Practitioner Psychologist in Neonatal Care

Job responsibilities

Clinical: 1. To provide specialist psychological assessment of families attending neonatal services based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological 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 family members, staff and others involved in the infants care.

2. To formulate and implement plans for psychological treatment and/or management of presenting issues, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the presenting problems, employing methods of proven efficacy and tailored to need.

3. To co-ordinate intervention alongside the multi-disciplinary teams where appropriate.

4. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for carers, families, groups, and staff employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.

5. 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.

6. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of families.

7. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to the care of the infant and/or family.

8. To ensure that all members of the treating team have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding and care of infants and families attending the service, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory.

9. To undertake risk assessment and risk management and to provide general advice to other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management.

10. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.

11. To provide expertise, advice and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the treatment team.

12. Where appropriate to liaise with other local specialist services to enable effective case ongoing support, and to offer specialist advice, consultation and guidance to other health professionals concerning the management of such cases.

13. To develop educational materials for use with the MDT to inform clients on the psychological aspects of neonatal care.

Teaching, training and supervision

1. To provide clinical placements for trainee clinical and/or counselling psychologists, ensuring that trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to good mental health care and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.

2. To provide post-qualification training (CPD) and clinical professional supervision to recently qualified clinical and/or counselling psychologists attached to the team and/or assistant psychologists.

3. To provide advice, consultation, training and clinical supervision to other members of the team for their provision of psychologically based interventions to help improve clients functioning.

4. To provide pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical and/or counselling psychology as appropriate.

5. To maintain and develop skills in the area of professional pre- and post-graduate training and clinical supervision.

6. To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate.

Management, recruitment, policy and service development

1. To participate as a senior clinician in the development of a high quality, responsive and accessible service including advising both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

2. To exercise delegated responsibility for managing the psychological resources available to a team, whether in the form of additional qualified and unqualified graduate psychology staff, or in the form of psychological materials employed in the assessment and treatment of service users.

3. To exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team.

4. To participate as appropriate in staff recruitment, both in the short-listing process and as a member of interview panels for assistant, trainees and qualified clinical psychologists.

Research and service evaluation

1. To take the psychology lead, as a senior clinician, in the evaluation, monitoring and development of the teams operational policies, 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.2. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

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

4. To initiate project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within and across the service to help develop and improve services for neonatal babies and their families.

Training & Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, as accredited by the BPS.
• Current HCPC registration as a Clinical/Practitioner Psychologist
• Training in supervision of other psychological professionals

Desirable

• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
• Additional EMDR or trauma specific training

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with people with medical/chronic physical health conditions across a range of severity and presentations
• Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision
• Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team and representing psychology.
• Experience of providing cognitive assessments
• Experience of working with other agencies e.g. social care
• Experience of working with children and young people

Desirable

• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of working in an acute hospital with patients with medical/chronic health conditions
• Experience of developing and implementing group-based interventions.
• Experience of offering staff support
• Experience of working on a neonatal unit, perinatal mental health or in acute inpatient care

Skills

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups

Desirable

• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological approaches for specific problems (e.g. adherence difficulties, preparation for medical treatment)
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group (eg with regard to child protection and consent to treatment)
• Knowledge/experience of working with children with chronic health conditions

Other

Essential

• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.

Desirable

• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• Ability to provide accessible non-stigmatising services to babies, children and their carers.
• Knowledge of neonatal specific care -e.g Family integrated Care

Knowledge

Essential

• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies for children with chronic physical health conditions and the impact of their treatment on quality of life.

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.

UK Registration

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