duties of the job

• To work as a core member of an identified multidisciplinary neurological rehabilitation team
• To carry a clinical caseload and to ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist neuropsychology service to adults living with a neurological condition and to their carers.
• To support the psychological assessment and therapeutic interventions provided by other clinical members of the service who provide psychologically based care and treatments.
• To offer specialist advice and consultation to patients' psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to non-professional carers
• To provide consultation, training, and support to the MDT and to other professionals working with people with neurological conditions, and to mainstream mental health teams.
• To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice
• To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research
• To propose and implement policy changes within the Community Neurological Rehabilitation Team
• The post holder is expected to drive between visits using their own car and will be required to travel to other office/ hospital-based locations across the Trust for meetings, training and supervision.

About us
We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex. Our 6,000 staff serve a population of 1.3 million providing essential medical, nursing, and therapeutic care to adults and children.
Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community, helping people plan, manage, adapt to changes in their health, supporting avoidable hospital admissions and reducing hospital stay times.
We have opportunities for everyone across our wide variety of services including medical, clinical, support and corporate services.
Why work for us?

• Positive 2022 NHS Staff Survey results, scoring highly in compassionate culture & leadership, and staff wellbeing support
• Variety of working environments across the community, in patients' homes, within our community hospitals and bases across the county
• Supportive flexible working patterns such as: part time, flexi time, annualised hours, and flexi retirement options
• Excellent training and development opportunities
• Research opportunities
• Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove and Brighton
• Thriving BAME, Disability and Wellbeing, LGBT+ and Religion and Belief staff networks
• Level 3 accredited Disability Confident Leader, committed to creating inclusive workplaces
• Veteran Aware Trust, achieving accreditation from Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA)
• Located in stunning Sussex, with easy access to the South Downs and the coast
• Access to a wide range of benefits and discounts for NHS staff

Job description
Job responsibilities
Main tasks
The post-holder will:

• Work autonomously as a clinician within the community neuro rehab MDT; providing psychological, neuropsychological assessment and interventions.
• Provide specialist supervision to other Clinical Psychologists working in the context of community neuro rehab (across at least 3 other teams) and other psychology practitioner roles as required.
• Provide responsive clinical leadership to strategic developments in the context of neuro rehab with both internal and external key stakeholders.
• Ensure a comprehensive assessment which may include psychological and neuro-psychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations, and semi-structured interviews with patients.
• Formulate and devise psychological treatment plans, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the patients problems, and employ methods based upon evidence of efficacy.
• Adjust and refine psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
• Provide reports and communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans for patients.
• Provide highly specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals, to assist in the formulation, diagnosis and treatment of patients.
• Treat each patient and their support network with dignity and respect taking into account their cultural differences and needs within the service.
• Interpret and integrate complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and self-report measures.
• Receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior Clinical Psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues.
• Provide teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT staffs psychological work as appropriate.
• Ensure the development and maintenance of the highest personal standards of practice, maintaining MaST requirements and through active participation in internal and external CPD training.
• Maintain an up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues of relevance to the service and patient group.
• Maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording.
• Exercise professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the HCPC.
• Use advanced psychological clinical skills applicable to the assessment of patients within the context of neuro rehab and integrated physical mental health settings.
• Summarise and interpret highly complex and sensitive data and write concise, accurate and readily understood reports that communicate the findings of the neuropsychological assessment to the MDT.
• Work under changing and pressurised clinical timetables and to be organised in their management of their clinical timetable.
• Provide comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of patients to assist the MDT in diagnosis, problem formulation and the planning of rehabilitation interventions.
• Function as a key therapist to ensure active co-ordination and management of the therapeutic interventions to achieve the agreed rehabilitation goals.
• Provide the psychology service as part of MDT and be involved with MDT service developments.
• Be responsible for planning and prioritising their own clinical caseload.
• Utilise research skills for audit, policy, service development and clinical research and regularly undertake research and development activities and encourage other team members also participating in research.

Person Specification
Qualifications and or professional registration
Essential

• HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist with clinical doctorate in clinical psychology or Counselling Psychologist ( HPCP registered) with additional QICN training in neuro psychology as outlined by the BPS.
• Have completed QiCN training in clinical neuropsychology Part 1, or part way/committed to completing part 1
• Significant experience in the supervision of psychological practitioners in the context of neuro psychology
• Experience in research and audit /QI methodology.

Desirable

• Committed, or be part way towards completion, or completed QiCN neuropsychology training part 2
• Training and/or experience in leadership and change management skills.

Experience
Essential

• Significant post qualification experience in the context of neuro psychology and/or community neuro psychology
• Experience of undertaking assessment and treatment with a wide variety of presenting problems with knowledge and understanding of the range of mental health care services including secondary care.
• Extensive experience of delivering therapeutic interventions with patients in a physical health context within an MDT setting.
• Experience of working with complex cases, and skill in liaising with other key stakeholders, including secondary care mental health services, and other physical health services including community and specialist medical services.
• Experience of training and training others within the context of psychological therapy services.
• Experience of supervising other therapists in the context of patients with LTCs.
• Experience in deploying skills in research, service evaluation, audit whilst ensuring incorporation of psychological frameworks for understanding and provision of high quality care.

Desirable

• Experience of professional leadership of clinicians and managing services or projects.
• Experience of providing both time limited and longer term psychotherapeutic interventions.
• Experience of a specialist training/or experience in a preferred therapy model ( e.g. ACT/CBT)

Skills and Knowledge
Essential

• Highly specialist clinical and psychological therapy skills with experience of neuropsychological assessment and intervention.
• Autonomous and reflective practitioner.
• Ability to manage with highly complex referrals and assessments and guide others with complex clinical decision making.
• Excellent teaching and supervision skills.
• Clinical appraisal skills.
• Ability to work flexibly.
• Specialist theoretical and practical understanding of the therapeutic relationship.
• Ability to lead others and establish health team cultures which promote excellent patient care support and develop team members.
• Ability to model and inclusive approach to leadership which fosters leadership in others.
• Ability to undertake audit cycles in order to improve patient care.
• Ability to develop effective communication skills and utilise interpersonal skills to manage complex / sensitive situations.

Other Requirements
Essential

• Willingness and ability to work at home and in an office setting.
• Travel between sites.
• Has a drivers licence and car available for work purposes

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 (Opens in a new tab).
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 (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details
Employer name
Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
Address
Newhaven Poly Clinic
Church Hill
Newhaven
BN9 9NH
Employer's website
https://www.sussexcommunity.nhs.uk/work-with-us/ (Opens in a new tab)