Principal Clinical Psychologist

Job Description

A psychology service lead opportunity has arisen into the Medicine Business Unit, as part of the Clinical Health Psychology Grouping, into the area of living well with diagnosed long-term health conditions. Current LTHC specialisms include respiratory medicine, community cardiology, diabetes, and adult weight management. The post will have a central service development component, to explore opportunities for high quality and integrated psychology provision across the Medicine Business Unit, working closely with our management teams and our stakeholder partners.The post holder will support, manage and supervise their team, and help to provide high quality, well integrated, and timely psychological provision for patients with complex emotional needs. Working as a senior psychologist, the post-holder will support their team to take full consideration of the range of psychological and psychosocial factors that can impact upon psychological wellbeing. Working as part of the Clinical Health Psychology Grouping, the team’s work will have a focus on the specific challenges for people managing physical health symptoms, diagnosed conditions, acute health events, and contact with healthcare system(s). The post holder will support their team to also work in a range of other more indirect roles aimed at integrating high quality and evidence-based psychological care into the wider network of support: e.g. case consultation with colleagues; offering staff training; undertaking audit and service development work; etc.Alongside the population background incidence of psychological difficulties, people with physical health difficulties and experiences of health-related trauma are more likely to suffer emotional difficulties. Estimates suggest that those with diagnosed with long-term health conditions are twice to three times more likely to experience mood difficulties and; approximately 40% of people experiencing a traumatic acute healthcare event will experience significant psychological and adjustment difficulties. These emotional difficulties can go on to increase the risk of further physical difficulties and symptoms. Therefore, within Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust, we strive to embed psychologically informed care by supporting our healthcare teams and stakeholder partners. In doing so, we aim to deliver an effective, integrated approach to the provision of care, by supporting person-centred and psychosocial approaches across our pathways and systems.The post holder will be central to taking this work forward, working closely with the clinical health psychology service leads group and our management leads. They will contribute to the leadership and development of clinical health psychology services across the Medicine Business Unit and help inform provision across the Clinical Heath Psychology Grouping. We want to put patients at the heart of healthcare provision and help to re-configure barriers, including the artificial separation of mental and physical health and parallel single-disease pathways.The successful candidate will work within the management structures of the Medicine Business Unit. They will work alongside, and receive support from, another service lead in Medicine, in the Living Well with Pain Service. They will receive further professional support and guidance from the Lead for Clinical Health Psychology. They will be part of the senior health psychology Service Leads Group. They will be required to develop close working relationships with the healthcare and management teams being worked into and to work closely with primary care and other agencies and partners, such as the Local Authority and commissioning groups, as a central responsibility. Supervision for further developing leadership and management skills, as well as for clinical case-work, models-based therapies, and safeguarding, will be arranged to meet the needs and requirements of the successful candidate.There is a long-standing commitment to integrated psychological provision within the Trust and the Clinical Health Psychology Grouping work into other services including Adolescent Health, Cancer Services and Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The grouping has good professional links with other NHCFT psychology services, including MHSOP, CAMHS, Learning Disability Services and Talking Therapies. We have excellent working links with our management and executive teams, and receive timely support with professional, clinical and governance matters.The post could be based across the Trust-wide footprint and the post-holder will therefore be expected to work routinely across the main sites in the Trust and undertake such travel as part of the job. The Trust has close links with local universities. The post holder will work autonomously within British Psychological Society and NHS Trust professional guidelines. They will be required to work within the governance structures of the Business Unit being worked into and of the Trust. Applicants must be registered with the Health & Care Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist. Applicants must have completed Doctoral level Postgraduate training in Clinical Psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 and/or hold a BPS Statement of Equivalence for such doctoral level training); or equivalent Doctoral level psychology training, as accredited by the BPS. They must have demonstrated post-qualification skills and experience in the provision of psychological assessment, formulation and intervention, within physical healthcare specialisms.This role is Part time 22.5 hours per weekThe successful post holder must be able to role model compassionate and inclusive leadership in order to shape the creation of a collective leadership culture within the Trust. Psychometrics and assessment centre may form part of the recruitment processFor further information please contact: Dr Gail Dovey-Pearce, Consultant Clinical Psychologis