An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 8D Neuropsychologist to join our team, to lead the provision of Psychological Services across Warrington and Halton for adults with complex neurological rehabilitation. Your caseload will include clients with: ABIs, Strokes and long term neurological conditions.

The post holder will be supported to undertake research and with professional development including further qualifications in clinical neuropsychology.

You will be based at the Orford Jubilee Hub and Halton ILC delivering a domiciliary and clinic based service, working alongside physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nurses, and assistants with administrative support. There is free onsite parking.

Main duties of the job

The successful applicant will provide specialist neuropsychological and psychological assessments for patients with neurological conditions in Warrington and Halton, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of highly complex psychological data from a variety of sources. As well as formulate, develop and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of patients neuropsychological and/or mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the patients problems, and employing methods of proven efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

This will include the undertaking of risk assessments and risk management strategies as appropriate.

The job requires an integrated MDT approach with an emphasis on collaborative working.

The post holder will be required to take substantial professional responsibility and exercise autonomous judgement in their professional practice, as well as provide the MDT with a formulation led biopsychosocial framework.

About us

Flexible working will be considered for all roles.

Unfortunately, we do not hold a sponsor licence for working Visas.

At Bridgewater, our PEOPLE values shape how we deliver our NHS services in your local community.

They help us deliver our mission to improve local health and promote wellbeing in the communities we serve.

After all, values are about people and they were created in partnership with our staff to reflect what they felt was important to them

Here at Bridgewater our shared values flow through the organisation.

P- Person-centred-We are passionate about individual needs and promote independence in the healthcare we provide..

E- Empowered- We empower our people and encourage new ideas to deliver and create improvements in community care.

O- Open and Honest -We behave in a way that develops relationships based on trust, openness, honesty and respect.

P- Professional-We support our people, so everyone has the right skills and training to deliver outstanding patient care.

L- Locally Lead -We are always learning about our communities and show great pride in being a local provider of health and care.

E- Efficient -We use our resources wisely to provide sustainable and value for money healthcare for our patients.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose:

To ensure the systematic provision of a high quality clinical neuropsychology service within a highly specialist service area, across all sectors of the organisation.

To practice as an autonomous independent specialist professional clinical practitioner and assume continued responsibility for a caseload of clients with the most complex difficulties, exercising full clinical responsibility for their psychological care both as a clinician and supervisor for other professionals.

To work within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team and to ensure that systems are in place and working effectively for the clinical and professional supervision and support of all other psychologists within the service/sector for which the post holder has designated professional responsibility, including clear systems for professional appraisal, and the identification of CPD needs across the service/sector.

As a major requirement of the job to act as a highly specialist resource to the wider professional community and to carry out audit, policy and service development and research activities and/or programmes.

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

To be a Mental Capacity Lead in the Trust, providing guidance on implementation of policy and pathways.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Clinical Duties:

1. Working within a highly specialised clinical area, to provide highly developed specialist neuropsychological assessments of clients with neurological conditions based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from sources including psychometrics, scans, medical reports, neuropsychological tests, self report measures, psychological models, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the clients care, and decide upon treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning neurological, historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.

2. To work with a vulnerable group including individuals with long term health conditions, severe and enduring mental health difficulties, challenging behaviours, family breakdown and victims of child sexual abuse and formulate plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

3. To utilise advanced specialist assessments and diagnostic techniques based on acute medical data (Glasgow Coma Scale, PTA), neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, psychometric and psychosocial factors and formally make a diagnosis in conditions which require a specialist assessment of developmental, medical, psychological and cognitive histories, including offering a specialist second opinion and/or independent advice.

4. To communicate using the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills, in skilled and sensitive manner, highly complex information about cognitive functions and neurological diagnosis, to patients and their families as well as communication regarding clinical consequences and restrictions due to acquired disability. Due to the nature of the information and the client group, this can be in a hostile, antagonistic or more frequently, highly emotive situations (patients with mental illness, challenging behaviours, physical illness and psychological trauma). This may be within the context of out-patient clinics, day care services, specialist units, prisons and patients own homes.

5. To utilise the highest level of communication skills to deliver and manage diagnosis and prognosis around terminal and degenerative diseases, which may require end of life planning with acute services, community facilities and specialist agencies such as hospices and palliative care. This involves supporting the family and care staff, as well as clinical case management in supporting staff delivering palliative care plans where care is delivered in the community.

6. To undertake first line risk assessment for relevant individual clients and to provide both general and specialist advice for psychologists and other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management. This may include individuals who may be in post-traumatic amnesic states and therefore aggressive, agitated or sexually disinhibited, presenting with challenging behaviours or those with severely compromised capacity. Also devise appropriate risk management for individual clients and to provide general advice to other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management within a complex patient group with elevated levels of risk associated with impulsive verbal and physical aggression/ violence and self-harm.

7. To actively manage high level risks for the most complex patients within the community including holding full clinical responsibility for managing the risk of suicide, risk to children, verbal and physical aggression/ violence, risk of abuse/ exploitation to and by others, and forensic recidivism through analysis, interpretation, and comparison of a range of management options.

8. To formulate and implement complex and highly specialist plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a clients cognitive, behavioural and emotional sequelae in clients with a neurological diagnosis. To formulate an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems, employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings. Emotional management includes therapy for child sexual abuse, suicidal ideation, personality disorders and severe and enduring mental health difficulties.

9. To be responsible for implementing a range of highly specialist psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon extensive knowledge of different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses, using expert models such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Psychodynamic therapy, Cognitive Analytical Therapy and Systems Therapy.

10. To be an accredited practitioner in the administration, interpretation, and supervision of others, with regards to Neuropsychological Tests, Psychometric assessments of psychopathology and Risk. This would include approved registration at Level C or above for agencies that monitor the use of psychometrics, such as Harcourt and the Psychological Corporation.

11. To provide specialist neuropsychological and psychometric assessments, and provide written reports to help inform diagnosis, formulation, and intervention in all aspects of health care.

12. To be responsible for leading and advising on the provision of clinical care/goal setting to meet clients needs, co-ordinating the work of others involved with care, arranging clinical reviews as required and communicating effectively with the client, his/her family and all others involved in care and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary interventions.

13. To advise Responsible Medical Officers and specialist consultants in issues with direct regard to neuropsychological aspects of the patients condition and treatment.

14. To be independently responsible for providing, developing, implementing, and managing complex systematic neuropsychological Care Plans, involving Acute, Post- Acute, and Community Health Services, as well as Social Care and the Voluntary Sector, in line with national guidelines.

15. To exercise full responsibility and autonomy for the acceptance, treatment of and discharge of clients whose problems are managed as a psychologically based standard care plan, ensuring appropriate assessment, formulation and interventions, communicating with the referral agent and others involved with the care on a regular basis.

16. To ensure that all members of the clinical 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.

17. To influence decision making about allocation of resources (e.g. funding) to ensure appropriate care/treatment of the client is secured. This can involve presentations to large multidisciplinary panels, managers, commissioners, and external agencies.

18. To provide a specialist clinical opinion and formal reports in the review of residential placements within and out of area, informing funding managers and commissioners to provide feedback and advice on such clients progress and ongoing needs.

19. To highly undertake specialist assessments of mental capacity in the most complex cases, where statements are made around issues such as treatment, residence, best interest and financial capacity. These will often involve being the official signatory on legal forms which are taken up by the Court of Protection, High Court, and other legal authorities.

20.To be formally trained in skills such as Care and Restraint or similar, for physical strategies in managing physical violence and risk to self.

21. To frequently sit in a restricted fashion for purposes of delivering therapy and psychometric assessment. This requires extended periods of intense concentration for patient interaction, responding and recording information for up to two to three hours at a time.

Please see full Job Description attached.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or equivalent) as accredited by the HCPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics /neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Post-doctoral qualification or progress towards qualification in the specific area of formal clinical neuropsychologist qualification (Practitioner Full Member)
• Undertaken training in the supervision of Trainee Clinical Psychologists.
• Accreditation in the use, interpretation, and application of psychometrics.
• Chartered Clinical Psychologist eligible/ HPC statutory regulation eligible

Experience

Essential

• Relevant post qualification experience.
• Formally assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical neuropsychologist at Senior/ Principal level, including significant post-doctoral qualification experience within neuropsychology.
• Experience of autonomously exercising full clinical responsibility for clients psychological care and treatment, both as a care co-ordinator, te
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  C9835-WA24-046a