Job overview
This new Macmillan service aims to ensure that adults affected cancer experience excellent psychosocial care wherever they are on the cancer pathway. Active service user involvement is fundamental to the service aim to support personalised care and support for people affected by cancer in our population through:
1. Timely & equitable access to appropriate level 1-4 (NICE, 2004) mental health support integrated with cancer care clinical pathways
2. Improved coordination, proactive and integrated psycho-social support across primary, community, social and acute settings
3. Psychosocial education and support for health care professionals (including collaborative learning and reflection sessions) and ensuring continuous development and improvement
4. Improved integrated support for people with learning disabilities and pre-existing mental health conditions with cancer
This service has been funded collaboratively by Macmillan and Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Alliance with the support of Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB. The new exciting service will be hosted by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust and will sit within the established cancer psychology pathways at LTHTr and UHMB.
The service places a high value on service user involvement and the value of co-production and design in delivering personalised care. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience of cancer and/or long term physical health conditions
Main duties of the job
As a Clinical practitioner, your role will involve developing highly specialised clinical health psychology pathways for patients living with cancer based on NICE guidelines and Core Standards.
You will also play a key role in providing clinical supervision to Macmillan, and facilitating living well groups to patients ensuring high standards of psychological practice. Routine research, audit, and the evaluation of this projects will be part of your duties.
Contributing to the promotion of patient needs, clinical symptoms, and approaches to care within the MDT is essential, as is actively participating in the development of care pathways.
Collaboration is a critical aspect of this role. You will work closely with the consultant clinical psychologist, MDT colleagues, and key stakeholders, such as those within the Clinical Business Unit and Core Therapy colleagues. As well as the project manager, Macmillan and service user engagement officer.
There is an expectation for you to undertake extended roles and responsibilities as required and directed by the Head of the Clinical Health Psychology Services. There is also an aim to increase access to cancer care, so you will need to work flexibly across the cancer alliance in line with the project aims.
Working for our organisation
The posts will be hosted by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust. We have 10,000 fantastic people working hard to deliver quality services to our patients. Whatever your role, you help look after 370,000 people in our local area & give specialist care to 1.5 million people across Lancashire & Cumbria.
Working with us gives you the knowledge and sense of pride that every activity you do genuinely does make a difference to support our patients & staff, ensuring we keep thriving & delivering outstanding healthcare right across our local towns. These posts involve working across the Cancer Alliance, linking in with colleagues across the ICB and integrating cancer care and teaching both in the hospital Trust and the community.
You’ll make an impact, be part of a new and exciting project, be challenged to think differently & help innovate to keep cancer care moving forward. Everything we do centres around patient care and enhancing their experience which means your role is pivotal and something really to be proud of.
As a Macmillan professional, you will have access to a wide variety of learning opportunities to support your development. Macmillan’s Person-Centred Care Competency Framework (MPCCCF) underpins the training offer, this ensures that professionals are provided with the education, training, tools, learning resources and development opportunities to help them meet these needs and demands of their roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Duties to include but not be limited to:
5. To provide an active role in the psycho-oncology collaborative, consultation and collaboration with NHS and voluntary sector providers is a key part of this role.
6. To contribute to the implementation, development and evaluation of the service.
7. Provide a highly specialised psychological therapy and assessment for patients with Cancer, in line with the best available evidence.
8. Work within the Macmillan pathway across LTHTr and UHMB.
9. Offer supervision in psychological skills to other less experienced psychological practitioners and to heath service staff working in the service.
10. To contribute to and facilitate a varied training programme for health care professionals.
11. To attend and contribute to triage meetings and contribute to highly specialist clinical health psychology discussions for patients living with cancer.
12. To provide integrated multidisciplinary care across the cancer specialist pathways.
13. Develop and engage in audit and research within the pathway to further the development of the pathway.
14. There will be an expectation to work flexibly across the pathway as required.
15. To work in consultation and collaboration with the consultant clinical psychologist, clinical colleagues, service user engagement officer, project manager and key stakeholders in the Clinical Business Unit and Macmillan.
Person specification
Qualifications and Education
Essential criteria
16. Registered with the regulatory body eg. BABPC or HCPC.
17. Clinical or Counselling Psychologist OR Cognitive Behavioural Therapist With completed appropriate training in CBT therapy, eg Diploma, accredited by the BABCP
18. Further training or experience in the specialist field
19. Prepared to undertake a substantial Postqualification training in one or more additional specialized areas of psychological practice, at least equivalent to a postgraduate diploma, or equivalent professional development.
Desirable criteria
20. Post-qualification training in evidence based therapies eg. EMDR, CFT, ACT, SFBT
21. Core Profession (eg. Mental Health Nurse, Practitioner Psychologist or Mental Health Social Worker. Leadership training or qualification
22. Training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychological interventions.
Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria
23. Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across a range of care settings, e.g. outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
24. Experience of working with patients with wide range of psychological problems, e.g. community mental health, long term health conditions.
25. Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, typically across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity
26. Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in clients with physical health difficulties and emotional distress
27. Highly specialist knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies, for example EMDR, ACT, CFT or CBT
28. Knowledge of research methodology, research design and data analysis in psychological intervention.
Desirable criteria
29. Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
30. Experience working with people with cancer or longterm physical health conditions
31. Experience of the application of psychological approaches in different cultural contexts.
32. Experience of working with groups of service users
33. Experience of MDT or team working
34. Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health.
35. Knowledge of the biopsychosocial model and its application in a clinical setting
36. Knowledge of current local and national drivers and models for services and developments within the NHS