Principal Clinical Psychologist

We want talented and enthusiastic people from all backgrounds to join #TeamMWL. With us, you can learn, grow, and develop yourself and your career, realizing your true ambitions and aspirations. Whatever you’re looking for in your career, you’ll find it here at MWL.

Site: NW Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust

Town: Southport

Salary: £62,215 - £72,293 per annum, pro rata

Salary period: Yearly

Closing: 21/01/2025 23:59

Interview date: 28/01/2025

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 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), spanning from pre-admission outreach into the region’s Major Trauma Centres to inpatients, developing values-based discharge planning, etc. 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 and generic care needs.

Working for Our Organisation

The Secretary of State has approved the partnership between St Helens & Knowsley and Southport & Ormskirk Hospitals. From 1st July, we have come together as a single organisation under the name Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The Trust delivers acute hospital care, intermediate care, community, and primary care services to a population of over 600,000 people with a combined workforce of around 9000 dedicated and skilled staff from 17 locations including Whiston, Southport & Formby, St Helens, Ormskirk, and Newton hospitals. The Trust provides regional services for burns, plastic surgery, and spinal injuries to more than 4 million people across Mersey and West Lancashire, Cheshire, the Isle of Man, and North Wales.

Our Vision is to deliver 5 Star Patient Care:

• CARE that is evidence-based, high quality, and compassionate
• SAFETY that is of the highest standards
• COMMUNICATION that is open, inclusive, and respectful
• SYSTEMS that are efficient, patient-centered, and reliable
• PATHWAYS that are best practice and embedded, but also respect the individual needs of patients

Our Achievements Include:

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

Detailed Job Description and Main Responsibilities

KEY DUTIES

• 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 deliver and supervise 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 the NWRSIC’s wider organisational and national forums.
• To lead the planning, development, and delivery of the Department’s 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, and two or more distinct psychological therapies.
• 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.
• Highly developed skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, neuropsychological assessment, and intervention.
• Knowledge and skills relevant to the assessment and treatment of people who have suffered a spinal injury or physical health trauma.
• Ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical, and/or clinically sensitive information.
• 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.
• Experience of supervising others as well as teaching and training.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.

Personal

• Ability to sustain intense levels of concentration.
• Ability to self-reflect and use clinical supervision appropriately.
• Ability to cope with highly distressing emotional circumstances.

Other

• Ability to line manage psychology colleagues and have a deputised leadership role for the NWRSIC psychology service.
• Ability to travel between Trust sites in a timely way.

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.

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. The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you is shared with the recruiting manager.