Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1.8 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King’s College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in the London Borough of Bromley.

We encourage all our staff to have a healthy work/life balance. In doing so, you can apply for flexible working from the beginning of your employment. We offer a range of options which are designed to suit different circumstances and priorities in line with service requirements.

We are delighted to offer an exciting opportunity for a part-time (0.6 wtes) Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist to join the psychosocial team within the Department of Critical Care at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. This is a maternity leave cover post, anticipated to run until end of September 2026.

This role would suit an existing 8a psychologist (looking to develop and enhance their skills working within a trauma-informed approach in a critical care environment) or an enthusiastic and capable band 7 psychologist (looking to progress to an 8a role in an exciting area of clinical practice). This part-time position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to an innovative model of psycho-social care that has demonstrated strong outcomes since its inception.

Established support structures are in place with the post holder benefitting from clinical and professional supervision, close working relationships from numerous medical departments within King’s College Hospital and peer support from a friendly and innovative group of psychologists and psychotherapists working in a busy hospital setting serving a diverse inner city population.

Main duties of the job

• To provide a highly specialist psychology service to the Critical Care Units (CCUs) at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (i.e., Denmark Hill and Princess Royal Hospital sites) including specialist screening, assessment, treatment, planning, implementation and monitoring of outcomes.
• To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.
• To provide clinical supervision and consultation as appropriate, functioning as a lead specialist in the psychological aspects of the care and treatment of CCU patients.
• To undertake service evaluation, audit, research and policy development.
• To work as an autonomous professional within BPS and HCPC guidelines and codes of conduct, and guided by principles, policies and procedures of the employing organisation (King’s College Hospital), partner organisations (South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust) and the CCU service, taking responsibility for interpreting policies within defined parameters.
• As part of the maternity leave cover job planning process; to agree outcomes/results with clinical supervisor/professional lead and to decide how they are best achieved.

Working for our organisation

The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King’s to another level.

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for patients in the CCU service including developing and delivering psychological interventions tailored to meet the needs of both inpatients and those who have been discharged.
• To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred patient when required.
• To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
• To work with CCU colleagues to co-ordinate the services delivered as part of the CCU psychosocial team.

KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

• To contribute to the effective working of the psychosocial team and the CCU service and to help contribute to the development and facilitation of a psychologically informed framework for the service.
• To contribute to the team and service’s delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.
• To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.
• To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological care of clients.
• To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.
• To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

KR 3 Policy and service development

• To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes.
• To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects.
• To participate in the ongoing implementation of new initiatives (e.g. national guidelines) across the service.
• To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.

KR 4 Care or management of resources

• To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust’s equipment and physical resources.
• To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.

KR 5 Management and supervision

• To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of more junior psychologists and any assistant psychologists with support from a more senior psychologist.
• To supervise trainee applied psychologists within own area of specialism.
• To contribute to the appraisal of more junior psychologists, as appropriate.
• To contribute to the recruitment of more junior psychologists, as appropriate.
• To provide supervision for the psychological work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.
• Clinical supervision to members of the psychosocial team who are using brief, evidence-based psychological interventions.

KR 6 Teaching and Training

• To undertake occasional teaching and training of pre and post-qualification psychologists and specialised training to other professions as appropriate.
• To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the CCU service by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychology and the CCU service and by implementing knowledge gained in practice.
• To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.

KR 7 Record-keeping and Information Governance

• To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.

KR 8 Research and development

• To initiate, undertake, support and supervise regular complex service evaluation and audits.
• To initiate and carry out appropriate research (NB: not a major job requirement [major = 20% or more of job]).
• To provide expertise in a specialist research area which will contribute to the CCU service.
• To initiate and implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment and assist other staff in the implementation of same.

KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

• To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychologist according to HCPC and Trust guidelines.
• To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with BPS and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and the HCPC Standards for Continuing Professional Development.
• To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
• To comply with the HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics and Standards of Proficiency, and ensure professional development in line with these.
• To adhere to the BPS’s Professional Practice Guidelines and Trust policies and procedures.

KR10 General

• To travel to sites across the Trust and the area it serves as appropriate and when required.
• To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management.
• To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations including those associated with critically unwell patients and those approaching end of life care and to support others involved in such situations where appropriate.

Person specification

• Entry-level qualification in Applied Psychology (professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level additional training) that has been accepted by the HCPC for purposes of professional registration.
• Additional training in a specialised area of psychological practice through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses, or an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice-based learning in a specialist area of clinical practice, assessed by an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma.
• Completed training course in clinical supervision.
• Registered with the HCPC as Practitioner Psychologist, and evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
• Evidence of having worked with people with medical conditions as a clinical specialist under supervision.
• Experience of working in multidisciplinary teams with colleagues from a range of disciplines.
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of complex psychological and physical health needs.
• Competence and/or specialist training in models of health psychology and/or behaviour change (e.g., motivational interviewing).
• Experience of working with people living with the medical conditions experienced as part of the CCU service.
• Interest and/or experience in implementing service improvements.