Specialist DIabetes Clinical Psychologist-Surrey Downs H&C in Leatherhead

We are currently recruiting for a part-time Specialist Diabetes Psychologist within our Community Diabetes Team in Surrey Downs. This is an exciting opportunity to work jointly within a friendly multidisciplinary team of Consultants, Nurses, Dieticians and Podiatrists to offer specialist advice and input for complex and challenging problems, including high levels of distress, interpersonal difficulties and mental health issues for patients across Surrey Downs Health and Care.

Main Duties of the Job

• To be responsible for the provision of a high-quality Clinical Psychology Service to the Diabetes Service, aimed at reducing emotional distress and disability and promoting wellbeing, adherence to treatment and treatment outcomes in adults with diabetes.
• Provide highly specialist psychological assessment and therapy, offering advice and consultation on psychological aspects of diabetes to other health professionals and supporting clinical team members who provide psychosocial care.
• Utilise knowledge of evidence‑based psychological interventions and research skills to implement audit, research and service development projects.
• Involved in the training and continuing professional development of clinical psychologists and other health professionals.

Detailed Job Description and Main Responsibilities

• Provide a comprehensive, specialist assessment service for patients referred by Diabetes team members.
• Identify the nature, severity and complexity of the client’s problems and communicate information sensitively to the client, referrer and other health professionals.
• Evaluate and decide on treatment options, considering a range of theoretical models and complex factors including medical history and developmental processes.
• Advise clients, family members and others on management of difficulties and arrange referrals to other services as needed.
• Implement psychological interventions with individuals, couples and families, continually adjusting formulations based on evidence of efficacy.
• Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the efficiency of all aspects of the Clinical Psychology Service, including assessment, treatment and discharge.
• Develop educational materials for the Diabetes team to inform clients on psychological aspects of diabetes.
• Ensure that the Diabetes Centre team has access to a framework for understanding the range of psychosocial difficulties presented by clients through dissemination of psychological research and theory.

Person Specification

• Post‑graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology accredited by the BPS, including models of two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Significant experience working as a qualified clinical psychologist, with a substantial period at a highly specialist level with people with physical health problems.
• Experience of psychological assessment, intervention and management with a wide range of clinical presentations with complex, long‑term co‑morbid physical and mental health conditions.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients’ psychological care and treatment.
• Experience working with people with diabetes.

Skills

• Well‑developed knowledge of the psychology of adjustment to illness, the role of distress in interfering with treatment and recovery.
• Excellent communication skills, orally and in writing, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, families, carers and professional colleagues.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within clinical psychology.

Your Application

Ensure that you have read the job description and person specification and that your supporting statement reflects these, as your application will be assessed and scored against these criteria.

References

You will be required to provide 3 years of employment/educational history. Do not accept references from personal email addresses such as Hotmail or Gmail.

Closing Date

In order to streamline recruitment within our Trust, we reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications.

DBS

We are committed to safeguarding children and adults who are at risk of abuse. If this post will have access to children or vulnerable adults, an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check is required.