Job responsibilities
Principal
duties and areas of responsibility
Clinical:
To provide specialist psychological
assessments of patients referred to the service based upon the appropriate
use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources
including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures,
rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and
semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved
in the clients care
To formulate, develop and implement
plans for the formal neuro/psychological treatment and/or management of a
patients psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual
framework of the patients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence
of efficacy, across the full range of care settings
To be responsible for implementing
a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and
groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis,
adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different
explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses
To evaluate and make decisions
about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic
models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental
processes that have shaped the individual, family or group
To exercise autonomous professional
responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose
problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans
To provide specialist psychological
advice guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly
to patients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan
To contribute directly and
indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to
the benefit of all patients who have had brain or CNS damage across settings
and agencies serving the client group
To undertake risk assessment and
risk management for individual patients and to provide advice to other
professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management,
with particular reference to deliberate self-harm
To act as care co-ordinator, where
appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care
plans under enhanced CPA (or its equivalent in the acute physical health care
setting) including patients, their carers referring agents and others
involved in the network of care
To communicate in a skilled and
sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and
treatment plans of patients under their care and to monitor progress during
the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care
To provide expert consultation
about the psychological care of patients to staff and agencies outside the
Trust
Teaching,
training, and supervision
To receive regular clinical
professional supervision from a more senior clinical psychologist and, where
appropriate, other senior professional colleagues
To gain additional highly
specialist experience and skills relevant to clinical psychology and the
service (as agreed with the Head of Department) up to two sessions per week
To develop skills in the area of
professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide
supervision to other MDT staffs psychological work as appropriate
To provide professional and
clinical supervision of doctoral trainee and graduate/ assistant
psychologists
To contribute to the pre- and
post-qualification teaching of clinical, health and/or counselling
psychology, as appropriate
To provide advice, consultation and
training to staff working with the patient group across a range of agencies
and settings, where appropriate
Management,
recruitment, policy, and service development
As a lead consultant psychologist,
to be responsible for systematically appraising needs for services for
patients and relatives served by LTHT and the DPP (LTC Team). To identify
appropriate developments for these services and to make recommendations to
the Head of DPP
To initiate and implement service
developments and projects within the post-holders areas of responsibility
To take a lead role in the planning
and development of services for patients seen within the DPP (LTC Team),
regularly being a member of planning groups and taking a lead role in
specific developments
To participate as a senior
clinician in the development of high quality, responsive and accessible
services for patients their carers and families within the DPP including
advising the Head of Department on those aspects of the service where
psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing
To interpret and set policies and
guidelines concerning professional good practice for the provision of
services within the post-holders areas of responsibility
Professional
Leadership, Management and Recruitment
To exercise responsibility for
managing the clinical resources available to the post-holder in the
assessment and treatment of patients
To act as authorised signatory for
the travel and training expenses for psychology staff for whom the post
holder is responsible
To be responsible for line-managing
designated staff within the service, ensuring good practice and professional
development by undertaking regular performance appraisals, ensuring
professional development and monitoring and adjusting workload
To exercise responsibility for the
appropriate and safe use of specialist neuropsychological equipment within
the service including where necessary appropriate systems of stock control
To exercise responsibility for the
systematic governance of psychological practice within the post-holders
areas of responsibility, including maintaining systematic records of
appraisals, clinical record keeping standards and the transcribing of minutes
and records of appropriate professional meetings
To advise and participate in
appropriate professional recruitment within the service.
Research
and Service Evaluation
To take the lead as a senior
clinician, in planning and implementing systems for the evaluation,
monitoring and development of the paediatric psychology services within the
post-holders areas of responsibility, through the deployment of professional
skills in research, service evaluation and audit and ensuring incorporation
of psychological frameworks for understanding and provision of high-quality
care
To utilise theory, evidence-based
literature and research, to support evidence-based practice in individual
work, work with relevant professions and across the service
To undertake research and to
provide research advice and research supervision to other staff within the
Department and, where appropriate, to other staff within the Trust and to
disseminate information gained from research by presentation and publication
To initiate and implement project
management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues
within and across the service to help develop and improve services to
patients and their families.
General
To contribute to the development
and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through a)
active participation in internal and external CPD training and development
programmes, in consultation with the Head of Department, other Lead Consultant
Psychologists and the departmental Supervision Co-ordinator and b) the
encouragement and facilitation of the active participation of service users
in the design, provision and evaluation of clinical services
To contribute to the development
and articulation of best practice in psychology across the service, by
continuing to develop the skills of a reflexive and reflective scientist
practitioner, taking part in regular professional supervision and appraisal and
maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of
clinical psychology and related disciplines
To maintain the highest standards
of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording,
report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance
in accordance with professional codes of practice of the British Psychological
Society and Trust policies and procedures
To maintain up to date knowledge of
legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the
specific client group, mental health and clinical and health psychology in
general.
