Clinical Psychologist

Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust; Bury St Edmunds; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare organization in England seeks an 8a Clinical Psychologist to join its West Suffolk Memory Assessment and Therapy Service team. The role involves assessing and diagnosing dementia, working within a multidisciplinary team while offering support and training. New graduates are also welcome, and the organization provides a supportive environment with development opportunities. Candidates must have a post-graduate degree in clinical psychology and experience in clinical settings.

Benefits

Ongoing training and development opportunities

Supportive work environment

Qualifications

• Post-graduate degree (or equivalent) in clinical psychology, accredited.
• Experience as a qualified clinical psychologist capable of supervising trainees.
• Knowledge of psychological practices and complex assessment methods.

Responsibilities

• Providing neuropsychological assessments and reports.
• Supporting multi-disciplinary case formulations.
• Facilitating training and reflective practice within the team.

Skills

Complex psychological assessment

Effective communication

Education

Post-graduate degree in clinical psychology

Job description

West Suffolk Memory Assessment and Therapy Service (MATS) is looking to recruit an 8a Clinical Psychologist. We would also be happy to recruit a newly qualified psychologist and support them through their preceptorship.

We are delighted to have been able to create a new post within our busy West Suffolk Memory Assessment and Therapy service, to join a growing and flourishing team with colleagues from a range of professions including Occupational Therapists, Nurses, Independent Prescribers, Peer Support workers and a Consultant Psychiatrist. The team also benefits from dedicated admin support.

The aim of the MATS team is to provide an accurate diagnosis to someone that makes sense of their current experiences, in the most timely way within their life as possible. We aim to support the person and their family to understand the diagnosis and the challenges it may bring. All of which is held within the person's wider life story, which may include additional challenges such as long-standing mental health difficulties, substance use, neurodivergence, learning difficulties and/or bereavements.

We are therefore seeking someone with strong clinical skills in both neuropsychological assessing as well as psychological formulating. The team are keen to welcome someone who matches their values of kindness, respect and a sense of fun.

Main duties of the job

We have clinical bases in Bury St. Edmunds, Newmarket, Sudbury, Haverhill and Thetford, with our inpatient ward being located on the West Suffolk Hospital site in Bury St. Edmunds. It would be possible to make use of any of these bases, although regular in-person contact with our teams' main base of Bury St. Edmunds is essential.

Although predominantly a clinic-based role, due to the needs of the people we provide care for, many of whom may find it difficult to access transport, and live in areas lacking public transport, the post-holder will need to have access to a vehicle, and hold a Full UK driving licence.

Your role will be to support the team to make differential diagnoses of dementia. This will include providing neuropsychological assessments and reports, facilitating multi-disciplinary case formulations and supporting the team with reflective practice and training. The pathway of care would include pre-assessment counselling, gathering relevant third-party information, direct assessment, diagnostic formulation, post-diagnostic counselling and identification of any intervention needs, with liaison with sister teams.

About us

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you'll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We're an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

Job responsibilities

This role will also benefit from being part of our wider West Suffolk Older Peoples service line, including a very supportive Older Peoples psychology team, monthly CPD sessions, monthly MATS training and monthly radiology consultations. The successful applicant will also be offered ongoing development with funding for post-doctoral neuropsychology training, access to our in-house neuropsychology supervision group and supervision from a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist.

We are looking for people who see challenges as opportunities and will have the ability to influence, inspire and energise others, as well as work with peoples strengths to make an all-round better working environment.

We would welcome informal visits or phone calls, please do not hesitate to contact to arrange!

For full details of your responsibilities, please see attached job description.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Post-graduate degree (or its equivalent if trained prior to 1996) in clinical psychology, accredited by BPS
• Evidence of CPD in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice

Experience

• Experience working as a qualified clinical psychologist (Band 7) and able to evidence appropriate knowledge and experience in practice to enable the post holder to clinically supervise trainee clinical psychologist
• Experience of representing psychology within MDT setting (clinical and organisational contexts).

Skills

• Skilled in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management
• Able to effectively communicate technical and clinically sensitive information to service users, families, carers and other professionals, within and outside NHS.

Knowledge

• Doctor level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

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.