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Band 8B full time 1.0wte, 37 hours, permanent clinical psychologist working in Inpatient Psychology Services in NHS Borders
This post includes working in both Acute and Rehabilitation Wards for Adults with severe and enduring mental health problems.
NHS Borders is delighted to announce that we have a brand new permanent post at Band 8b available to work across our two inpatient wards in the NHS Borders. This post will include working on our acute mental health ward at Huntlyburn House and our community rehabilitation service inpatient unit at East Brigg.
Huntlyburn House is the inpatient ward for our three local CMHTs and patients’ presenting problems will include anxiety, depression, psychosis, complex PTSD and problems with emotional dysregulation. It will be important for the post holder to maintain communication links with the local CMHTs when involved in patient care transitions between the ward and community staff. Huntlyburn House is located on the Borders General Hospital main site in Melrose, TD6 9BD.
East Brigg is the inpatient ward for our Community Rehabilitation Service which works with patients who have severe and enduring mental health problems which require more assertive engagement and intensive support. Patients under the care of the Community Rehabilitation Service have complex presentations and commonly have a diagnosis of schizophrenia or other related problems of a psychotic nature. For this reason it will be desirable for candidates to have some experience of working with people who have experienced psychosis. East Brigg ward is located on the East and West Brigg Site on Tweed Road, Galashiels, TD1 3EB.
The post holder tasks will include providing assessments, formulations and interventions for inpatients on both wards. There will be a strong emphasis on team working, providing consultation, supervision, training, team formulation and staff reflective practice sessions to both wards.
There will be a requirement to spend clinical hours working on the inpatient mental health wards in the Borders seeing patients in person in addition to some opportunities to complete admin tasks and meetings working remotely from home. We are happy to discuss this arrangement in more detail with interested candidates prior to making an application.
NHS Borders Psychological Services aims to provide high quality local psychology services and recognises that in order to achieve this we require well supported and trained staff. We value maintaining connectivity amongst our staff, even when we may not see each other often in person.
We are in easy reach of Edinburgh. Both locations are accessible by public transport from Edinburgh via the Tweedbank rail service with stops at both Galashiels and Tweedbank for Melrose. The journey time is approx. 45 minutes from Edinburgh, with a 20 minute walk from Tweedbank to the Borders General Hospital and a similar walk from Galashiels to East Brigg.
NHS Borders serves the rural population of 115 000 living in the Scottish Borders. It is a lovely area to live in, with excellent schools, abundant local amenities and easy access to Edinburgh and transport links. There are superb leisure facilities and good
quality affordable housing which provide ideal opportunities for a high quality of life in this scenic part of the country.
We are very excited to be finally in the position to offer this new post and hope to find a candidate who shares our enthusiasm for developing this new role! The teams at Huntlyburn House and East Brigg are looking forward to welcoming a candidate who will have the opportunity to grow and influence the role that psychology can play in delivering psychologically informed care to both settings.
For further information, please contact Dr Tim Sporle, Consultant Clinical Psychologist on 01896 827270 / 07747 757 268, email timothy.sporle@nhs.scot
Due to legislative changes from 1 April 2025, this post may require a different level of criminal records check done than is currently the case. If the post is assessed as a "regulated role", your appointment will be subject to joining the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme. If there is any change to what is currently required, this will be confirmed by either the Hiring Manager or the Recruitment Team. For more details on these changes please visit: Disclosure Scotland Changes .
To work in the United Kingdom, there is a legal requirement for an individual to demonstrate that they have the relevant permission to work in the country. This permission is, without exception, granted by the UK Visa and Immigrations Service.
As part of the pre-employment checks for a preferred candidate, NHS Scotland Boards will check your entitlement to work in the UK. It can be evidenced through a number of routes including specific types of visa as well as EU settled and pre-settled status. To find out more about these routes of permission, please refer to the GOV.UK website here .
For specific types of post, if you do not have the necessary eligibility to work in the UK, it might be possible (though not guaranteed) to secure sponsorship via a UK Skilled Worker/Health & Care Worker Visa. However, this is only possible if the employer is a licenced Sponsor, and if the post does not fall below the current minimum salary threshold or ‘going rate’. Further information on these criteria can be found here .
It is ESSENTIAL that you have checked that you either already have an appropriate right to work in the UK or that the post would be eligible to be sponsored BEFORE submitting your application form
**PLEASE NOTE: We cannot accept late applications so please ensure your application is submitted early**
NHS Scotland is committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. To this end, NHS Scotland welcomes applications from all sections of society.