Job summaryThe post is based at HMP Wandsworth where you will work with a team of psychological therapists and multi-professional mental health colleagues to embed psychologically informed care in the prison.
***Previous applicants need not apply***Main duties of the jobThe role is dynamic, with clinical tasks, staff support, supervisory roles and non-clinical responsibilities carried out with the support of the psychology leadership. The postholder will be able to demonstrate a keen interest in working with people who have led chaotic lives and who present with complex mental health needs and forensic histories.
The postholder will supervise pre-qualified psychological therapists including assistant psychologists, students and trainees.
About usOxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children's centres, schools and people's homes.We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.
Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:
- We're Kind
- We're Fair
- We Listen
- We Care
Job descriptionJob responsibilitiesMain Responsibilities- To provide direct psychological care (assessment and intervention) and support the delivery of psychologically informed care by all disciplines within the service
- To provide highly specialist psychological therapy assessments, formulations and interventions
- To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment,treatment and discharge of community clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans, including taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans with input from clients, their carers, referring agents and others involved in the network of care
- To provide culturally appropriate psychological therapy interventions with service users, carers or families of referred clients when required
- To communicate, in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, to clients family carers and others as appropriate, information that may be contentious or highlydistressing concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care
- To produce reports on clients, in a timely manner, that convey the key findings of psychological assessment and formulation and treatment outcome in a way that does justice to the complexity of the problems described, but that are understandable to the recipients of the reports, including clients and referrers
- To undertake psychometric and neuropsychological testing as appropriate, including selecting the appropriate tests, administering and scoring the tests in accordance with the manual, and interpreting the findings in the context of all relevant information
- To undertake risk assessment, risk monitoring and risk management forindividual clients in line with Trust and inter-agency policies and procedures, and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management
- To work in partnership with other disciplines and to maintain links with statutory and non-statutory agencies as appropriate
Management responsibilities- To provide line management to designated assistant psychologists
- Provide supervision to students and trainees and to multi-disciplinary colleagues delivering psychological interventions
- To support recruitment of assistant psychologists to the service for those line managing, to ensure local standards are implemented for theallocation and review of work, job planning, review of performance sickness management and initial stages of grievance or disciplinary action
- To oversee quality line management and supervision within the team structure, ensuring that staff and trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute effectively to health care, and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies
- To provide highly specialist advice, consultation and training of staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate. This may include work with the Criminal Justice System and Childrens Services
Leadership- To provide and support specialist clinical placements for students and trainees in applied psychological practice.
- To contribute to the delivery of teaching and training to junior psychological practitioners and specialist training to other professions.
- To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the service by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychological therapy and risk assessment / management and to implement knowledge gained in practice.
- To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles
- To continue to gain wider post-qualification experience of psychological therapies and risk assessment / management, over and above that provided within the principal service area where the post-holder is employed.
Research- To undertake the planning, initiation and completion of research, service, evaluation and audits, and quality improvement projects relevant to the service and the directorate research agenda.
- To oversee the planning, initiation and completion of research, service evaluation and audits by students and trainees.
- To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
Communication- To communicate, in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, to clients, family carers and others as appropriate, information that may be contentious or highly distressing concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care.
- Liaise with other team members including members of other disciplines and agencies responsible for a clients care.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ:All applicants must be willing to undertake National Security Vetting in order to work in a Prison Setting. This will be completed as part of the pre-employment checks through Oxleas and the prison vetting team.
You will need to provide:
- Proof of right to work documentation
- Proof of ID, needs to include 1 photographic ID
- Proof of address documentation
- Non-UK passport holders will need to have correct documentation (right to work in the UK) and a Home office Share code.
Address History:5 years address history will be needed.
Applicants that are not UK Passport holders who provide less than 5 years UK address history will need to provide a Police Certificate which must be in English from where they resided previously.
Applicants who are UK Passport holders who have lived abroad for a period of more than six months during the last three years will need to provide a certificate of good conduct or an overseas police check in English from the countries resided in or visited.
In order to assist you in obtaining a Police Certificate, guidance can be sought from: Apply through our website
If the country you have resided in is not listed here, you can obtain the necessary information by contacting the relevant Embassy or High Commission for that Country. Their contact details can be found on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website (opens in a new tab).
Person SpecificationEducation/QualificationsEssential- Entry-level qualification in applied psychological therapy/mental health/social welfare profession or equivalent and demonstrable practice in this field (ie professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level/supervised practice/additional training) that has been accepted for the purposes of professional registration
- Additional training beyond entry-level qualification in a specialised area of psychological practice (through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses and/an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice-based learning in a specialist area of clinical psychological therapy practice, assessed by a registered body and/or an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma or higher
- Registered with professional body or regulatory body as appropriate to psychological therapy discipline ie HCPC/UKCP/BACP/BABCP.
Skills/Abilities/KnowledgeEssential- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Ability to administer, score and interpret psychometric and neuropsychological tests with appropriate training and supervision.
- Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
OtherEssential- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
- Experience of working with diversity, including but not limited to a multicultural framework.
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
- Ability to form good working relationships with others in a multi-disciplinary setting.
- Interest and ability to contribute to service development.
Disclosure and Barring Service CheckThis 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.
Certificate of SponsorshipApplications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (opens in a new tab).
UK RegistrationApplicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
