Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Practitioner Psychologist

The closing date is 17 March 2026

Job summary

An excitingopportunityhas arisen for a PractitionerPsychologistwho iskeen to work inourNeonatalUnit(NNU).Thefundingfor this postis a result ofPsychology Leads for the Neonatal Operational Delivery Networks(ODN)across Englandco-producinga document recommending that allNNUs should have apsychologistin the neonatal team.

You will workcollaborativelywith theneonate'sparentsandsiblings to reduce thenegative psychological consequenceson the familyofaneonate'sadmission to the NNU.As part of the neonatalteamyou willwork with and supportyour neonatal colleagues through, for example, supervision and trainingtohelpreduceanynegative psychological impact of working inNNUs.As part of yourroleyouwill have contact with colleagues across the ODN and those working in thelocalMaternal Mental Health Service.

The model of provision is thehub and spoke modelwhereyou, working inone of thespokes, will be supervisedbytheThames Valley Hub Lead Clinical Psychologist(the hub).Thesupport youwill receive will help youensureappropriate governanceof the unitandwillbringknowledge of trusts and systems, commissioning requirements, audit,researchand service development.You will be line managed by a Consultant Clinical Psychologistwho worksin theTrustandyouwilljoin ateam of24 Practitioner Psychologistswho work in 14 services intheBuckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

Preferred working days are Tuesdays and Thursdays

Main duties of the job

You will be providing specialist psychological support to babies, theirfamiliesand staff on the Neonatal Care Unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Your role will also involve working inthe multidisciplinary team who value psychology, to provide specialised advice and consultation on babies and families psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues.

There is a teaching andtrainingprogramme in the team that you will part of and will be providing supervision fornon-psychologist colleaguesin order toenable them toidentifyearly families who willbenefitfrom specialist input.For example, developing and promoting screening tools for bedside staff to use.

Your research skills will be used for the purposes of audit, policy development and research and you will join with other practitioner psychologists in the Thames Valley and Wessex Neonatal ODN as well as with the Lead Psychologist in the ODN.

Preferred working days are Tuesdays and Thursdays

About us

Why colleagues think we are "a great place to work!"

What does Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust offer you?

As part of our BHT family, you'll benefit from learning and development opportunities to support your career progression.

Alongside NHS benefits of generous annual leave entitlement and pension scheme, you'll have access to NHS discount schemes.

We provide a range of health and wellbeing services to promote a healthy, happy workforce.

What do we stand for?

Our vision is to provide outstanding care, support healthy communities and be a great place to work.

Our mission is to provide personal and compassionate care every time.

We are working hard to increase diversity at all levels within the trust. We believe a diverse workforce can have a positive effect on both staff wellbeing and patient outcomes.

We welcome applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates, candidates with disabilities and care-experienced candidates.

We are proud to achieve the Gold award for the Armed Forces Covenant and support applications from the Armed Forces Community. Please contact Pam.Daley@nhs.net (our Armed Forces Covenant Lead) if you would like guidance or assistance with your application.

We make employment decisions by matching our service needs with the skills and experience of candidates, regardless of age, disability, gender, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation.

Details

Date posted

03 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£55,690 to £62,682 a year per annum pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time, Job share, Flexible working

Reference number

434-SCS7763718

Job locations

Stoke Mandeville Hospital

Mandeville Road

Aylesbury

HP21 8AL


Job description

Job responsibilities

For a comprehensive list of responsibilities and duties, please kindly refer to the Job Description and Person Specification by downloading the JD and PS attachment in the advert.

Job description

Job responsibilities

For a comprehensive list of responsibilities and duties, please kindly refer to the Job Description and Person Specification by downloading the JD and PS attachment in the advert.

Person Specification

Skills, Abilities & Knowledge

Essential

  • Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team.
  • Ability to cope with a fast paced work environment, maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems
  • Ability to assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
  • Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information, including contentious and highly distressing 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.
  • Planning and organising skills for caseload management.
  • Skills in self-management, including time-management
  • Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance, including regular supervision, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
  • Experience of working within a multicultural framework, Skills in working with diversity.
  • Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies as applied in a clinical health psychology setting.
  • A commitment to the evaluation of services, enthusiasm for both multi-professional and uni-professional audit, and a desire to continue to develop expertise in the area.
  • Approachable and empathic personality, excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and able to defuse difficult, volatile situations.
  • Understanding of confidentiality.
  • Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of practice governance and to support and maintain own and service's standards of clinical practice.
  • Able to contain and work with high levels of distress from clients and with organisational stress.
  • Ability to exercise appropriate levels of self-care and to monitor own state, recognising when it is necessary to take active steps to maintain fitness to practice.
  • Motivated towards personal and professional development with a strong CPD record.
  • Well developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies relevant to working with families in an acute healthcare environment.
  • Ability/skills in working through interpreters.

Experience

Essential

  • Experience delivering skilled psychological assessments, interventions, follow-up and data monitoring utilising at least 2 therapeutic models.
  • Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups and across the full range of clinical severity.
  • Experience of liaising with carers and families and external organisations that support these groups.
  • Ability to show autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients and liaising with other professionals as and when necessary.
  • Experience of working within an MDT and sharing psychological/psychotherapeutic knowledge & skill e.g. consultation, reflective practice, supervision groups.
  • Experience designing and conducting research activities at a doctoral level including service related research and audits.
  • Experience of supervising pre-qualified psychologists and/or professionals from other disciplines.
  • Experience of working in a neonatal, perinatal, critical care or other acute hospital environment.
  • Experience of working with trauma and bereavement
  • Experience of teaching and training others, using a variety of complex multimedia material suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
  • Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts
  • Experience of teaching and training health professionals in psychological concepts.

Education, Qualifications & Training

Essential

  • Doctoral level training in clinical/counselling/health psychology, including models of psychopathology, psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.
  • Registered with HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist and evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
  • Eligible for Full Membership of the BPS Division of Clinical or Counselling Psychology.
  • Further training relevant to working in acute medical settings
  • Pre or post-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Special Circumstances

Essential

  • Ideally will be able to travel between Stoke Mandeville and Wycombe Hospitals for Trust meetings
Person Specification

Skills, Abilities & Knowledge

Essential

  • Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team.
  • Ability to cope with a fast paced work environment, maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems
  • Ability to assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
  • Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information, including contentious and highly distressing 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.
  • Planning and organising skills for caseload management.
  • Skills in self-management, including time-management
  • Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance, including regular supervision, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
  • Experience of working within a multicultural framework, Skills in working with diversity.
  • Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies as applied in a clinical health psychology setting.
  • A commitment to the evaluation of services, enthusiasm for both multi-professional and uni-professional audit, and a desire to continue to develop expertise in the area.
  • Approachable and empathic personality, excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and able to defuse difficult, volatile situations.
  • Understanding of confidentiality.
  • Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of practice governance and to support and maintain own and service's standards of clinical practice.
  • Able to contain and work with high levels of distress from clients and with organisational stress.
  • Ability to exercise appropriate levels of self-care and to monitor own state, recognising when it is necessary to take active steps to maintain fitness to practice.
  • Motivated towards personal and professional development with a strong CPD record.
  • Well developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies relevant to working with families in an acute healthcare environment.
  • Ability/skills in working through interpreters.

Experience

Essential

  • Experience delivering skilled psychological assessments, interventions, follow-up and data monitoring utilising at least 2 therapeutic models.
  • Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups and across the full range of clinical severity.
  • Experience of liaising with carers and families and external organisations that support these groups.
  • Ability to show autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients and liaising with other professionals as and when necessary.
  • Experience of working within an MDT and sharing psychological/psychotherapeutic knowledge & skill e.g. consultation, reflective practice, supervision groups.
  • Experience designing and conducting research activities at a doctoral level including service related research and audits.
  • Experience of supervising pre-qualified psychologists and/or professionals from other disciplines.
  • Experience of working in a neonatal, perinatal, critical care or other acute hospital environment.
  • Experience of working with trauma and bereavement
  • Experience of teaching and training others, using a variety of complex multimedia material suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
  • Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts
  • Experience of teaching and training health professionals in psychological concepts.

Education, Qualifications & Training

Essential

  • Doctoral level training in clinical/counselling/health psychology, including models of psychopathology, psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.
  • Registered with HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist and evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
  • Eligible for Full Membership of the BPS Division of Clinical or Counselling Psychology.
  • Further training relevant to working in acute medical settings
  • Pre or post-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Special Circumstances

Essential

  • Ideally will be able to travel between Stoke Mandeville and Wycombe Hospitals for Trust meetings

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

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Address

Stoke Mandeville Hospital

Mandeville Road

Aylesbury

HP21 8AL


Employer's website

https://careers.buckshealthcare.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Address

Stoke Mandeville Hospital

Mandeville Road

Aylesbury

HP21 8AL


Employer's website

https://careers.buckshealthcare.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Chief Psychological Professions Officer

Dr Clare Daniel

clare.daniel@nhs.net

Details

Date posted

03 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£55,690 to £62,682 a year per annum pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time, Job share, Flexible working

Reference number

434-SCS7763718

Job locations

Stoke Mandeville Hospital

Mandeville Road

Aylesbury

HP21 8AL


Supporting documents

Privacy notice

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust's privacy notice (opens in a new tab)