Senior Practitioner Psychologist

Job summary
To provide a high quality and highly specialised psychology service for patients and their families who being supported by Woodlands Hospice and the specialist palliative care ward at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

Main duties of the job
To provide highly specialist psychological assessment and therapy for patients approaching the end of their lives, and their families.

To provide expertise and specialist psychological consultation to colleagues contributing to patients' treatment and managers developing palliative care services.

Salary
Band: Band 8a
Salary: £57,528 to £64,750 a year per annum, pro rata
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Part-time

Job responsibilities

• To provide highly specialist psychological assessment and therapy for patients under the care of Woodlands Hospice or the specialist palliative care ward at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital
• To provide expertise and specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to patients treatment
• To take specific responsibility for developing the psychology service at Woodlands Hospice, including liaison with relevant stake-holders and establishing effective working arrangements for them in order to meet the needs of patients.
• To supervise directly the clinical work of relevant junior qualified and pre-qualification staff.

Essential knowledge

• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
• Advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of clinical health psychology, consistent with doctoral level professional training and further post qualification study, training and/or supervised experience.
• Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies.
• Specialist clinical knowledge of clinical health psychology, consistent with previous experience in this setting
• Ability to plan, organise and provide teaching and training on relevant psychological topics, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation and DoH policy and implementation guidelines, and of the implications of such documentation for clinical practice and professional management in relation to health care in general and cancer services in particular.
• Evidence of continuing professional development consistent with expected standards of the British Psychological Society and relevant subdivisions (e.g. Division of Clinical Psychology).
• Familiarity with the ethical and professional standards expected of Clinical Psychologists as laid down in the collated BPS 'Code of Ethics and Conduct' (2009).
• Awareness and thorough understanding of the political, social and economic policy framework within which health and mental health services are delivered and an ability to articulate and interpret clearly the role of the professions of clinical, health and counselling psychology within this context.

Desirable knowledge

• Post-qualification experience of research in physical health setting.
• Publication in peer-reviewed clinical or service-related journals.
• Experience of working in a clinical research environment
• Specialist knowledge of psycho-oncology

Essential qualifications

• Satisfactory completion of postgraduate doctoral level training in Clinical, Counselling or Health Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained before 1996) as accredited by the BPS.
• Eligibility for entry onto the British Psychological Society Register of Chartered Psychologists.
• Registered with HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist

Desirable qualifications

• Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice.
• Specialist training or demonstrable expertise in one or more areas of research methodology.

Essential experience

• Post-qualification experience of working as a practitioner psychologist.
• Experience of working as a qualified psychologist in a physical health setting.
• Working with a wide variety of client groups, across the adult life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across a range of care settings including outpatient and in-patient settings.
• Maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems.
• Exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan
• Teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• Representing the profession in local policy or planning forums

Desirable experience

• Experience in cancer services.
• Experience in service development and/or innovation.
• Membership of national professional or interprofessional groups
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of research in physical health settings.

Essential skills

• Skills in the use of highly complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management commensurate with doctoral level training, including specialist clinical interviewing, behavioural observation, complex psychometric testing and specialist neuropsychological testing.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) including the ability empathically, sensitively and effectively to communicate clinical and condition-related information to patients, their families, carers and professional colleagues (within and outside the NHS) that is extremely complicated, technical or sensitive and potentially distressing to the recipient or that is extremely contentious or challenging.
• When communicating with patients, carers and colleagues, has the high level interpersonal skills necessary to obtain and convey highly complex, sensitive or contentious information in emotionally charged and extremely emotive settings, in a manner that addresses and overcomes psychological resistance, hostility, antagonism, and problems of motivation and engagement, as well as barriers to understanding arising from cognitive, cultural or linguistic factors
• Ability to show respect for patients and practitioners, and to build and sustain effective working relationships.
• A commitment to the integration of research and clinical services including the evaluation of services for both multi-professional and uni-professional audit, and a wish to continue to develop expertise in the service area.
• Resourcefulness and ability to work independently at a high level and as a member of a team and to deliver team and organisational objectives.
• Adaptable and able to work flexibly when required (particularly in the light of changing service priorities).
• Capacity for tolerating frustration, change and high levels of demand with an ability to work effectively under pressure.
• Demonstrable leadership in relation to psychology and other professions.
• High-level negotiation skills
• Computing skills: data processing, wordprocessing, literature-searching consistent with doctoral training and the need for data analysis to support audit and research.
• Excellent verbal and written communication

Desirable skills

• Evidence of management skills

Other essentials

• Willingness to travel between sites as required.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This 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 Sponsorship
Applications 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 Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details
Employer name: Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Address: Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Mount Vernon Street, Liverpool, L7 8YE, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.liverpoolft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

For questions about the job, contact:
Consultant Clinical Psychologist Jane Hutton, jane.hutton@liverpoolft.nhs.uk, 07971176603

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's privacy notice (opens in a new tab).