Job Description:
An exciting opportunity has arisen within the
Inpatient Psychology Service at Langdon Hospital, for an appropriately
qualified Band 8a practitioner psychologist to cover Maternity Leave, You will work as
part of an innovative psychology team, which provides specialist psychological
work to patients at Langdon Hospital, with the opportunity to work across the
directorate.
The psychology team at Langdon includes experienced and
enthusiastic clinical, forensic, counselling psychologists and arts therapists, trainee psychologists and a team of assistant psychologists,
one each for our 5 wards across the Medium and Low Secure estate.
Forensic mental health settings provide an enviable clinical environment in
which to pursue clinical interests and develop specialism in areas such as risk
assessment, offence focused work, individual or group work, trauma, psychosis,
personality and relational difficulties, as well as cognitive and developmental
difficulties. The work can involve a
range of assessment and therapeutic approaches, modalities and timeframes.
This role is being offered on a fixed term basis or as a potential secondment opportunity to internal applicants.
Main duties of the job
- Being an autonomous practitioner responsible for your own clinical activity and accountable for observing and interpreting professional and Trust guidelines for professional conduct including accurate record keeping
- Providing consultation, advice, and clinical supervision to other professionals and agencies including Band 7 Psychologists, Assistant Psychologists, Trainee and undergraduate Psychologists.
- Devising, supervising and formulating a clients presenting difficulties(s), based upon the appropriate theoretical and conceptual frameworks and evidence based practice
- Delivering individual and group interventions
- Meeting appropriate standards of practice in the quality and timeliness of the service provided. Standards of practice will include those defined by: the British Psychological Society (including the Division of Clinical Psychology); the HCPC and/or other relevant bodies such as UKCP and Devon Partnership Trust
- Keeping adequate clinical records in accordance with Trust guidance
- Undertaking risk and other assessments (where relevant) and collaborating on the risk management of individuals together with the multi-disciplinary team
- Undertake other responsibilities e.g. quality improvement initiatives or service development / evaluation projects the ensure an ever improving, high quality, professional service
- Communicating in a clear, professional, skilled and sensitive manner.
About us
About Devon Partnership Trust
We provide mental health, learning disability and neurodiversity services, as well as a range of specialist & secure services for the wider south west region & nationally. We are passionate about promoting good mental health & wellbeing. We strive to use the expertise & resources within our organisation, and through our partnerships, to deliver high quality services that are safe & focused on people's recovery.
We are committed to developing a culture of coproduction, involving patients, families & carers in everything we do
Our values
We not only recruit based on qualifications & experience - we recruit individuals who possess & demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. These include such attributes as showing a commitment to quality of care, improving lives of others, giving respect, dignity & compassion. We can bring those values to life in our everyday tasks by giving a smile; making time for people; challenging ourselves & others, & being open to new ideas.
We are committed to being an inclusive employer & applications are encouraged & welcomed from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics as governed by the Equality Act 2010. Part time & flexible working applications will be considered & supported, where possible. We particularly encourage applicants with lived experience of mental health conditions, neurodiversity or learning disabilities. We are a Disability Confident Leader.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Communication & Working Relationships
Clients family and others
- To communicate in a
highly skilled and sensitive manner with service users with a mental health,
learning disability, challenging behaviour and/or personality disorder 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,
collaboratively and supportively with colleagues in the multi-professional
integrated psychological consultation and intervention service on a day to
day basis.
- 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 in the secure directorate to foster a positive approach to the inpatient
service and to enable effective negotiation.
Planning & Organisation
The psychology service
- To plan and organise the
work of the psychology provision in the inpatient service and to contribute
to the development and improvement of provision of psychological services
within the commissioned service to DPT, to best meet the organisations
strategy and priorities.
- The multi-disciplinary service
- To provide
psychology leadership to the multi-professional planning, development and
marketing of Support to Succeed.
The directorate- To work as part of the psychology
management structure and contribute to the planning and implementation of
service developments.
Responsibility for Patient Care, Treatment and Therapy
- Assessment & intervention
- To provide expert
psychological assessment (including risk assessment) and group / individual
and support interventions, developing specialist psychological formulations
and assessments of service users, formulating plans for their psychological
treatment and implementing specialist psychological interventions for
individuals, carers, families and groups, and to demonstrate awareness of
diversity issues.
- Consultation & guidance
- To provide advice,
guidance and consultation on psychological aspects of people with complex presentations
and offending behaviour, other service providers, and relevant other agencies
(e.g. Approved Premises).
Policy, Service, Research & Development Responsibility
- The post holder is accountable for their own professional
actions, acting within Trust policies and procedures and Professional
Practice Guidelines. Supervision and
line management structures are in place to support the implementation of
Trust policy and professional practice guidelines.
Policy & service
- To interpret and contribute
to the development of policies and procedures for the provision of
psychological consultation and intervention service in inpatient and DPT.
- R and D / audit
- To contribute to and support the
organisation of the Rand D activities of the psychology service, and to
undertake a research programme as agreed. To ensure all psychology staff
participate in appropriate audit and evaluation of outcomes of the psychology
service.
Responsibility for Finance, Equipment & Other
Resources
- The post holder
is accountable for their own professional actions, acting within Devon
Partnership NHS Trust policies and procedures and Professional Practice
Guidelines.
-
To
interpret and develop policies and procedures for the provision of psychology
services.
-
Provide
clinical leadership in the continual development and provision of excellence
across the service.
-
Carry
out duties in relation to local, regional and national initiatives in
developing services.
-
Work
alongside other clinicians in the team and within other appropriate agencies,
as well as with service users, families and carers, to initiate and implement
service developments.
-
Responsible
for identifying and proposing strategic service improvements.
-
Contribute
to operational planning and advise senior colleagues on those aspects of the
service that may need addressing at a strategic level.
-
Involvement
in the development of local systems and process that ensure the
implementation of Trust policies.
-
Contribute
to clinical governance arrangements in order to ensure the quality of the
service provided; this will include ensuring performance targets are met to
provide high quality care.
-
Hold
responsibility for implementing clear systems for effective recruitment,
professional appraisal and for facilitating the highest performance of the
team, with responsibility for systematic governance of the clinical practice
of the team and implementation of the organisations clinical governance
agenda.
Responsibility for Supervision, Leadership &
Management
- Management
- Responsible for line management of
allocated staff as part of the psychology department structure.
- Leadership & supervision
- To provide leadership
as a qualified psychologist and to professionally supervise psychology staff,
trainees, assistants and volunteers as required.
- To
ensure high quality consultation, individual / group intervention and joint
working within the Support to Succeed service. To provide psychology leadership in the
integrated multi-professional service.
Information Resources & Administrative Duties
- To maintain accurate records in accordance with local and
professional guidance.
- To be responsible for using an email account to generate,
monitor, and respond to the e-mail traffic by which the Trust conducts much
of its internal communication.
Any Other Specific Tasks Required
- To ensure all clinical care and treatment provided by
psychologists is carried out under appropriate supervision and leadership.
- To ensure that all relevant staff groups continuously
update the skills and techniques relevant to their clinical work.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Qualified Clinical Psychologist (D.Clin.Psychol.) or equivalent e.g. Forensic Psychologist or Counselling Psychologist, with eligibility for Chartered Psychologist Status in the British Psychological Society.
- Registration with HCPC/BABCP/UKCP/Other Specialist regulatory body
- Further training in forensic psychology or specialist area relevant to forensic settings
- Further training in one or more psychological therapies, e.g. CBT, EMDR, CAT, Schema.
Desirable
- Supervision Training
- Management / Leadership training
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Excellent verbal, nonverbal and written communication skills
- Strong leadership qualities, resilience and ability to handle ambiguity and uncertainty.
- Skills in managing conflict, negotiation & achieving consensus in complex situations in the pursuit of agreed strategic aims
- Ability to integrate complex data; make highly skilled evaluations and decisions; and take a long term perspective.
- Organisation and time management skills. Ability to prioritise and work responsively and flexibly to manage individual, supervisee and organizational goals.
- Project management experience
Experience
Essential
- Broad knowledge of forensic services; and of the services in the NHS where clinical psychology is commonly applied.
- Extensive knowledge of the evidence base, skills and practice of Clinical/Forensic/Counselling Psychology
- Knowledge of the policy context of services to DPT and of leadership in this setting.
- Experience of work in Forensic Services in a range of service settings or agencies
- Skills in applying complex methods of psychological assessment, formulation, intervention and management
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision of psychologists.
- Experience in undertaking leadership roles within clinical psychology services in the NHS, and in contributing to the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies and clinical policies in multi-disciplinary, multi-agency contexts.
- Experience, and/or training in diversity awareness and social inequality
- Experience of providing a range of assessments, formulation and therapies to address forensic as well as mental health difficulties.
- Experience of providing supervision for qualified psychologists, trainees and assistant psychologists in psychological therapies to address forensic and mental health difficulties.
Desirable
- Experience of leadership and proven outcomes in service development.
- Innovation and creative development and implementation of evidence based therapies.
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.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Contact information:
Inpatient Psychology Lead
Lisa Hutchinson
lisa.hutchinson9@nhs.net
