Senior Clinical/Counselling Psychologist IBPS

at  Leeds Teaching Hospitals

JOB PURPOSE/SUMMARY To provide a qualified Clinical Psychology service to adult patients, across all sites and sectors of care by: a) Providing highly specialist psychological assessment and therapy, b) Offering advice and consultation on patients psychological and neuropsychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to other non-professional carers, c) Using research skills for audit, policy and service development and leading on research projects within the area served by the team/service d) Working autonomously in the execution of these duties and within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the Psychology Teams, Department and Trust policies and procedures. PRINCIPAL DUTIES & AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY Clinical: 1. To provide specialist psychological assessments of patients based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with patients, family members and others involved in the patients care. 2.
To formulate, develop and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a patients psychological problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the patients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings. 3. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of patients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
6. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to patients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan. 7. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of people under the medical services, across settings and agencies serving the patient group.
8. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual patients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management, with particular reference to deliberate self-harm. 9. To act as care co-ordinator, where appropriate, taking responsibility for initiating planning and review of care plans under enhanced CPA (or its equivalent in the acute physical health care setting) including patients, their carers referring agents and others involved in the network of care.
10. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of patients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care. Teaching, training, and supervision 1. To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a more senior clinical psychologist and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues 2.
To gain additional highly specialist experience and skills relevant to clinical psychology and the service (as agreed with the Lead Psychologist and Head of Department) up to two sessions per week. 3. To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide supervision to other MDT staffs psychological work as appropriate. 4.
To provide professional and clinical supervision of doctoral trainee and graduate/ assistant psychologists. 5. To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical, health and/or counselling psychology, as appropriate. 6.
To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the patient group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate. Management, recruitment, policy and service development 1. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the team, specialty and department operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit. 2.
To advise both the service and the Lead Psychologist on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing. 3. To manage the workloads of assistant graduate psychologists and doctoral trainee clinical psychologists, within the framework of the team/specialty and Department policies and procedures. 4.
To be involved, as appropriate, in the short listing and interviewing of assistant / graduate psychologists. Research and service evaluation 1. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members. 2.
To undertake, as a major component of the post, appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research, and to disseminate appropriate material via presentation and publication. 3. To lead on research projects within the area served by the team/service. 4.
To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision. 5. To provide appropriate research supervision of doctoral trainees and graduate assistant psychologists. 5.
THE LEEDS WAY VALUES Our values are part of what make us different from other trusts, so we see this as a strength, as well as a responsibility. They have been developed by our staff and set out what they see as important to how we work. Our five values are: Patient-centred Collaborative Fair Accountable Empowered All our actions and endeavours will be guided and evaluated through these values. 6.
WEST YORKSHIRE ASSOCIATION OF ACUTE TRUSTS (WYAAT) Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is part of the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT), a collaborative of the NHS hospital trusts from across West Yorkshire and Harrogate working together to provide the best possible care for our patients. By bringing together the wide range of skills and expertise across West Yorkshire and Harrogate we are working differently, innovating and driving forward change to deliver the highest quality care. By working for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust this is your opportunity to be a part of that change. WYAAT is the acute sector arm of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership, one of the largest integrated care systems in the country.
The Partnerships ambition is for everyone to have the best possible health and wellbeing, and the work of WYAAT, and each individual trust, supports that ambition. 7. INFECTION CONTROL The jobholder must comply at all times with the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Infection Control policies, in particular by practising Universal Infection Control Precautions. Hand hygiene must be performed before and after contact with patients and their environment.
8. HEALTH AND SAFETY / RISK MANAGEMENT All staff are responsible for working with their colleagues to maintain and improve the quality of services provided to our patients and other service users. This includes complying at all times with the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Policies, including Health and Safety policies, in particular by following agreed security and safer working procedures, and reporting incidents using the Trust Incident Reporting system 9. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY The jobholder must comply with all policies and procedures designed to ensure equality of employment and that services are delivered in ways that meet the individual needs of patients and their families.
No person whether they are staff, patient or visitor should receive less favourable treatment because of their gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion etc. 10. TRAINING AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT The jobholder must take responsibility in agreement with his/her line manager for his/her own personal development by ensuring that Continuous Professional Development remains a priority. The jobholder will undertake all mandatory training required for the role.
11. COMMUNICATION & WORKING RELATIONSHIPS The jobholder will liaise with Consultants and other medical, nursing or allied health professional staff across the organisation. They will also liaise with the Lead Clinical Psychologist, other Clinical Psychologists working in the department, members of the psychology team and members of other disciplines and agencies responsible for a patients care. 12.
SPECIAL WORKING CONDITIONS i) PHYSICAL EFFORT: The following physical skills are needed in this clinical post: a) highly-developed skills in psychometric assessment. This involves manipulating of complex test materials, attention to detail for precise and accurate placement of test materials and timing and recording of patients responses, acute observational and sensory skills to assess and record a patients behaviour and make comparisons with standardised test norms. It includes the ability to co-ordinate all of these activities whilst establishing rapport with a patient, maintaining their interest and motivation to carry out the assessment. Assessment sessions may be up to 2-3hrs in length.
In addition the post requires: b) keyboard skills In this post the psychologist is engaged in clinical work for more than 50% of the time

Please refer the Job description for details