Clinical Psychologist (XR07)

Job description

Job responsibilities

PRINCIPAL DUTIES & AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Clinical:

1. To provide specialist psychological assessments of patients 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 patients, family members and others involved in the patients care.

2. To formulate and implement plans for the formal 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

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

6. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to patients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plans.

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

8. 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.

9. To act as care coordinator, 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 the network of care.

10. 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.

Teaching, training, and supervision:

1. To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior clinical psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues*.

* Please note that all post holders of clinical psychology posts receive clinical supervision. This is not to be confused with management supervision in AFC terms.

2. To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other multidisciplinary staffs psychological work, as appropriate.

3. To provide professional and clinical supervision of assistant/graduate psychologists and, as appropriate, to contribute to the supervision of individual cases for trainee clinical psychologists.

4. To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical and/or counselling psychology, as appropriate.

5. 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:

1. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of Trust and the Department operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.

2. To advise the Principal or Lead Consultant Clinical Psychologist on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

3. To manage the workloads of assistant and graduate psychologists within the framework of the Trust and the Departments policies and procedures.

4. To be involved, as appropriate, in the short listing and interviewing of assistant / graduate psychologists.

Research and service evaluation:

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

2. To undertake, as a major component of the post, appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.

3. To lead on research projects within the area served by the team/service.

4. To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision.

General:

1. 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 Lead Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Department Supervision Co-ordinator, and (b) the encouragement and active participation of service users in the design, provision and evaluation of clinical services.

2. 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 fields of clinical psychology, neuropsychology and related disciplines.

3. 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.

4. To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to the specific patient group, mental health, clinical psychology, and health psychology in general.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of patients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups, across the whole life course, presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity
• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.

Desirable

• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the patient group and mental health
• Experience of providing Psychological assessments and intervention in a Paediatric health care setting

Additional Requirements

Essential

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Ability to identify & employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate,to support & maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material & challenging behaviour

Qualifications

Essential

• Post-graduate 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.

Desirable

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

Skills & behaviours

Essential

• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to patients, their families, carers

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.

Employer details

Employer name

Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Address

St. James's University Hospital

Beckett Street

Leeds

LS9 7TF

Employer's website

https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)