Deputy Clinical Lead (Maternity Cover)

East London Nhs Foundation Trust; Bedford; Hybrid; GBP 67,000 - 77,000; Full time

Job summary

East London NHS Foundation Trust in Bedfordshire is seeking a Deputy Clinical Lead to drive high-quality talking therapies and CBT/Relational interventions. You will work with the clinical lead to develop strategies, monitor KPI performance, and coordinate project work.

The role requires accreditation with a professional body, leadership experience, and willingness to travel across the county. Some community-based work and flexible patterns are expected as part of service delivery.

Qualifications

• Accredited Counselling/Clinical Psychologist or CBT/Relational trained therapist.
• Recognised formal training in clinical supervision.

Responsibilities

• Deliver high-quality CBT/Relational therapy to individuals and groups.
• Provide specialist assessments for Talking Therapies suitability.
• Lead and supervise staff, ensuring KPI delivery and service governance.
• Develop and implement strategies to monitor and improve clinical outcomes.
• Co-ordinate projects and represent the service in meetings.

Skills

Leadership

CBT Relational therapy

Risk assessment

Performance management

Education

Accredited Counselling/Clinical Psychologist

Clinical supervision training

Job description

Job summary

Bedfordshire Talking Therapies (BTT) offers individual, couple and group therapy for those struggling with anxiety and/or depression. We require a suitably qualified and experienced Therapist / Psychologist to work as a Deputy Clinical Lead. Applicants will be accredited with a professional body and have extensive experience of delivering therapeutic interventions. Applicants will have a minimum of 2 years' experience of being in a leadership role and must be enthusiastic about delivering high quality talking therapies to service users and able to work autonomously and creatively. Applicants will be responsible for working with the clinical lead to enhance the clinical quality within the service. This will include developing strategies to manage KPI's across the service and to focus on performance within the team. Applicants will be one of two Deputy Leads working together and alongside the Team Leaders to ensure the effective running of the service. Applicants will also be given specific projects to run and co-ordinate. As a Talking Therapies service we seek to provide ease of access for service users and therefore, some of your working week may be located in a community base/may require flexible working. You will also be expected to be able to travel across the county regularly. This is an exciting opportunity to join a team where your ideas and creativity would be welcome in contributing to the development of an effective and innovative service.

Main duties of the job

The role of the Deputy Clinical Lead is to deliver effective Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and to support the growth, development and strategy of the service provision.

About us

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

Details

Date posted: 30 October 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8b
Salary: £66,582 to £77,368 a year per annum
Contract: Secondment
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 363-SSLB8381055
Closing date: 15 November 2026

Job responsibilities

• Clinical: Ensuring the systematic provision of high quality CBT/Relational therapy to individuals and groups within a wide range of settings
• The provision of specialist assessments for suitability for Talking Therapies.
• Act independently and autonomously on behalf of the service to deal with complex urgent cases.
• Liaise where appropriate with other professional groups to effectively communicate assessments and facilitate transfer of care.
• Elicit, record, collate and communicate outcome data of your clinical activity and all those you supervise to both the Operational Manager and Clinical Lead.
• Promote and contribute to the development and maintenance of a healthy therapeutic culture
• Develop and engage in your own CPD, including active engagement in and use of clinical supervision.
• Provide high quality, specialist supervision to a range of practitioners including trainee, newly qualified and qualified.
• Develop and maintain good professional relationships with mental health workers in primary and secondary care.
• Lead in an area of specialist clinical work: provide expert knowledge in this area and take responsibility for proactively disseminating this expertise within the service.
• Deputise as required for the Clinical Lead at meetings internal and external to the Trust.
• Be aware of and comply with the policies, procedures and standards of service in the Bedfordshire Talking Therapies Service
• To fulfil the requisite code of conduct and follow ethical guidelines in your professional work.
• Any other duties necessary to the smooth running of the service and falling within the duties of a Deputy Lead.

Managerial

• Provide high quality line management to colleagues across the service.
• Actively contribute to and support the integration of clinical governance in the Bedfordshire Talking Therapies service.
• Ensure personal development plans/appraisals are up to date and acted on within the service.
• Support the team leaders to complete performance reviews with therapists.
• Be an active member of the senior management team including attending and contributing to weekly senior team meetings.
• Co-ordinate and liaise between different staff groups
• Deal with conflict within the team, external agencies and issues surrounding conflict of interest.
• Apply trust policies on sickness, absence and capability including preparation for formal hearings where appropriate.
• Where required, carry out investigations, deal with grievances and conduct disciplinary procedures, according to the Trust policies.
• Support all recruitment in the service.
• Use data provided by the IT system to monitor key performance indicators. (These will include hours of contact, DNA rates, supervision levels and clinical outcome).

Person Specification

Education/Qualification/Training (Essential)

• Accredited Counselling/Clinical Psychologist or Recognised and accredited CBT/Relational trained therapist.
• Recognised formal training in clinical supervision

Experience (Essential)

• A minimum of two years of being a Team Leader/Lead Clinician of a team in a healthcare setting
• Experience working with a wide range of psychological problems over a moderate period of time.
• Experience working with Service Users who have anxiety / depression.
• Experience of working with patients from mild to complex conditions
• Experience as a supervisor
• Experience in line management of clinical staff including managing HR issues.(need not be therapists)

Knowledge and Skills (Essential)

• Willingness, skills and abilities to contribute to and to participate in the service development process
• Knowledge of generic mental health care
• Knowledge pertinent to effective risk assessment and management
• Knowledge of how to performance manage staff.
• In depth knowledge and specialist expertise in one area of psychological therapy

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab). From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name: East London NHS Foundation Trust
Address: Union Street Clinic, Union Street Clinic - Bedford, Bedford, MK40 2SF, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.elft.nhs.uk/

Contact

For questions about the job, contact: Clinical Lead Lorna Lennon, [e-mail], 07436027521

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