Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Lead Clinical Psychologist (Eating Disorders)

The closing date is 14 April 2026

Job summary

This role is offered on a permanent basis. The hours are 30 hours per week.

Are you an experienced & creative Clinical Psychologist, passionate about service innovation & development? We are seeking an enthusiastic & compassionate Clinical Psychologist with experience of working in Eating Disorders services to join a new multidisciplinary team of professionals.

This is an exciting opportunity for the post holder to drive innovation throughout the Eating Disorders Service in GHC in a role that will focus on service re-design and recovery from the pandemic. The service is engaged in a full transformation programme that will allow the successful candidate to consider the implementation of psychological interventions and new treatment initiatives and the development of psychological and clinical workforce roles to ensure that the service is able to effectively and safely treat the patient group who access it.

You will demonstrate strong leadership skills, have extensive experience of multiagency working & a proven track record of delivering high quality psychological interventions. Experience of working within a physical health/paediatric context would also be helpful in terms of confidently managing the demands that flow through this developing clinical service.

Main duties of the job

You will take a lead role in ensuring this forward thinking service is psychologically informed, demonstrating competence in consultation, training, supervision & committed to promoting psychological thinking with the team.

To be responsible for promoting the psychological health and well-being of clients in the Eating Disorders team within the Trust.

To ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist clinical psychology service to clients of the team, across all sectors of care.

To supervise and support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by other psychologists and other clinical members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment.

To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise delegated responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the team.

To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research.

To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the team.

  • To contribute toward service re-design and recovery

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

About us

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

  • 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
  • 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
  • 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Details

Date posted

27 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8b

Salary

£64,455 to £74,896 a year per annum (pro rata)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

327-26-149-A

Job locations

Eastgate House/Brownhill Centre

Gloucester/Cheltenham

Gloucester/Cheltenham

GL51 9ER


Job description

Job responsibilities

Gloucestershire Health and Care is committed to embedding and providing personalised care through all of its services as part of our high-quality care strategy. The purpose of personalised care is to empower people to lead the lives they want to live. Personalised care starts with a conversation with people about what matters to them. It builds on what people can do, as well as addressing their health needs. Including new ways of working and delivering care, emphasising that we need to make effective use of the full range of our peoples skills and experience to deliver the best possible patient care. So we want to know What Matters to You and that you will share our values and join us on this very important journey.

Please refer to the Additional Information attachment before submitting your application.

The Trustis required towork in line with the Governments UK Visa and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information about sponsorship for certain roles, please visit -https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

Job description

Job responsibilities

Gloucestershire Health and Care is committed to embedding and providing personalised care through all of its services as part of our high-quality care strategy. The purpose of personalised care is to empower people to lead the lives they want to live. Personalised care starts with a conversation with people about what matters to them. It builds on what people can do, as well as addressing their health needs. Including new ways of working and delivering care, emphasising that we need to make effective use of the full range of our peoples skills and experience to deliver the best possible patient care. So we want to know What Matters to You and that you will share our values and join us on this very important journey.

Please refer to the Additional Information attachment before submitting your application.

The Trustis required towork in line with the Governments UK Visa and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information about sponsorship for certain roles, please visit -https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Post Graduate doctoral level training in Clinical Psychology or other relevant Applied Psychology as accredited by the B.P.S and conferring eligibility for HPC Registration as a Practitioner Psychologist.
  • Registration with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a Practitioner Psychologist
  • Evidence of formal post graduate learning within a CAMHS setting.

Desirable

  • Relevant child focused therapeutic training.

Length and/or Nature of Experience

Essential

  • Demonstrate broad range of post qualification experience working at an expert level in an autonomous capacity, with extensive experience of providing clinically expert, high quality, safe and effective assessment, formulation and interventions for children and young people.
  • Receipt of at least 50 hours clinical supervision while working at a highly specialist level in a directly relevant area and in an increasingly autonomous capacity
  • Demonstrate extensive experience and clinical expertise in delivering evidence based/best practice clinical interventions within CAMHS or paediatrics.

Desirable

  • Experience of working in a health psychology context
  • Experience of working with children and young people with health conditions
  • Experience of working with children and young people with excess weight
  • Postgraduate qualification in Health Psychology
  • Experience of facilitating group work with young people

Professional /Managerial/ Specialist Knowledge

Essential

  • Expert knowledge of lifespan developmental child and adolescent psychology (including psychometrics) including current evidence-based practice.
  • The knowledge may have been developed in a variety of ways. Appropriate evidence could include relevant research, publications or outcomes of previous work in the specialism.
  • Demonstrate clinical expertise and expert clinical formulation and reasoning regarding a range of evidenced-based professional interventions, including current best practice related to a CAMHS/ Paediatrics setting, including the therapeutic use and application of CAMHS specific interventions, i.e. CBT, DBT, family therapy

Desirable

  • Experience of supporting the recruitment, selection and development of new staff.
Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Post Graduate doctoral level training in Clinical Psychology or other relevant Applied Psychology as accredited by the B.P.S and conferring eligibility for HPC Registration as a Practitioner Psychologist.
  • Registration with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a Practitioner Psychologist
  • Evidence of formal post graduate learning within a CAMHS setting.

Desirable

  • Relevant child focused therapeutic training.

Length and/or Nature of Experience

Essential

  • Demonstrate broad range of post qualification experience working at an expert level in an autonomous capacity, with extensive experience of providing clinically expert, high quality, safe and effective assessment, formulation and interventions for children and young people.
  • Receipt of at least 50 hours clinical supervision while working at a highly specialist level in a directly relevant area and in an increasingly autonomous capacity
  • Demonstrate extensive experience and clinical expertise in delivering evidence based/best practice clinical interventions within CAMHS or paediatrics.

Desirable

  • Experience of working in a health psychology context
  • Experience of working with children and young people with health conditions
  • Experience of working with children and young people with excess weight
  • Postgraduate qualification in Health Psychology
  • Experience of facilitating group work with young people

Professional /Managerial/ Specialist Knowledge

Essential

  • Expert knowledge of lifespan developmental child and adolescent psychology (including psychometrics) including current evidence-based practice.
  • The knowledge may have been developed in a variety of ways. Appropriate evidence could include relevant research, publications or outcomes of previous work in the specialism.
  • Demonstrate clinical expertise and expert clinical formulation and reasoning regarding a range of evidenced-based professional interventions, including current best practice related to a CAMHS/ Paediatrics setting, including the therapeutic use and application of CAMHS specific interventions, i.e. CBT, DBT, family therapy

Desirable

  • Experience of supporting the recruitment, selection and development of new staff.

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).

Additional information

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

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Eastgate House/Brownhill Centre

Gloucester/Cheltenham

Gloucester/Cheltenham

GL51 9ER


Employer's website

https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/who-we-are/jobs/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Eastgate House/Brownhill Centre

Gloucester/Cheltenham

Gloucester/Cheltenham

GL51 9ER


Employer's website

https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/who-we-are/jobs/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Eating Disorders Ops Lead

James Lewis-Wtkins

james.lewis-watkins@ghc.nhs.uk

07967833484

Details

Date posted

27 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8b

Salary

£64,455 to £74,896 a year per annum (pro rata)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

327-26-149-A

Job locations

Eastgate House/Brownhill Centre

Gloucester/Cheltenham

Gloucester/Cheltenham

GL51 9ER


Supporting documents

Privacy notice

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