Principal Clinical Psychologist

at  Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS FoundationTrust

We offer a relocation package of up to £8,000
The relocation package is for anyone who would need to relocate in order to take up employment with Cheshire and Wirral Partnership. Terms and conditions apply.
This is an exciting opportunity to be the Principal Clinical Psychologist (Band 8b) within the Adult Acute Inpatient Service and High Dependency Rehabilitation Service as part of the First Response pathway.
This post is part of a new initiative to develop acute pathway psychology provision in the Trust and demonstrate CWP’s commitment to improving the psychological and trauma informed care provided to patients, families, and staff in the inpatient services pathway within Cheshire West. This post is part of the next phase in creating an established and sustainable Psychology workforce within the acute adult mental health pathway with new Consultant Clinical Psychologist posts based in inpatient services already recruited to.
The post involves working across two acute adult inpatient wards, a PICU (Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit), and a high dependency rehabilitation ward. You will join an established psychology team and work within a team of a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Clinical Psychologist, Trainee Clinical Psychologists and Assistant Psychologists. The team is established within Rehab services and is developing into acute care so there are opportunities for adapting the nature of the work to suit the interests and skills of the successful applicant.
As the Principal Clinical Psychologist you will be responsible for providing clinical and professional leadership within the inpatient service in the West locality. You will provide highly specialist psychological assessment and intervention, and input to care and treatment planning and discharge planning for individual patients, working as part of the multidisciplinary team and as an autonomous Clinical Psychologist. We are keen to support our inpatient staff therefore the post includes offering staff support which can include facilitating reflective practice, formulation meetings, and supporting staff in debrief following incidents.
This will include developing and maintaining a systematic, high quality, evidence-based psychology service for patients accessing the First Response Service and the Rehabilitation Service in the locality. You will work with the Consultant Clinical Psychologist, locality leadership team(s), and speciality clinical network to enhance and evaluate the psychological care offer provided by a multi-professional workforce. Providing training, consultancy, supervision and support to multi-professional staff, teams and managers will be essential. There are strong links with the three local DClinPsy training programmes and there is an expectation to provide placements for our Trainee Clinical Psychologists.
Continued Professional Development is available and supported by the Trust. You will be taking a strategic and pragmatic approach to service evaluation, audit, and research as part of on-going quality improvement. Research is encouraged and supported by the network of psychologists within CWP and the Trust’s Research and Development department.
CWP provides health and care services for local people, including mental health, learning disability, community physical health and all-age disability care – including the provision of three GP surgeries.
Our aim is to help people to be the best they can be, adopting a compassionate, person-centred approach to everything we do. We were recently rated as Outstanding for Caring by the Care Quality Commission with a Good rating overall.
We offer a variety of roles at all levels, so whether you are just starting out in your career or looking to use your skills and experience in a new role, CWP is the right employer for you.
CWP are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences.
To support this, we offer up to three weeks induction, dependent on role, with our Prepare to Care programme for all new starters. This aims to give you all the knowledge and guidance to help you grow and flourish with CWP.
We welcome applications from people who have direct experience of accessing our services.
Please download a copy of the job description for full details.
Recruitment selection processes are based on competence (see Person specification) and values.
CWP recruits people that can demonstrate the Trust’s Values and Behaviours in their everyday life. Therefore, if you are invited to interview, you will be undertaking a Values Based Interview/Assessment , which explores not only what you do but how and why you do it.
Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trust’s Values and Behaviours which are ‘the 6 Cs’ Communication, Competence, Courage, Care, Compassion and Commitment. The supporting information section in your application should therefore reflect your understanding of the Trust’s Values and associated behaviours. You will be expected to provide us with examples from work experience and/or personal life which demonstrate these values through your behaviour.
An applicant guide to help and support you through your recruitment journey can be accessed at the bottom of this page. Further help and support for completing your application can be accessed via our website https://www.cwp.nhs.uk/completing-application-guidance . If you need any further guidance to help you complete your application, contact our recruitment team via email – cwp.recruitment@nhs.net or by calling 01244 393100.
If you have a disability that meets the definition set out in the Equality Act 2010, and you can show that you meet the ‘essential’ criteria described in the person specification for an available position, please answer ‘YES’ to the question: ‘Do you wish to be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme?’
Please inform the team if you have any special support needs to be considered as part of the interview and selection processes.
CWP is proud to be an accredited Veteran Aware organisation helping to provide and share best practice in NHS care for our armed forces community. As a veteran aware organisation, CWP is committed to delivering on the principles of the Armed Force Covenant and has a ‘Silver’ award with the MOD Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (DERS).
The trust offers a Guaranteed Interview Scheme to any armed forces community applicants who meet the essential criteria for the post and encourages applications from armed forces reservists or cadet force adult volunteers.
Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment. You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. A small annual fee of £13 per year applies.
New entrants to the NHS will commence on the minimum of the scale stated above.
Applicants are advised to apply early as if a large number of applications are received for this post we reserve the right to close the vacancy prior to the advertised date.
If you experience any technical difficulties or need help when making an application please contact our Recruitment Team on 01244 393100.
Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team CWP very soon

Please refer the Job description for details