Job summary

An exciting opportunity for a senior Practitioner Psychologist has arisen within [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal]'s well established Psycho-oncology team. The Psycho-oncology team provide specialist psychological support to people affected by cancer under the care of all cancer MDT across [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] (Hammersmith, Charing Cross, St Mary's and Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospitals).

We are seeking a deputy team lead to support psychological professionals working within cancer services to facilitate best practice within the cancer psychosocial care pathway, including supervision and training for cancer staff working within the Trust.

The team have established relationships with other psychology and support services within the Trust and long standing working relationships with other Psycho-oncology services across London. The successful applicant will have a strong track record in Clinical Health Psychology and Psycho-oncology.

Main duties of the job

To provide a high quality clinical health psychology service to patients accessing [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] cancer services as part of the Psycho-oncology and Clinical Health Psychology team, across all sectors of Cancer care, providing psychological expertise through input to patients, their carers, staff and management as required.

It is expected that the post holder will offer teaching, training, group facilitation and consultation to the MDT alongside highly specialist psychological assessment and therapy.

The postholder will support the Psycho-oncology lead but work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the required policies and procedures.

The postholder will be expected to utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and to support research within the area served by the team/service.

About us

The post is set within the wider context of the Clinical Health Psychology department with its headquarters at St Mary's, where the postholder will have direct professional & operational support from the Head of Department and a skilled and sensitive group of peers. Professional development can draw from a range of senior leadership development courses at Imperial, as well as clinical skills development through the [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] psychological professions CPD program.

The postholder will be employed by [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] and work into [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal].

Job responsibilities

Please review the attached Job description for more information about the role.

Key Responsibilities:

KR 1 Clinical and Client Care

• To provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and interventions for clients accessing the Psycho-oncology service including the use of measures and interventions specific to the patient group and in conjunction with other members of the MDT as appropriate
• To provide culturally appropriate psychological interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.
• To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
• To develop, co-ordinate and ensure the systematic provision of a highly specialist psychology service to patients accessing cancer services at [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal]
• To ensure that all services provided are acceptable and accessible to the diverse communities which make up the patients of the Psycho-oncology service, taking care to be proactive with under-served groups.

KR 2 Responsibilities for team or service clinical functioning

• To deputise in the co-ordination and (and chairing) of meetings for the Psycho-oncology service to ensure effective functioning and review when appropriate
• To deputise for the psycho-oncology lead in agreed specified areas and at agreed times, as required.
• To co-lead in developing the team or services delivery of accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.
• To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services.
• To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological care of clients.
• To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.
• To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

KR 3 Policy and service development

• To implement policies and procedures in own area of work.
• To identify any aspects of the Psycho-oncology service which could be improved and propose changes to practices or procedures in the Psycho-oncology service and in interactions with partner services.
• To initiate and implement service development projects, as agreed with clinical/professional lead.
• To attend wider Clinical Health Psychology department team meetings and contribute to the ongoing CPD programme and department initiatives
• To participate in the ongoing implementation of new initiatives (e.g. national guidelines) across relevant services.
• To lead the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.

KR 4 Care or management of resources

• To take care of, and use carefully, the Trusts equipment and physical resources.

KR 5 Management and supervision

• To provide clinical leadership to more junior psychologists, psychotherapists and other professionals, as appropriate.
• To be responsible for the allocation and/or clinical supervision of the work of more junior psychologists
• To supervise trainee applied psychologists within own area of specialism.
• To contribute to the appraisal of more junior psychologists, as appropriate.
• To contribute to the recruitment of more junior psychologists, as appropriate.

KR 6 Teaching and Training

• To offer teaching, training, group facilitation and consultation to staff working across cancer services at Imperial, including Level 2 psychological skills training and supervision.
• To facilitate specialist clinical placements for trainee applied psychologists and psychotherapists in the Psycho-oncology service as part of the Clinical Health Psychology departments processes for allocating and supporting trainees.
• To undertake occasional teaching and training of pre and post- qualification psychologists and specialised training to other professions as appropriate
• To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the Psycho-oncology service by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in clinical psychology overall and by supporting the Psycho-oncology team in implementing knowledge gained in practice.
• To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.

KR 7 Record-keeping and Information Governance

• To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
• To ensure the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry, in those parts of the service for which the post-holder has leadership responsibility.

KR 8 Research and development

• To initiate, undertake, support and supervise regular complex service evaluation and audits
• To initiate and carry out appropriate clinical research.
• To initiate and implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment and assist other staff in the implementation of same.

KR 9 Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

• To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychologist according to HCPC and Trust guidelines.
• To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with BPS and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and the HCPC Standards for Continuing Professional Development.
• To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
• To comply with the HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics and Standards of Proficiency, and ensure professional development in line with these.
• To adhere to the BPSs Professional Practice Guidelines and Trust policies and procedures.
• To ensure that all psychology and psychotherapy staff for whom the post-holder has leadership responsibility, maintain professional standards and continuing professional development.

KR10 General

• To travel to the different sites making up [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] as appropriate and to [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] sites when required.
• To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management.
• To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations such as palliative care, unexpected death and serious errors and to support others involved in such situations.
• To work flexibly where the needs of the Psycho-oncology service require which may include offering some regular commitment to late clinics or Saturday working, within the overall Job Plan.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctorate in Clinical or Counselling Psychology or equivalent
• Registered with the HCPC or equivalent as a Practitioner Psychologist or Psychotherapist, and evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC

Desirable

• Completed training course in clinical supervision

Experience

Essential

• Evidence of having worked as a clinical specialist under supervision in a Health Psychology service for a significant period
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature in a Clinical Health Psychology specialty
• Experience of supervising assistant and trainee psychologists
• Experience of providing teaching and training to psychologists or other professional groups
• Post-qualification experience that supports working with, and addresses issues of, diversity within local communities.
• Experience of proposing and implementing service development projects within own service area.

Desirable

• Experience of working in a psycho-oncology or palliative care service
• Experience of carrying out post-doctoral research, audit or service evaluation projects.
• Record of publications in either peer reviewed, academic or professional journals/books

Knowledge

Essential

• Highly developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies for psycho-oncology
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities
• Knowledge of factors affecting acceptability and accessibility of mental health care

Desirable

• Advanced knowledge of psychological assessment and clinical psychometrics relevant to psycho-oncology
• Doctoral level knowledge of psychological research methodology and complex statistical analysis

Skills

Essential

• To deliver psychological therapy across cultural and other differences
• To select and administer specialist psychological assessments, interpreting and integrating complex data that require analysis, interpretation and comparison, drawn from several sources, on which expert opinion may differ
• To communicate skilfully and sensitively complex and sensitive information with clients, carers and colleagues overcoming barriers to communication including sensory, and emotional difficulties, cultural differences and hostility to or rejection of information
• To plan and schedule assessment and interventions for individual clients, groups and carers and to organise meetings and joint activities with staff of partner agencies
• Well-developed reflective practice, supervision and consultation skills to work with the multi-professional team or other professional groups
• Well-developed IT skills including entry and analysis of research data
• Skills in providing teaching and training to other professional groups

Desirable

• To be expert in the skilled administration of psychometric tests, including skilled manipulation of test material; and to be able to supervise others in administration of psychometric tests

Abilities

Essential

• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to effective team functioning and holding team roles
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate
• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic meetings
• Ability to maintain concentration and to remain in restricted positions for long periods during observations, assessments and psychological interventions, and to deal with unexpected interruptions or changes during these
• Ability to manage emotionally stressful situations such as working with victims of abuse or trauma, or with people who engage in severe self-harming or aggressive behaviour
• Ability to manage verbal aggression and hostility directed at self

Additional Information

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.

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.

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.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.

Employer details

Employer name: [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal]

Address: Charing Cross Hospital, Fulham Palace Road, London, W6 8RF

Employer's website: [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal]

Contact details for questions about the job

Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Caroline Johnson, [contact hidden], [contact hidden]