Assistant Psychologist

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 35,000; Part time

Job summary

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is inviting applications for a part-time Assistant Psychologist (0.6 wte) within the Maternal Mental Health Service of the Paediatric and Women’s Health Psychology service. You will support qualified staff with assessments and therapy for women and birthing people and contribute to service development.

The post offers opportunities for CPD, audits and involvement in service improvement projects within a multidisciplinary team.

Qualifications

• Single honours degree (upper second class or higher) in psychology.
• Postgraduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology.
• Paid or voluntary experience as an Assistant Psychologist or alongside a Clinical Psychologist.
• Experience of literature searches and reviews; data analysis.

Responsibilities

• Assist qualified staff in assessment and therapy for women and birthing people.
• Develop clinical pathways and service evaluation processes for the new service.
• Contribute to MDT discussions and training within the service.
• Maintain up-to-date records and resources; support audits and literature reviews.

Skills

Developmental psychology

Clinical psychology knowledge

Communication skills

Teamwork

Research literacy

Education

Bachelor's degree in Psychology

Tools

Microsoft Office

SPSS

Job description

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS hospital trusts in the country. We have around 16,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.7 billion.

With strong history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation regionally, nationally and internationally, w e’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country.

As well as providing a wide range of hospital and community services, we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency. Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen for a substantive Assistant Psychologist post working in the new Maternal Mental Health Service within the Paediatric and Women’s Health Psychology service at Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals Trust. The post is available on a 0.6 wte basis.

The paediatric and women’s health psychology service is a thriving department, which is committed to child and family centred care. There are opportunities for professional development through regular CPD, involvement in service improvement projects, and supervision. The paediatric and women’s health psychology service is part of the wider department of Psychology in Healthcare, enabling collaboration and support with adult psychology colleagues. There are also close links with the doctorate clinical psychology courses at Newcastle and Teeside Universities.

The post will involve supporting qualified staff who will be seeing women and birthing people under the care of NUTH Maternity Services for assessment and therapy. This is a brand new service, and the post holder will work closely with the team to develop clinical pathways, robust processes for service evaluation, developing Patient Participation and Involvement in developing the new service.

• Interview Date Thursday 19 November 2026

Main duties of the job

• In addition to the core components of Assistant Psychologist (Band 5) the post holder will:
• Use research skills for conducting literature reviews in the area of maternal mental health and undertake audits and service evaluation.
• Gather and analyse outcome and other measures, and qualitative feedback.
• Prepare, organise and maintain assessment and therapy resources for a range of contexts e.g. psycho-educational tools, psychometric tests and electronic resources.
• Support the development of the referral pathway within the new maternal mental health service and maintain up-to-date records.
• To assist practitioner psychologists in the delivery of a specialist applied psychology service in the Maternal Mental Health Service.
• Under supervision of the Band 8A clinical psychologist, support the clinical work of the service as indicated, which may include brief interventions and co-facilitation of groups.
• Contribute to team meetings and MDT discussions within the maternity service.
• Support and contribute to training for colleagues within the service and wider systems.

Working for our organisation

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

With around 2 million contacts with patients every year, we deliver care from:

• Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria

These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.

We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.

Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under ‘Documents to download’ or ‘Supporting documents’.

For further information on The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit: Careers | Newcastle Hospitals | NHS | Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To support in the delivery of psychological interventions for people whose mental health has been significantly impacted e.g. by birth trauma, perinatal loss, or tokophobia.

Key Relationships

Work closely with the 8B Highly Specialised Clinical Psychologist and under supervision of the Band 8a Clinical Psychologist/Specialist Psychology Therapist in Psychology in Healthcare.

Be an active part of a multi-disciplinary team.

Geographical Location/Boundaries:

This post will be based mainly on the Royal Victoria Infirmary site but will be expected to work across NUTH facilities depending on patient and service need.

Whilst Newcastle Hospitals are a forward thinking and highly innovative organisation, the use of Third-Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity of your individual application or to the recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.

TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS

• Single honours degree (upper second class or higher) in psychology
• Further post graduate training in relevant areas of professional psychology

EXPERIENCE

• Paid or voluntary experience of working as an Assistant Psychologist or alongside a Clinical Psychologist
• Computer literate with experience of using Microsoft Office and statistical packages for data analysis
• Experience of conducting literature searches and reviews
• Experience of working with patient groups with psychological difficulties
• Experience of working with groups

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

• Knowledge of developmental processes from childhood to old age
• Understanding the needs of individuals with psychological difficulties
• An ability to apply existing psychological knowledge and skills to a healthcare setting
• Understanding of issues relating to confidentiality
• High level communication skills (written and verbal) including an ability to communicate and work in settings in which the atmosphere may be highly emotive
• An understanding of the psychological needs of patients
• High level report writing

OTHER

• Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively
• Ability to meet the travel requirements of the post
• Evidence of continued professional development
• A desire to explore a career in Professional Psychology

Whilst Newcastle Hospitals are a forward thinking and highly innovative organisation, the use of Third-Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity of your individual application or to the recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.

Important note on completion of reference section of Application Form

All references from current and previous employers will be sought and must cover a minimum of 3 years employment. Therefore, when completing the reference section of your application form, please give the address, telephone number and work email address of each of your current/previous line managers that cover 3 years employment. Failure to complete this section may result in your application not being processed.

Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.

Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e‑mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has been unsuccessful.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.