Job overview
As Principal Clinical Psychologist and Neurodisability Lead (0.6WTE), you will lead the Early Years Autism Assessment Team (EYAAT) and work with the multidisciplinary team consisting of Paediatricians, Clinical Psychologist, a Speech and Language Therapist, and a Child Development Practitioner, in Basingstoke North Hampshire Hospital (BNHH). You will also lead the neuro-disability service developments across HHFT, with specific input to the Joint Paediatrician and Psychology Neuro-disability Clinic in Royal Hampshire County Hospital (RHCH).
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
Across EYAAT and neuro-disability in BNHH and RHCH:
1.To provide specialist psychological assessments of children and young people referred to the team a variety of sources. This will include psychological, neurodevelopmental 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 BNHH (EYAAT and neurodisability) and jointly within the RHCH neurodisability clinic, 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.Within the RHCH neuro-disability clinic, to formulate and guide plans for evidence based psychological assessment and/or intervention around psychological distress in the context of physical health conditions/neuro-disability, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems.
4.Within the RHCH neuro-disability clinic, alongside paediatricians, 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.
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
The post holder should
·Communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, complex and contentious information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans for children and young people under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
·Be responsible for contributing psychological knowledge and expertise to policy and service development though participation, where practical, in regional multi-disciplinary meetings and special interest groups, working parties etc.
·Communicate regularly through meetings with teams and individuals and provide opportunity for two-way feedback.
The post holder should be able to
·Prioritise goals and tasks and organise their calendar across EYAAT and neuro-disability pathways in two hospital bases
·Work with the department to achieve departmental goals
1.The post holder will be expected to keep their own mandatory training up to date.
2.To receive and provide regular clinical supervision.
3.To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of legislation, policy and developments in the provision of services relevant to the care group.
4.To keep abreast of developments in the relevant professional area of expertise and pursue further training within resources available.
5.To provide clinical placements for trainee psychologists when possible within resources, ensuring trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience effectively to client care and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.
6.Provide expert advice, consultant, training and clinical supervision to other members of the service, including qualified psychologists.
7.To maintain and develop skills in the area of professional and pre- and post-graduate training and clinical supervision.
8.Collaborate with managers, service users, carers and other stakeholders in the development of training and education specific to identified needs.
9.To participate and conduct service development/audit/research relevant to the areas of need served.
10.To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in clinical work and work with other professionals.
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.