Band 8c Head of Psychological Therapies - South Glos.

Job responsibilities

A. MANAGEMENT AND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT (up to half time)

1. To manage and provide leadership to the South Glos. Psychological Therapies Service, ensuring that everyone receives support, supervision, annual appraisals and a development plan which ensures on going service development that fits the needs and priorities of each sector. To manage the capacity of the service in line with demand and access requirements, always seeking ways in which to do so more efficiently.

2. To liaise with the Head of Psychological Therapies and South Glos. Operations manager and Clinical lead to ensure that an appropriate range of services are provided by psychological therapists within community teams and inpatient services, and those working on external service level agreements(including primary care).

3. The post holder will ensure the delivery of performance targets and standards across South Glos. PTS Service.

4. To take a lead role in service/business development and performance monitoring of Psychological Therapies in South Glos. This includes horizon scanning for new service development opportunities which support the SBU Business Plan, especially those working with partner agencies.

5. To identify gaps in service provision and also to seek opportunities for the development of Psychological Therapy Services in South Glos. within defined frameworks and with agreement from the Locality Operations manager, both within the partnership and through secondments and joint posts to new client groups elsewhere (Police, voluntary services, independent sector) where this is sustainable for the Trust.

6. To lead the redesign of PTS services in South Glos. and work with the Head of Psychological Therapies/ Operations manager and Clinical Lead to redesign cross South Glos. services promoting the development of services in line with national guidance. This includes active engagement with integrated care systems and other providers.

7. To be a source of psychological expertise to managers, professional colleagues and wider stakeholders on both public and internal matters.

8. To deal with complaints and disciplinary matters in liaison with other managers and professional leads both within and outside of Psychological Therapies, especially those of a particularly complex nature.

9. To support the negotiation of Service Level Agreements for psychological therapy provision in the Service and externally to other agencies, working closely with relevant Client Account Managers andsenior SBU managers.

10. To convene and chair regular psychological therapy meetings in South Glos.

11. To establish a framework for effective management of psychological therapy staff in South Glos.

12. To manage the budget for Psychological Therapy Services within stated financial limits, as delegated by the Locality Operations manager.

13. To ensure that Trust Health and Safety Regulations are adopted within the Psychological Therapy Service.

14. To identify appropriate staffing levels and skill mix for Psychological Therapies, drawing on advice from relevant colleagues as required.

15. To promote the Trust in professional networks and to ensure that other Psychological Therapy staff do likewise in specific situations relevant to their posts and responsibilities.

B. CLINICAL (Note psychological treatment covers Psychology, CBT, Arts Psychotherapy and Psychotherapy):

1. To provide a highly developed Clinical Service in South Glos. comprising psychological/assessment and therapy, consultation and teaching and supervision.

2. To formulate plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a clients mental health problems based upon an appropriate conceptual framework, and employing methods based uponevidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

3. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

4. To make highly skilled evaluations and decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmentalprocesses that have shaped the individual, family or group.

5. To be responsible for ensuring that all members of the clinical team have access to a psychologically based framework for the understanding and care of clients of the service, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological knowledge, research and theory.

6. To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, complex information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care to clients, carers, relatives and other staff and respond appropriately in situations where there is hostility or a highly charged emotional atmosphere.

7. To receive appropriate Clinical and Caseload supervision for all aspects of clinical work.

8. To fully implement the Integrated Care Programme Approach / or equivalent in all aspects of clinical work.

C. PROFESSIONAL:

1. To fully observe relevant Professional Practice Guidelines.

2. To work with Professional Leads to maintain and further develop high standards of practice, through co operative work and peer supervision with other Psychological Therapy staff within and outside the Trust.

3. To be aware of and adhere to Trust policies and procedures.

D. CLINICAL AND PRACTICE GOVERNANCE:

1. To support the Head of Psychological Therapies in the development and implementation of effectiveClinical Governance across the Psychological Therapy Service.

2. To participate in Clinical Governance processes in the SBU.

3. To act as a resource for clinical audit, and to develop and apply measures to monitor and evaluate clinical work among psychological therapists in South Glos.

4. To focus capacity on the delivery of effective, evidence-based interventions (e.g. as recommended by NICE)

Qualifications

Essential

• Accreditation / Registration with a core profession (as listed by the BABCP) with additional accreditation (e.g. BABCP, ACAT, ACP)
• Doctoral or post graduate level training counselling / clinical psychology or equivalent
• Evidence of continuous professional development within own profession
• Training and / or significant experience in supervision of psychological practitioners
• Post qualification training in one or more relevant Specialised areas of psychological practice as recommended by NICE

Desirable

• Training / Experience in leadership and change management
• Qualification in and / or evidence of experience in improvement methodologies (e.g. LEAN,QI)

Experience

Essential

• Significant post qualification work in NHS
• Substantial experience of working in an NHS Psychology service.
• In-depth expertise and knowledge of Psychology services, and an understanding of how it links to government objectives
• Understanding of needs of service users and carers including specific needs related to cultural background/age/gender/employment etc.
• Experience of undertaking psychological assessment and treatment of a variety of presenting problems
• Knowledge and understanding of secondary mental health services, and physical health services,
• Experience of professional leadership, including psychological therapists, and managing services or projects.
• Substantial experience in a leadership role, including operational management.
• Experience of staff management, including recruitment and retention of staff, performance management, and managing sickness absence.
• Experience of providing time limited one to one and group psychological interventions in line with NICE guidelines
• Direct clinical Experience in working with complex cases, and skill in liaison with other stakeholders, including secondary care mental health services and primary care / PCN's.
• Extensive experience of supervising others
• Demonstrable experience of leading service development/change through quality improvement, change processes and/or audit/research Demonstrable experience of meeting agreed/specified service targets with successful mitigation/management where performance is not on target
• Experience of provision of training in psychological therapies Substantial experience of clinical supervision of staff including psychological therapists Experience of research, audit and quality improvement

Desirable

• Experience of working in Primary Care Services.
• Led on New Ways of Working for a service.
• Worked in a service where agreed targets in place demonstrating clinical outcomes.
• Contributed to the developing new psychological processes and practices within a service
• Involvement in research programmes.

Knowledge & Skills

Essential

• Highly specialist clinical and psychological skills. Autonomous and reflective practitioner.
• Ability to deal adequately with highly complex referrals and assessments and guide others with complex clinical decision making. Excellent teaching and supervision skills
• Critical appraisal skills. Ability to work flexibly. Ability to lead others and establish healthy team cultures which promote excellent patient care support and develop team members.
• Evidence the ability to manage a team and to set and maintain standards of performance and conduct.
• Ability to model an inclusive approach to leadership which fosters leadership in others.
• An awareness of the importance of budget and resource management. Good IT skills. This includes an in depth understanding of national reporting processes and skills in the understanding and interpretation of information
• Ability to develop effective communication skills and utilise interpersonal skills to manage complex/sensitive situations. Excellent communication skills both written and verbal as well as the ability to work to deadlines and operate effectively under pressure.
• Demonstrates a service user focused approach to all activities.

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).