Clinical Psychologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

CLINICAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. To provide specialist psychological assessments of Cardiac patients in the agreed locality based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of highly complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, multidisciplinary case conferences, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with patients, family members and others involved in the patient's care.

2. When appropriate to provide neuropsychological assessments which will require the skilled manipulation of testing materials in order to provide measures of patient's cognitive functioning and inform decisions regarding their future treatment.

3. To undertake assessments and therapeutic work that is emotionally demanding, including difficulties such as anxiety, depression, trauma, quality of life, disfigurement, disease progression and concerns about end of life.

4. To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a patient's mental and physical health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the patient's problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

5. To contribute specialist knowledge of psychological approaches to the management of physical health conditions within the HF team and Diabetes Service .

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

7. To contribute to the HF rehabilitation education programme.

8. 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.

9. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of patients whose problems are managed by psychologically based care plans. Where appropriate, to co-ordinate care for patients involving arranging activities, directing input, and meetings with other professionals and agencies.

10. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to patient's formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan. In particular, to offer specialised advice regarding the psychological management and treatment of individuals with cardiac conditions and Diabetes.

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

12. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual patients and to provide advice to other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.

13. To communicate, both verbally and in writing, in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of patients and to monitor progress during the course of both uni and multidisciplinary care.

14. To make decisions about formulation, treatment and management regarding patients and the service in general where there may be disagreement amongst stakeholders, tension over appropriate action and where different service elements have differing priorities and/or philosophies in relation to issue in question.

15. To contribute to the work of the multi-disciplinary, multi-agency teams and participate in appropriate meetings, e.g. team meetings and case discussions, when possible. This will include participating in the young persons diabetes MDT clinic.

16. To provide assessment and therapy to patients on the general health waiting list. These specialities can include cancer, palliative, gastroenterology and Dermatology.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Post-graduate Doctorate in clinical or counselling psychology as accredited by the BPS
• HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• Completion of specialist post-qualification courses in psychological theories and clinical approaches to physical health

Desirable

• Completion of clinical supervision training as provided by doctoral training courses for the supervision of psychology doctoral trainee placements.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across a range of NHS care settings
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups across the life span, with a wide variety of presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity. To include specialist experience in the psychological assessment, management and treatment of physical health conditions.
• Experience in the application of clinical psychology approaches in different clinical and medical settings (inpatient & outpatient).
• Experience in the application of clinical psychology approaches in different clinical and medical settings (inpatient & outpatient).
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.

Desirable

• Clinical experience working wiExperience working with Cardiac conditions e.g. HF, myocardial infarction.th persistent pain.
• Experience of working with diabetes.
• Experience of working with adolescents (16yrs-24yrs)

Knowledge and skills

Essential

• Skills in providing consultation, supervision and training to other professional and non-professional groups on an individual patient and a service-level basis.
• To utilise specialist skills in psychological approaches to physical health in individual, group and consultation settings
• Driving licence & ability to meet any travel requirements of the post.
• Capacity to plan and prioritise many competing complex ongoing tasks including patient contacts, research activity, supervision of psychology and non-psychology staff, service development activities and representation of service. Skills in co-ordinating, chairing and arranging multidisciplinary meetings and activity in relation to patient care and other activities.

Other

Essential

• Capacity to cope with sitting in constrained position for up to 70% of working hours and capacity to attend medical wards.
• Capacity for intense concentration while delivering highly complex clinical interventions during clinical contact
• Must be capable of working independently and autonomously taking full responsibility for own clinical decisions and interventions

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

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Great Lever Health centre,

Rupert Street

Bolton

BL3 6RN

Employer's website

http://www.boltonft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)