Job overview
As Principal Clinical Psychologist and Paediatric Psychology Therapy Lead (0.8WTE), you will take the managerial lead of the Paediatric Psychology team and lead the psychological therapy side of the service across Basingstoke North Hampshire Hospital (BNHH) and Royal Hampshire County Hospital (RHCH), Winchester. You will work with qualified and trainee clinical psychologists within the team, as well as offer psychological input into various multi-disciplinary teams of healthcare staff covering general paediatrics and diabetes.
You will bring advanced skills to offer high-quality psychological input. This will include complex assessment, formulation and diagnostic thinking, and consultation. You will support the development of integrated work across pathways to support consistent, uninterrupted experiences of care.
You will bring strong supervisory skills. You will have proven experience working positively with inter-agency colleagues.
Main duties of the job
1.To provide specialist psychological assessments of children and young people referred to the team using a variety of sources. This will include psychological and neuropsychological tests and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
2.To be responsible for a clinical caseload of assessments within general paediatrics and to exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the planning and prioritising of own workload and the care pathway of clients, within the bounds of the service operational policy.
3.To formulate and guide plans for evidence based psychological assessment and/or intervention around psychological distress in the context of physical health conditions based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems.
4.To evaluate and make complex decisions about psychological input, taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
5.To provide consultation, mentorship, supervision and advice about psychological issues at a high level of professional expertise to other members of the team/service and other professionals working with the service users, across a range of agencies/settings as appropriate.
Working for our organisation
Our vision is to provide outstanding care for every patient. Patient care is at the heart of what we do at our three sites: Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester and Andover War Memorial Hospital. Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides medical and surgical services to a population of approximately 600,000 people across Hampshire and parts of West Berkshire.
Our cultural ambition is to have a culture that places people at the heart of all we do, where we all belong, and where learning, improvement and excellence thrive.
We provide specialist services to people across the UK and internationally. We are one of only two centres in the UK treating pseudomyxoma peritonei (a rare form of abdominal cancer) and we are leaders in the field of tertiary liver cancer and colorectal cancer.
The trust employs more than 9,000 staff and has a turnover of over £500 million a year. As a Foundation Trust, we are directly accountable to our members through the governors. The Council of Governors represent the interests of their constituencies and influence the future plans of the Foundation Trust.
Tackling Climate Change: Hampshire Hospitals aims to embed sustainability and net zero carbon principles into the delivery of care across all its services. To find out more, search or .
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1.To report immediately any incidents affecting staff, users or visitors on Health Service property in accordance to Trust policies.
2.To undertake and contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the team’s operational policies and services, through the use of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit ensuring incorporation of psychological frameworks for understanding and provision of high-quality care.
3.To provide effective leadership and management to staff which promotes high performance standards both individually and as a team, in the achievement of the Trust’s objectives and priorities.
Managers will be expected to:
·Understand the Trust’s key priorities and those of Child Health and translate these into key priorities for your care group.
·Ensure clarity and effectiveness in developing and designing roles.
·Ensure management of staff is consistent with Trust’s HR Policies to the achievement of equality, equity and optimum performance.
·Complete annual Appraisals for all staff which reflect these priorities and ensure staff have access to appropriate training and development.
·Promote an effective team ethos.
·Promote equality, diversity and rights, and treat others with dignity and respect ensuring services are developed, managed and delivered to meet the specific needs of those belonging to protected characteristics.
·Promote equality, diversity and human rights in working practices by developing and maintaining positive working relationships, ensuring that colleagues are treated fairly and contributing to developing equality of opportunity and outcomes in working practices.
·Ensure that colleagues are treated fairly. Behave in a non-discriminatory way and challenge the discriminatory behaviour of others. Be supportive of colleagues or service users who wish to raise issues about discriminatory practice or experience.
Person specification
Education/Experience & Knowledge
Essential criteria
1. •Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or it’s equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
Desirable criteria
2. •Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
3. •Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
Training/experience
Essential criteria
4. •Active registration as a Practitioner Psychologist with the HCPC
Training and Qualifications
Essential criteria
5. •Post qualification training or proven equivalent experience in leadership or management
Experience and Knowledge
Essential criteria
6. •Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client’s psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan.
Experience and Knowledge
Essential criteria
7. •Working knowledge of the provision of healthcare for children, young people and families within the NHS and the complex multi-agency systems which provide for the health, education and social care needs for children and young people.