We are looking to recruit a motivated clinical psychologist to join the Liaison Psychiatry service. This post would suit a psychologist who thrives in the inpatient setting and is looking for an opportunity to develop a new service for people attending the acute Trust with complex mental health needs.

The Liaison Psychology service will provide specialist input to the Liaison Psychiatry service, while being embedded in a large Clinical Health Psychology service, including specialities in Bariatric Surgery, Burns, HIV & Sexual Health, Intensive Care, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Pain and Staff Psychology. The CHP service has a strong commitment to embedding core values of equality, diversity and inclusion at the core of our work.

We are committed to improving access to services, striving for equity for all. Continuing professional development is actively supported, as well as hosting trainees from the North Thames Doctoral courses.

We especially welcome applications from candidates with the valuable experience of the diverse social and cultural communities the Trust serves, as we are seeking to ensure our psychology staffing has greater diversity and better represents local communities.

The postholder will be supported to develop their career and flourish as a valued member of the psychology staff group. There are also a number of support systems within the Trust including staff peer networks.

Main duties of the job

The postholder will take a lead in designing the Liaison Psychology service. This is a newly created post, welcomed by the Liaison Psychiatry team, as well as the wider Clinical Health Psychology service. The role will be on site, although hybrid models of working could be explored.

The postholder will provide specialist psychological assessment and brief therapeutic interventions in the acute setting. The postholder will offer advice and consultation on service users' psychological care.

Clinical responsibilities include provision of highly specialised psychological assessments and interventions for service users and specialist consultation for psychiatric and hospital based staff. The postholder will be responsible for systematic governance of psychological practice within Liaison Psychiatry.

Education responsibilities will be a key component, including leading on engaging hospital based staff with education of how to deliver psychologically informed care in the acute setting.

The postholder will contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.

The postholder will utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the areas served by the team/service.

The post holder will work autonomously within BPS and HCPC guidelines and codes of conduct, and Trust policies.

About us

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) is a great place to work for Psychological Professions. We employ a wide range of Psychological Professions. We value the rich, diverse contributions to our services that our great staff make. We offer our Psychological Professions opportunities across a range of clinical services, in the most diverse areas in London.

As a Trust, we are committed to investing in our staff through a range of initiatives, both profession-specific and organisation wide. We have partnered with Bespoke and Contextual Consulting to provide some of the profession specific CPD, alongside additional CPD sessions we commission as part of CNWL CPD programme for Psychological Professions. CNWL also has seven established staff networks supporting a range of individual needs.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:KR 1 Clinical and Client Care To provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for clients under the care of the Liaison Psychiatry service, often in busy departments, such as Accident and Emergency. To provide brief psychological interventions with distressed service users, whilst waiting for allocation of an admission bed. To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required. To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans, including supporting the ward based team to implement effective safety planning. To provide limited outpatient follow-up for service users attending Accident and Emergency, who might benefit from a more detailed psychological assessment and brief therapeutic interventions. Where appropriate, to act as named worker and take responsibility for initiating planning and reviewing of care plans and co-ordination of multi-professional meetings. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.KR 2 Contributing to team or service clinical functioning To contribute to the effective working of the team or service and to a psychologically informed framework for the service. To contribute to the team or services delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities. To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services. To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological care of clients, including drawing on formulation skills. To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.KR 3 Policy and service development To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes. To contribute to service development through undertaking and participating in appropriate projects. To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.KR 4 Care or management of resources To take care of, and use carefully, the Trusts equipment and physical resources. To ensure that the postholder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.KR 5 Management and supervision To supervise trainee psychologists within own area of specialism. To provide supervision for the psychological work of other multi-disciplinary staff as appropriate.KR 6 Teaching and Training To co-design with inpatient teams a psychoeducation package for ward based teams, on how to embed psychologically informed and trauma informed care. This could include a range of psychological areas, according to clinical need. To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the Liaison Psychiatry service by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychology and acute mental health, and by implementing knowledge gained in practice. To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.KR 7 Record-keeping and Information Governance To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures. To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.KR 8 Research and development To initiate, undertake, support and supervise regular complex service evaluation and audits. To develop a highly specialist follow-up clinic for service users presenting to Accident & Emergency. To provide expertise in a specialist research area which will contribute to the Liaison Psychiatry service. To initiate and implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment and assist other staff in the implementation of same.KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychologist according to HCPC and Trust guidelines. To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with BPS and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and the HCPC Standards for Continuing Professional Development. To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies. To comply with the HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics and Standards of Proficiency, and ensure professional development in line with these. To adhere to the BPSs Professional Practice Guidelines and Trust policies and procedures.KR 10 General To travel across the Trust when required. To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management. To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations and to support others involved in such situations.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level of psychology training, qualifying for HCPC Practitioner Psychologist professional registration
• Registered with the HCPC as Practitioner Psychologist, and evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC

Desirable

• Post-qualification training in supervision
• Additional training in a specialised area of psychological practice through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent)

Experience

Essential

• Evidence of having worked as a clinical psychologist under supervision
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature
• Post-qualification experience that supports working with, and addressing issues of, diversity within local communities
• Experience of carrying out post-doctoral research, audit or service evaluation projects
• Experience of teaching and training

Desirable

• Experience of working in crisis or community mental health teams
• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team

Knowledge

Essential

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological assessments and interventions for acute and crisis presentations
• Theoretical knowledge of psychological presentations and the evidence base for the relevant treatment
• Advanced knowledge of psychological crisis and community services
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities
• Doctoral level knowledge of psychological research methodology and complex statistical analysis
• Knowledge of factors affecting acceptability and accessibility of mental health care

Desirable

• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies

Skills

Essential

• To deliver psychological therapy across cultural and other differences
• To select and administer specialist psychological assessments, interpreting and integrating complex data that require analysis, interpretation and comparison, drawn from several sources
• To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers and colleagues overcoming barriers to communication including sensory, and emotional difficulties, cultural differences and hostility to or rejection of information
• To be skilled in working flexibly, turning attention to presenting clinical needs and tailoring interventions accordingly
• Well-developed IT skills including report writing
• Skills in providing teaching and training to other professional groups
• Ability to manage emotionally stressful situations such as working with victims of abuse or trauma, or with people who engage in severe self-harming or aggressive behaviour
• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic meetings
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate
• Ability to manage verbal aggression and hostility directed at self.

Employer details

Employer name

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

South Kensington Mental Health Centre

1 Nightingale Place

London

SW10 9NG

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

333-J-KC-0833