The Specialist Community Forensic Team (SCFT) is a newly developing service for Somerset FT which went live in April 2021. The service is also part of the Southwest Provider Collaborative (SWPC) and is specially commissioned to improve pathways and clinical outcomes for patients currently admitted or likely to be admitted into secure services.The SCFT aims to:

• Reduce length of stay for patients within secure hospitals.
• Prevent admissions into secure services, by supporting and offering interventions to prisons / acute wards / PICUS.
• Support patients, families / carers through the discharge planning process by facilitating discharge arrangements and providing Key working and MDT support for up to 12 months post-discharge to improve successful community placements.

As a psychologist within the SCFT team, you will be.

• Providing specialised risk assessments and clinical interventions for the SCFT clinical caseload.
• Supporting with the development of the Forensic service,
• Providing supervision for the wider MDT,
• Supporting Somerset FT colleagues with a forensically minded psychological approach to care planning and risk management.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work across both of the above services, dividing their time appropriately.The post holder will be responsible for providing an autonomous clinical psychology service to service users (working age adults) with severe and enduring mental health difficulties and Forensic risk profiles.This will include the provision of highly specialised psychological assessment and interventions, comprehensive risk assessment, supervision, and consultation to other members of the team, and training to colleagues within the Mental Health and Learning Disability directorate.Somerset patients admitted to Ash ward are expected to be discharged into the community via the SCFT, so there is a unique opportunity for continuation of psychological intervention from an inpatient environment in to a community setting.

As well as working for Somerset FT, the SCFT are members of the South-West Provider Collaborative. The post holder will benefit from access to shared learning, skills, training and networking opportunities across the South West Forensic Campus.

About us

As an organisation, the NHS offers a wide range of benefits including flexible working, pension contributions, market leading annual leave allowance, career progression and regular conversations, not to mention our Blue Light Card and NHS exclusive discounts.

The benefits of working in Somerset include the idyllic countryside, with our areas of outstanding beauty and stunning coastlines. You will get to enjoy these perks whilst still only being a stone's throw away from bustling city centres like Bristol, Bath and Exeter and only two hours away from London.

There are excellent educational facilities in the area and, when compared to other regions, house prices are reasonable. You will experience the best of both in Somerset, the countryside and the cosmopolitan - there is truly something for everyone!

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see attached Job Description for more information:

Communication and Key Working RelationshipsTo be responsible for providing highly specialised psychological assessment and treatment for patients referred the SCFT Caseload.

To maintain professional, courteous and clear communication with patients, colleagues, internal and external stakeholders via all modalities (email, Teams meetings, professionals meetings)

Clients, family and carers:To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner with clients who may have specific difficulties in understanding and/or communicating and who may be hostile, antagonistic or highly emotionally disturbed.

Multidisciplinary team colleagues:To work closely with colleagues in the multi-professional integrated mental health and wellbeing service on a day to day basis.

Health & social care staff:To communicate with a wide range of health & social care staff in hospital and in community settings in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, complex and sensitive information concerning the assessment, formulation, and treatment plans of clients under the services care. To provide support & guidance in the application of psychological principles and techniques, and to foster reflective practice.

Senior managers & professional staff:To maintain and build good working relationships with senior professional staff and managers across Somerset Foundation Trust, South West Provider Collaborative, external stakeholders, etc. to foster a positive approach to the integrated mental health and wellbeing service and to enable effective negotiation.To attend identified SWPC workstreams, SCFT team meetings and Somerset FT professionals meetings as appropriate

Key Relationships: SCFT MDT Ash Ward MDT SCFT Lead Psychologist Head of Forensic Service SCFT Operational Service Manager Community Psychology colleagues Inpatient psychology colleagues Other MDTs within the Forensic Service Somerset FT Forensic Locality Leads Criminal Justice agencies, including police and court staff South West Provider Collaborative colleagues Trust staff across professions Trust audit department Service users and their families SWPC commissioners.

Responsibility for Patient / Client Care, Treatment & Therapy To formulate and deliver plans for agreed psychological treatment and/or management of a clients mental health problems. This may be for inpatients due to commence a discharge pathway and/ or for patients who had moved into community settings.

To make skilled evaluations and decisions about treatment options

To provide expertise and psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients assessments (including the management of risk), formulation, diagnosis, treatment plan and their legal status under the Mental Health Act.

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

To undertake risk assessment and risk management for all individual clients and to provide both general and specialist advice for psychologists and other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management.

To feedback to the MDT in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care

To monitor and evaluate progress of interventions.

To provide advice, guidance and consultation on psychological aspects of patient care to colleagues, other service providers, patients, supporters and families.

To fully observe the HCPC (2008) Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics, BPS (1996) Code of Conduct and DCP (1995) Professional Practice Guidelines.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral Clinical Psychology or equivalent
• Registered with HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist
• Eligible for Chartered Clinical Psychologist Status
• Significant experience of working with people with long term mental health problems

Desirable

• Accreditation in NICE approved therapy e.g., CBT or CAT
• Relevant specialist CPD training in psychological therapy with long term mental health problems
• Clinical Supervision training

Experience

Essential

• Competence in core psychological assessment formulation and skills intervention skills
• Competence in neuro-psychological assessment
• Teaching and training psychology to staff and other professionals
• Experience of working in a multi-professional/ multi- agency setting
• Experience of working with Forensic population

Desirable

• Experience of providing a psychological service to inpatient services.

Skills

Essential

• Compassionate - exceptional interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate effectively
• Knowledge of the role and functions of other agencies and departments
• Ability to recognise and manage challenging situations in a calm and professional manner

Employer details

Employer name

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Bridgwater

Bridgwater

TA6 5LX

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

184-CM5478054-B