We are delighted to seek a Psychology Lead for the development of a new Stroke Psychology Service. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to instigate and design a psychology service across the Health Board to be embedded within the existing stroke pathways working alongside and supporting the acute and community multidisciplinary teams. The post holder will be responsible for the development of psychological delivery to meet clinical guidance and standards of care and oversee quality assurance and clinical governance processes. Funding has been identified for assistant psychology positions to support this new service, for which the successful candidate will oversee the recruitment process, management, and clinical governance once in post. The Health Board has 4 Acute Stroke Units within each General Hospital and community stroke services which are integrated within the Neurological Rehabilitation Service, which is based in Carmarthen. The post holder will have responsibility to scope and develop appropriate models of psychological care across the Acute Stroke Units to support Early Supported Discharge and support the community stroke pathway with both indirect and direct patient work.

Main duties of the job

Our Clinical Health Psychology department is keen to enhance psychological skills and psychological minded care across the organisation. The successful candidate will therefore be an enabler of this strategic direction through systemic work and be responsible for psychological training for a wide range of disciplines and stakeholders such as medical, nursing, allied health professional colleagues and third sector stakeholders.This position will have significant support from various parts of the organisation. The Regional Neuropsychology Service will provide the specialist clinical supervision and support with operational and clinical developments whilst the post will sit within and be managed by the Head of the Clinical Health Psychology Department. There will also be a close working relationship with the Critical Care Psychology Service for stroke patients on this pathway. The Clinical Health Psychology Department is strong, dynamic and motivated which strives to offer high standard, value based healthcare and will embrace the successful candidate with peer support in their new role. The service will also support ongoing continuing professional development with prospects of funding the Qualification in Clinical Neuropsychology (QiCN). We are open to discussions on flexible working patterns and remote working arrangements.

About us

Hywel Dda University Health Board is the planner and provider of NHS healthcare services for people in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and its bordering counties. Our 11,000 members of staff provide primary, community, in-hospital, mental health and learning disabilities services for around 384,000 people across a quarter of the landmass of Wales. We do this in partnership with our three local authorities and public, private and third sector colleagues, including our volunteers, through:

Four main hospitals: Bronglais General in Aberystwyth, Glangwili General in Carmarthen, Prince Philip in Llanelli and Withybush General in Haverfordwest

Seven community hospitals: Amman Valley and Llandovery in Carmarthenshire Tregaron, Aberaeron and Cardigan in Ceredigion and Tenby and South Pembrokeshire Hospital Health and Social Care Resource Centre in Pembrokeshire

48 general practices (five of which are managed practices), 47 dental practices (including three orthodontic), 99 community pharmacies, 44 general ophthalmic practices (43 providing Eye Health Examination Wales and 34 low vision services) and 17 domiciliary only providers and 11 health centres

Numerous locations providing mental health and learning disabilities services

Highly specialised and tertiary services commissioned by the Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee, a joint committee representing seven health boards across Wales.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post holder will be required to work directly with patients, their families and support networks, undertaking psychological and neuropsychological assessment and contribute to treatment/rehabilitation planning as well as consultation and contributions to the MDT processes.

You will be able to find a full job description and person specification attached within the supporting documents.

The Health Board is committed to supporting its staff to fully embrace the need for bilingualism thereby enhancing patient and service user experiences. In our commitment to increase the number of staff who are able to communicate in Welsh with patients and professionals, we welcome applications from Welsh speakers.

The ability to communicate in Welsh is desirable for this post. If you do not meet the Welsh Language requirements specified, the Health Board offers a variety of learning options and staff support to help you meet these minimal desirable requirements during the course of your employment with us.

Interviews will be held on 04/12/2023.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Knowledge

Essential

• Good Honours degree in Psychology Eligibility for Graduate Membership of the British Psychological Society (BPS)
• Doctorate in Clinical or Counselling Psychology, accredited by the BPS, or equivalent accredited by the BPS.
• HCPC Registered Practitioner Psychologist.
• Training (or equivalent experience) in clinical supervision.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology.
• Can demonstrate knowledge of service evaluation and use initiative with this
• Completion of a postqualification advanced training in a psychological therapy.
• Ability to provide direction through supervision, teaching and training to other psychologists, other specialist disciplines and agencies.
• Able to provide leadership and direction, by instigating developments, suggesting solutions to team issues, providing teaching, training, and supervision to other staff in the team.
• Knowledge of how to conduct service evaluation
• Has a thorough knowledge of the Professional Issues affecting Practitioner Psychologists in the NHS.

Desirable

• Training in evidence-based psychological interventions specific to working with people physical health problems
• Other related academic qualifications
• IT skills training

Experience

Essential

• Three year Doctorate training across a range of client groups but must include Children, Adults, people with Learning Disabilities, and Older Age Adults.
• Significant experience of working in a physical health setting and working with staff
• Has kept up-to-date on current clinical practice in Psychology and in Health Services more generally.
• Substantial post qualification clinical experience and additional specialist training in an area of psychological services
• To have a developed an advanced level of clinical expertise in at least one area of clinical practice within psychology in mental health or physical health service.
• Experience of working in mental health services
• Extensive experience of supervising other practitioners, individual and group supervision
• Experience of delivering training and workshops to other practitioners
• Can demonstrate evidence of previous experience of service evaluation as well as knowledge of how to evaluate new services

Desirable

• To have obtained further experience of working within other Psychology specialities.
• Research experience and statistical expertise
• Academic teaching experience
• Previous experience of service development
• Previous experience of developing business cases

Language Skills

Desirable

• Welsh Speaker (Level 1)

Employer details

Employer name

Hywel Dda University Health Board

Address

Glangwili General Hospital

Dolgwili Road

Carmarthen

SA31 2AF

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

100-PST065-0823-A