Clinical/Health Psychologist in St Helens

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

Main area: Psychology

Grade: NHS AfC: Band 7

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time/Part time/Job share/Flexible working/Compressed hours (37.5 hours per week, Monday - Friday between 8.30-17.00 hrs)

Job ref: 409-8043662

Site: St Helens Hospital

Town: St Helens

Salary: £49,387 - £56,515 Per Annum

Salary period: Yearly

Closing: 30/09/2026 23:59

Interview date: 07/10/2026

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 & training across a diverse range of physical health specialisms, working closely with our MDT colleagues. 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 & 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 & want a dynamic psychologist to help grow, develop and drive the profile of Clinical Health Psychology. We are an outstanding and award winning Trust & our aim is for the Clinical Psychology Department to reflect this. 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.

Main duties of the job:

• 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.
• 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.

UK HCPC Registration is required.

Working for our organisation:

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.
• 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

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

Interview will take place on 7th October, 2026. Please see the attached job description and person specification for full details. The applicant should be a Clinical/Health Psychologist with an interest in working with clients with long term physical health conditions, in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Applicants should have the ability to work closely with medical and surgical colleagues and other disciplines, and have experience of multi-disciplinary team work and consultation to non-psychology staff.

Person specification:

• Qualifications: Doctoral Degree or equivalent qualification in Clinical, Counselling or Health Psychology; Full registration with the Health Professions Council; Eligible for Chartered Status with the British Psychological Society or equivalent body; Formal training in supervision.
• Knowledge & Experience: Experience of research design, methodology, data analysis and interpretation; Experience of working effectively in an MDT; Management of patients expressing suicidal ideation or plans; Experience in psychological assessment and intervention within clinical health psychology; Experience of teaching health professionals; Experience of providing consultation to health professionals; Experience of clinical supervision of assistant psychologists, trainee clinical psychologists, other healthcare professionals.
• Skills: Demonstrable skills in the assessment and treatment of patients presenting with a variety of complex problems; Demonstrable skills in the assessment and treatment of patients presenting with multiple co-morbidities; Demonstrable skills in the process of analysis, understanding and decision making, as applied to the psychological assessment, planning of intervention, and treatment of complex psychological problems; Knowledge of psychological theory and therapy as applied to patients presenting with medical and psychological problems; Knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies; Knowledge of national and local legislation, policies and guidelines (e.g. Data Protection Act, NSF guidelines, NICE guidelines etc.); Well-developed skills in effectively communicating complex and sensitive and contentious information, orally and in writing, to individual patients, groups of patients, carers and other professionals; The ability to access and use relevant scientific databases and literature; Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology.

Our Values:

• We are Kind
• We are Open
• We are Inclusive

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is 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.

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 Recruitment@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk.

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 eVisa Update: For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications will no longer receive a visa vignette in passport as evidence of their permission to enter the UK. Instead, you will be issued with an eVisa only, which is accessed by creating a UKVI account. Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to understand how to generate an eVisa share code.

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.

You will be expected to undertake the Trusts' commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. 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 and will check all applications against AI detection software.

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. 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.

Name: Leila Eccles

Job title: Clinical Psychology Manager

Email address: Leila.Eccles@sthk.nhs.uk

Telephone number: 01744646864

You are welcome to come in and meet the team. Just contact me to arrange a suitable time. You can also arrange a teams with me to find out more about the service and exciting future vision.