Band 8a - Clinical Psychologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

Role summary

To work as a Specialist Clinical/Practitioner Psychologist in Chronic Pain Management. To be registered with the HPC and hold doctorate level professional qualifications. To contribute to the pain psychology service and work within best clinical and professional practice guidelines and The Walton Centre policies and procedures.

Key responsibilities

KEY JOB responsibilities:

To provide specialist psychological assessment and case formulation

To provide specialist individual psychological therapy

To provide psychological group therapy within multidisciplinary pain management programmes

To provide specialist consultation and supervision within the multidisciplinary team

To provide relevant teaching/training sessions as required

To co-ordinate and prioritise own caseload and clinical activities

To undertake audit and research activities as required

To participate in personal appraisal, supervision and continuing professional development activities as appropriate, including training required in accordance with trust policies

Clinical:

Provide specialist psychological assessment of complex cases, including risk assessment

Provide specialist case formulations to develop appropriate care pathways, utilising psychological models and best practice guidelines

Provide evidence-based psychological intervention within both individual and group settings

To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the psychological assessment, treatment and follow-up of patients with chronic pain conditions

Attend and contribute to MDT assessment meetings, case conferences and reviews by providing specialist psychological guidance and perspectives in relation to case formulation, diagnosis, treatment and individual care planning.

Communication:

Communicate highly complicated, distressing and sensitive clinical and personal information appropriately, both in verbal and written forms to patients, families, carers, professionals, outside agencies and general practitioners

Highly developed communication skills to facilitate work with patients who may have complex physical, sensory, communication, intellectual or behavioral difficulties

Clinical and communication skills to manage hostile or challenging behaviours exhibited by patients, family members or carers

Maintain a high degree of professionalism and to work effectively with professionals with diverse theoretical and training backgrounds as well as with systems relevant to patients (e.g. voluntary services, self help and advocacy groups).

Supervision, Training and Development:

Provide supervision to assistant psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists

Provide specialist psychological consultancy and guidance to the wider multidisciplinary team to enable the team to incorporate informed psychological practice in their work with patients

Disseminate psychological research and theory by providing teaching and training on psychological aspects of chronic conditions, relevant clinical/research topics and/or training events attended

Participate in personal appraisal and supervision and maintain specialist clinical knowledge and skills through continued professional development activity

Research and Audit:

Participate in clinically relevant research and development activity, particularly in evaluating current psychological practice, innovative psychological assessment and interventions

Contribute to service development initiatives as appropriate

Contribute to the development and evaluation of audit projects aimed at improving services for patients and/or referrers

Administration:

To maintain agreed standards of clinical record keeping, including electronic data entry and report writing

To attend and contribute to psychology department and pain management team meetings as well as other appropriate meetings within the Trust. To undertake duties arising from such meetings in keeping with the nature and grading of the post

To plan and coordinate personal workload, service activities, CPD and supervision whilst working in the best interests of the service and wider team

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Undergraduate Degree in Psychology
• Eligibility for Practitioner Psychology status
• Professional Registration - Registered with the Health Professions Council

Desirable

• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

Experience

Essential

• Experience in specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment approaches/interventions
• Experience working with chronic health conditions
• Experience working within a multidisciplinary context
• Experience of teaching, training and/or clinical supervision
• Evidence of ongoing professional development
• Well developed theoretical and practical knowledge in the fields of clinical and health psychology, consistent with doctorate level training
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodologies

Desirable

• Experience working on pain management programmes
• Experience working with a variety of patient groups, with patients across the lifespan and with a wide range of presenting problems that reflect the spectrum of clinical complexity and severity

Other

Essential

• Ability to interact and work effectively with staff from a range of disciplines within a multidisciplinary team
• Ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism and work within professional and best practice guidelines
• Ability to work independently, flexibly and to adapt to changing service priorities
• Willingness to travel between hospital and healthcare sites

Skills & Attributes

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, including risk assessment
• Skills commensurate with doctoral level training in formulation and the implementation of highly specialist psychological therapies, interventions and management techniques
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills
• Skills in providing teaching and training on relevant psychological topics within public, professional and academic settings

Desirable

• Skills in providing consultation from a psychological perspective to members of other professional and non-professional groups

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such 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.

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).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust

Address

The Walton Centre

Lower Lane

Liverpool

L9 7LJ

Employer's website

https://www.thewaltoncentre.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)