Clinical Psychologist Acute Inpatient Wards

CNWL; Milton Keynes; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 61,000; Full time

Job summary

Join an established healthcare provider dedicated to delivering exceptional patient-centered care. As a Clinical Psychologist in the Acute Inpatient Wards, you will play a pivotal role in enhancing the mental health of diverse service users. This position offers a unique opportunity to work in a dynamic environment, where your expertise in psychological assessment and trauma-informed care will directly impact patient outcomes. With a strong emphasis on professional development and leadership, you will be supported in your career progression while contributing to a collaborative and innovative team. If you're passionate about making a difference in mental health, this role is perfect for you.

Benefits

Generous relocation package

Flexible working options

Bank assignments

Continuing Professional Development opportunities

Qualifications

• Qualified and registered psychologist with HCPC or equivalent.
• Experience in psychological assessment and treatment across care settings.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist psychological assessment and treatment for service users.
• Work with multidisciplinary teams to develop psychological therapy pathways.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Clinical psychology

Trauma-informed care

Communication skills

Interpersonal skills

Leadership

Education

Doctoral level training in clinical psychology

Post qualification training in psychological therapy

Tools

Psychological tests

Job description

Search here to find a new job, a new career, an opportunity
to up skill or to simply change your career direction.

Become part of our team.
We care for you as much as you care for others.

There’s a place for you at CNWL.

We’re passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient’s own home. Patients are at the heart of everything we do.

Providing top quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people.
We’re always looking to recruit outstanding people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust. With every new employee we’re hoping to find our future leaders and we’ll support our staff by providing opportunities to develop your career.

With a diverse culture and equally diverse range of opportunities across mental health, community services, addictions, eating disorders, learning disabilities and more – whatever stage of your career you're at, there's always a place for you at CNWL.

Clinical Psychologist Acute Inpatient Wards

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Main area MK Mental Health Grade NHS AfC: Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 333-D-MK-MH-1226-A

Site Campbell Centre Town Milton Keynes Salary £46,148 - £60,504 per annum (pro rata for part time) Salary period Yearly Closing 17/01/2025 23:59

Job overview

Are you an experienced clinician looking for a new challenge and the opportunity to join a service at a time of exciting change?

We are looking for applications from highly motivated and enthusiastic psychologists who are committed to delivering patient-focused care and treatment.

We are keen to invest in the development of new practitioners joining our service to enhance their knowledge, skills, clinical practice, leadership and confidence in working in this area. We are therefore looking for applicants who either have experience of working in an inpatient with adults and older adults or have a good foundation of transferable skills and an interest to develop in this area.

In CNWL, psychological professions have a strong sense of leadership and a distinct professional identity. There is an emphasis on Continuing Professional Development and developing your skills in line with your career progression goals.

We will consider applications from HCPC registered psychologists who are interested in a band 7 to 8a developmental role, please state this in the supporting information section of your application.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for practitioners who can work confidently and adaptively in a demanding setting alongside multidisciplinary teams and are passionate about leading the development of psychological therapy pathways within our service.

The post holder will split their time between the adult and older adult wards and be expected to provide psychological input and treatment through a trauma-informed approach. They will have a range of clinical training and experience, and have the required communication and interpersonal skills that will allow them to thrive when working within their own team and with external partner organizations.

Additional support and training will be provided for clinicians to gain supervision experience and qualification within the relevant framework and commissioned funding. The successful candidate will receive regular supervision and support from the Clinical Service Lead and other team members.

Candidates applying for the post will need to be a qualified and registered psychologist, with the HCPC or equivalent.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To provide specialist psychological assessment and formulation for service users of the Milton Keynes Mental Health Services, 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 clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
• To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a service user’s mental health difficulties, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the service user’s difficulties, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
• 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 evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
• To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of service users whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
• To integrate with the psychological formulation specialist knowledge of complex mental health presentations.
• To understand the impact of acute mental health presentations, and to offer appropriate advice to the patient, carers and clinicians in the light of such understanding.
• To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to Milton Keynes Mental Health staff contributing directly to service user’s formulations and treatment plans.
• To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all service users, across all settings and agencies serving the client group.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual service users and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
• To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment of service users under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
• To provide expertise, advice and support to facilitate the effective and appropriate provision of psychological care by all members of the treatment team, where appropriate.

Person specification

Training & Qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology or its equivalent, including specifically models of mental health, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.
• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.
• Post qualification training in a specialist psychological therapy / family / systemic therapy or neuropsychology.

Experience

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of service users across the full range of care settings, including; community, primary care and in service user settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of service user 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.
• Demonstrate further specialist training/experience through having received a minimum of 50 hours clinical supervision of working as a clinical psychologist, or an alternative agreed by the Trust Chief Psychologist.
• Experience of the application of clinical or counselling psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• Experience working as a specialist clinical psychologist under supervision.

Knowledge

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Knowledge of trauma informed care and its application to mental health services.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists, including trainees.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. complex emotional needs, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.

CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London's population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run.

Our catchment area spans diverse communities, with over 100 first languages spoken. It contains areas of great affluence as well as areas of much deprivation. We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference. We’re proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

We are recognised locally, nationally and internationally for providing high quality, innovative healthcare. We aim to employ only the best people, and our experts are frequently called upon to contribute to national health strategy and policy, and many models of our care have been adapted for use in other countries.

We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. For more information on these and other benefits of working for us, see our Benefits, Reward and Wellbeing page

Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others.

CNWL NHS Foundation Trust are committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children and vulnerable adults.

Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible.

Our Agenda for Change employment contracts are subject to a contractual 13 week probationary period.

If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

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.

Name Caroline Davies Job title Inpatient Services Manager Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 01908 725576 Additional information

Sharon Lord [e-mail]. Tel:[phone]