Principal Clinical Psychologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see Job Description and Person Specification for further information

Clinical

To provide highly specialist diagnostic neuropsychological assessments of service users referred to SMS, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and psychometric tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with service users, family members and others involved in the persons care.

To formulate and share SMS care plans, in diagnostic feedback appointments, to identify the relevant treatment and/or management of a service users problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the persons problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across a full range of care settings.

To work on a daily basis in face-to-face individual, family and/or in group therapy settings with service users presenting with highly complex and sometimes distressing psychological problems.

To be responsible for implementing an appropriate range of specialist 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 different provisional hypotheses.

To evaluate and make decisions about neuropsychological assessment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning cultural, historical, developmental processes and acquired disabilities that have shaped the individual, family or group.

To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of service users whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.

To provide highly specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals (both psychologists and non-psychologists) contributing directly to service users formulation, diagnosis and treatment plans.

To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all users of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the service user group.

To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual service users and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.

To coordinate, where appropriate, complex intervention plans, taking responsibility for initiating planning and reviews of plans, and including service users, 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 service users under their care and to monitor progress during both the course of uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

Teaching, Training and Supervision

To receive regular clinical professional supervision in accordance with professional practice (HCPC), BPS and Trust guidelines

To provide supervision to other MDT staffs (neuro)psychological work, as appropriate.

To provide supervision for trainee clinical psychologists.

To provide clinical supervision to less experienced qualified clinical psychologists, assistant(s), or other professionals.

To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical psychology.

To provide highly specialised advice, consultation and training to staff (including both psychologists and non-psychologists) working with the service user group across a range of agencies and settings.

Management, Recruitment, Policy, Organisational and Service Development

To significantly contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of aspects of the teams clinical practice through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.

To co-ordinate the systematic governance of psychological practice within their own team by developing and collecting relevant measures of outcome and audit, and to provide consultation to other health and social care professionals to enable them to develop their own effective systems of governance.

To advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and / or organisational matters need addressing.

To be involved, as appropriate, in the shortlisting and interviewing of Assistant Psychologists.

To line-manage the work of qualified & assistant psychologists within the framework of the team / services policies and procedures.

To coordinate and organise of the work of other psychologists and other clinical members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment. To be responsible for monitoring and co-ordinating psychology resources available to SMS by responding to referrals, making autonomous professional and clinical judgements based upon complex information, prioritising accordingly and contributing to multidisciplinary decision making. To manage any waiting lists and participate as a senior clinician in the allocation of cases taking into account skill mix and caseload.

To implement the policies and propose changes to working practices/procedures concerning professional good practice for the provision of psychological services as applicable to LTNC in particular in order to ensure the highest standards of service to the service user group.

To propose policy or service changes which impact beyond own area of activity by participation in Trust working parties and other local development groups.

Research and Service Evaluation

To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

To undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.

To supervise DClinPsy research projects.

To supervise the research activities of Assistant Psychologists.

To initiate, undertake and supervise project management, service evaluations and complex audits with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision.

To disseminate research findings through publications and conference presentations.

Person Specification

training and qualifications

Essential

• oPost-graduate, doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996), including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the HCPC and BPS.
• oRegistration with the HCPC as a Clinical Psychologist
• oFormal training in supervision of other psychologists.

Desirable

• oAdditional qualification in Neuropsychology.

Knowledge

Essential

• oEvidence of significant experience working within specialist Older Adult Services, specifically including diagnostic neuropsychological assessment for Dementia.
• oSkills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• oWell-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies/psychosocial interventions in specific complex groups including Dementia and other Neurological conditions.

Experience

Essential

• oSignificant experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of Older Adult service users across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in-patient settings. Including experience of working with clients with possible dementia & other neurological conditions.
• oAbility to work with Older Adult service users presenting with complex psychological difficulties. Ability to work with the potential of individuals or their carers becoming abusive and aggressive
• oSignificant evidence of being able to work effectively in multi-disciplinary settings and teams
• Experience of providing clinical supervision
• oExperience of providing teaching and/or training

Desirable

• oExperience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care. o
• Experience of the application of (neuro)psychology in different cultural contexts.

Other

Essential

• oAbility to plan, prioritise and organise own workload and co-ordinate that of others o
• oAbility to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain own clinical practice and to co-ordinate to that of others
• oAbility to plan, prioritise and organise own workload andAbility to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials including PowerPoint suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings. o

Desirable

• oExperience of working within a multicultural framework

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

Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Sheffield Memory Service

Norwood Grange Drive

Sheffield

S5 7JT

Employer's website

https://www.shsc.nhs.uk/working-us (Opens in a new tab)