Clinical/Health Psychologist

An exciting opportunity has arisen to work as a Clinical/Health Psychologist in our Clinical Health Psychology Department which provides specialist psychological therapy to service users experiencing distress as a consequence of their physical health conditions. Our service provides psychological intervention, consultation, supervision and training across a diverse range of physical health specialisms, working closely with our MDT colleagues.

We are a full team of Clinical and Health Psychologists working as one team to deliver high quality psychological care across a range of physical health conditions across St Helens and Knowsley locality. We also pride ourselves on offering EMDR and receive EMDR Consultant supervision to enable best practice delivery of this service offer. Applicants trained in EMDR are welcomed. EMDR training can be sought as a CPD opportunity for the successful candidate.

There will also be opportunity to utilise complex clinical skills across the specialisms we serve, including stroke services, diabetes, cancer, pain, bariatrics, burns, plastics and other long term physical health conditions, both inpatients and outpatients. This is a great opportunity to exercise breadth in clinical work whilst developing your areas of interest further. We are a forward thinking service and want a dynamic psychologist to help grow, develop and drive the profile of Clinical Health Psychology., + Main duties of this post will include individual and group work with outpatients and inpatients, working with clients with a range of psychological difficulties across the lifespan with long term physical health conditions.

• As a qualified clinician you will take responsibilities over aspects of the service offer to enable development.

• You will also provide clinical supervision for Trainees where placements are available.

• Supervision of MDT staff, teaching and training and consultation are also key opportunities of the role.

• There are opportunities to attend the MDTs of some specialties and to present to support groups and be involved in psychoeducational events.

• You will be involved in audit, evaluation and publishing to promote clinical health psychology for the Trust and beyond.

You will be part of a high performing Clinical Psychology Department with access to psychology colleagues to support, reflect with, maintain your CPD portfolio and receive high quality clinical supervision from. You will work with the broader MDT within your specialisms and be a key member of our MDT teams. You will provide treatment in inpatient settings, outpatient clinics in the department and virtual treatment.

Current UK HCPC Registration is required!, + To provide a specialist Clinical Psychology Service within the Clinical Health Psychology Service across all sectors of care, both to inpatients and outpatients.

• To clinically supervise more junior clinicians within the team, including Assistant Psychologists, Psychologists on Trainee placements and Volunteers

• To take responsibility for specific projects to continuously improve service delivery.

• To offer advice, consultation and training on patients’ psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to non-professional carers.

• To work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the Psychology Department’s policies and procedures and to exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the Psychology Service.

• To utilise research skills to contribute to audit, policy and service development and research within the Department of Psychology.

• To take part in complex MDT clinics and to provide specialist supervision to nursing, counselling and other colleagues on psychological aspects of care.

CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• To receive regular clinical supervision from a more senior Clinical Psychologist and attend regular management and professional supervision.

• To provide highly specialist psychological assessments and clinical understanding of patients referred to the Psychology Service based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex 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 patients, family members and others involved in the patient’s care.

• To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a patient’s psychological health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the patient’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

• To be responsible for implementing a range of specialist psychological interventions for individuals, couples and families, and groups, adjusting and refining psychological formulations and drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

• To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into consideration both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, couple, family or group.

• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment, evaluation and discharge of patients.

• To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other health professionals, including medical consultants, clinical nurse specialists, therapists and counsellors, contributing directly to patients’ formulations, diagnoses and treatment plans.

• To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care for the benefit of all patients seen by the Psychology Service.

• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for patients seen by the Psychology Service.

• To communicate orally and in writing, in a skilled and sensitive manner, to other health professionals, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of patients under their care and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

• To provide expertise, advice and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care throughout the Trust.

• To develop and maintain professional pathways of care both internally and externally to other care providers, for example, IAPT services.

• To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the Head of Psychology.

• To contribute to the development and articulation of best practice in clinical work within the Psychology service, by continuing to develop the skills of a reflexive and reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal, and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of clinical psychology, medicine and health psychology.

• To maintain up-to-date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific patient group and psychological health.

• To adhere to the Code of Practice of the British Psychological Society and the Health Professions Council and maintain appropriate professional registration and requirements for continued registration at all times.

ADMINISTRATION RESPONSIBILTIES

• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological Society, Health Professions Council and Trust policies and procedures.

• To manage your diary against your agreed job plan, clearly and effectively so that it is accessible to administrators and colleagues within the service, enabling the management of referrals in a timely manner.

TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSBILITIES

• To continuously improve with regular CPD in Clinical Health Psychology, over and above the Trust Mandatory training, by reading, searching literature bases, attending workshops and conferences.

• To provide as required professional and specialist skills in clinical supervision and training.

• To contribute to teaching on local clinical psychology training programmes.

• To promote an understanding of the remit of the Psychology Service within the Trust.

LINE MANAGEMENT/SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

• To advise the Clinical and Professional Service Lead on those aspects of the service(s) and practice where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

• To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the Psychology Service’s operational policies and services, through the use of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.

• To provide as required professional and specialist skills in clinical supervision and training.

• To provide specialist clinical psychological supervision to Assistant Psychologists and other forms of therapist who may contribute to the team as required.

• To provide specialist clinical supervision of individual cases for trainee clinical psychologists.

• To provide specialist clinical psychological supervision and training to other healthcare workers.

• To contribute to teaching on local clinical psychology training programmes.

• To promote an understanding of the remit of the Psychology Service within the Trust

RESEARCH & AUDIT

• To use theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work, and work with other team members.

• To contribute to project management, including complex audit and service evaluation.

• To support the research initiatives of the Psychology Service to help develop and improve services to patients and their families.

• To generate service specific or treatment specific research and small project ideas for collaboration with local universities.

• To contribute to the development and articulation of best practice in clinical work within the Psychology service, by continuing to develop the skills of a reflexive and reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal, and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of clinical psychology, medicine and health psychology.

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. You are part of an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact [email protected]

We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.

The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.

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).

Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, please click here to check your eligibility before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 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.

Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.

If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.

Flexible Working

We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:

· All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.

· There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.

· Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.

At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL

Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website

You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated.

Additional Information

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here.

An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.

Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.