Clinical Psychologist

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust; Whalley; On-site; GBP 49,000 - 57,000; Full time

Job summary

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Band 7 Clinical Psychologist to backfill a maternity leave at the Whalley Pennine Inpatient Psychology Service. The role is full time (37.5 hours) on a fixed-term 12-month contract, based at the Whalley site, with a salary of £49,387–£56,515 per annum.

The successful candidate will provide expert assessment and intervention for adults in inpatient settings, engage in CPD, supervision, and research activities, and contribute to

Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology with accreditation by the BPS.
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment across care settings.
• Ability to communicate complex information to patients, families and colleagues.
• Ability to provide consultation to professional and non-professional groups.

Responsibilities

• Provide input to adult mental health inpatient facilities.
• Access to individual clinical supervision and CPD in-line with professional requirements.
• Develop supervision skills and contribute to research, teaching and service projects.
• Support the organisation's governance and quality improvement in psychology services.

Skills

Complex assessment

Communication skills

Consultation

Report writing

Education

Doctoral level training in clinical psychology and therapies (BPS accredited)

Job description

Main area Clinical Psychologist Grade Band 7 Contract Fixed term: 12 months (Backfill for maternity leave) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 351-PEN1172-CL-A

Site Pennine Inpatient Psychology Service Town Whalley Salary £49,387 - £56,515 pa Salary period Yearly Closing 16/09/2026 23:59

Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism, community, and physical health services for the populations we serve.

As an integrated Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) delivers a comprehensive range of services, including:

• Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults, including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, and forensic services with low and medium secure care.
• Specialist mental health inpatient care for individuals with learning disabilities, alongside specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
• Extensive community physical health and well-being services for children and adults, covering prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and long-term condition management.

The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,500 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health, general nurses, children’s nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers, as well as those specialising in learning disabilities and community physical health services.

LSCFT is an organisation that recognises and values the contribution of clinical psychology in the delivery of high quality services. Psychology provision within inpatient services is established, well regarded and highly valued. This is demonstrated by the considerable investment into inpatient psychology provision.

An opportunity has arisen for a WTE band 7 psychologist to join our Whalley site for one year to offer backfill for a maternity leave. We require a motivated and dynamic Clinical Psychologists to join our team offering input to adult mental health inpatient facilities within Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust. This post is based at our Whalley site in the Pennine Locality. Lancashire and South Cumbia is a diverse geographical area to live and work. We have good motorway and rail links, vibrant urban cities, rolling countryside and beautiful coastline all within easy travel distance. We believe it is a great place to live and has something for everyone. Here at LSCFT we are a dedicated and passionate community of psychological professionals. We are committed to staff support and CPD and encourage opportunities for colleagues to undertake innovative work where appropriate to their job roles. There are Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and peer support groups for a range of therapy models and presentations.

Main duties of the job

You will also have access to individual clinical supervision and CPD in-line with professional requirements, and will be supported to develop your own supervision skills. As an organisation, we are passionate about contributing to research and evidence-based practice as well as developing the next generation of clinicians and leaders, you will be supported to develop a specialist interest in an area relevant to your work. We would love to hear about this in the application process. You will therefore have opportunities for research, teaching, training and supervising clinical psychology trainees on placements and completing theses/ service research projects. We have an annual psychological professionals’ conference as well as Trust support for innovative psychological practice as supported by our psychological professionals’ governance group. We aim to provide a culture of unity and joined up working with colleagues and we feel there is a strong sense of community and psychological identity here.

Working for our organisation

LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.

Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under‑represented groups. If you’d like to discuss your application, please ask.

We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.

LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi‑time.

The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role.

Person specification

Education/ Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and Neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.

Knowledge

• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.

Experience

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of patients across a range of care settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.

Skills and Abilities

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to patients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Keyboard skills sufficient to enter data/write reports

Work Related Circumstances

• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.

For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.