Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist

Transformation Unit; Aylesbury; Hybrid; GBP 58,000 - 65,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

NHS pension

Generous annual leave

Job summary

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust in Aylesbury is seeking a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist (Band 8a) to join the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Management Service with a focus on Long COVID. The post supports progression from Band 7 and offers flexible working options within an NHS trust.

The role involves assessments and interventions for chronic pain, ME/CFS and Long COVID, with opportunities for supervision, CPD, and service development across sites in Aylesbury and Amersham.

Qualifications

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical or counselling psychology.
• HCPC registration is required.
• Experience across clinical health psychology settings is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provide highly specialist psychological assessment and intervention for Long COVID, chronic pain, and ME/CFS.
• Support autonomous practice within professional guidelines and governance.
• Contribute to service development, audit, and research activities.
• Supervise and provide teaching to junior colleagues and trainees.

Skills

Communication skills

Teaching & supervision

Clinical governance

Research design & methodology

CBT & psychological therapies

Education

Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology or counselling psychology

HCPC registration

Job description

Main area Chronic Pain and Fatigue Management/Long COVID Grade Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours

• Part time
• Job share
• Flexible working

15 hours per week Job ref 434-CR8216482

Employer Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust Employer type NHS Site Rayners Hedge Town Aylesbury Salary £57,528 - £64,750 per annum pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 02/11/2026 23:59

Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist

Band 8a

Be part of our BHT family

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (BHT) is an integrated provider of acute hospital and community services for people living in Buckinghamshire and the surrounding area.

We care for over half a million patients every year:

• Provide specialist spinal services at our world renowned National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, the birthplace of the Paralympics
• Nationally recognised for urology and skin cancer services
• Regional specialist centre for burns, plastic surgery, dermatology, stroke and cardiac services
• Deliver community services in health centres, schools, patients’ own homes, community hospitals and community hubs.

More than 6,500 people from different nations, cultures and backgrounds work for us.

We would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options. We strive to be a family friendly, inclusive employer.

If you require any assistance in making this application, please contact [emailprotected] or phone [phone].

We pride ourselves in being a great place to work and invite you to join our BHT family.

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen for a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist to join our dedicated and well-established interdisciplinary chronic pain and fatigue management service with a focus on supporting people with Long COVID.

We welcome applications from newly qualified, or less experienced clinical psychologists who can initially be appointed to a Band 7 Development Post. The post holder will be supported to develop their skills across predetermined core competencies. Once they have been assessed as meeting these competencies, they will move to band 8a in the service.

The service works with people with a wide range of chronic pain conditions, ME/CFS and Long COVID. The post holder will be involved in assessment and a range of interventions including group, individual and workshops. The service is delivered from sites in Aylesbury and Amersham.

Good communication and team-working skills are essential. Previous experience with the identified client groups is not a prerequisite.

You will receive clinical supervision from the Principal Clinical Psychologist and have access to a wide range of CPD activities and a strong network of Psychologists working in the Trust. There are opportunities for service development, service evaluation/research and teaching/training. The Trust has excellent links with the Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training and Research and regularly has trainees doing clinical placements.

Main duties of the job

To ensure the systematic provision of a high quality highly specialist clinical psychology service to persons with Long COVID, chronic pain, and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) across all sectors of care, within the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Management Service and Long COVID assessment clinic. To support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by assistant psychologists, doctoral trainee clinical psychologists and other clinical members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Management Service. To utilise research skills, for audit, policy and service development and research. To propose and implement policy changes which may impact on other professionals within the area served by the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Management Service.

What does Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust offer you?

• As part of our BHT family, you’ll benefit from learning and development opportunities to support your career progression.
• We offer flexible and agile workingopportunities,alongside your NHS benefits ofgenerous annual leave entitlement, pension andaccess toNHS discount schemes.
• We provide a range of health and wellbeing services to promote a healthy, happy workforce.

Why work for us?

• We’re committed to promoting inclusion and making sure all colleagues feel they belong. We encourage new colleagues from a diverse range of backgrounds to apply.
• As an employer, we aim to create a workplace where differences are valued and colleagues treat one another with dignity and respect.
• Greater diversity withinourBHT familyimprovespositive outcomes for the people and communities we serve.
• A keen supporter of the Armed Forces Community who know the value of employing a service leaver/veteran and their families.

What do we stand for?

• Our vision is to provide outstanding care, support healthy communities and be a great place to work.
• Our mission is to provide personal and compassionate care every time.
• Our care values are collaborate, aspire, respect and enable.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For a comprehensive list of responsibilities and duties, please kindly refer to the Job Description and Person Specification by downloading the JD and PS attachment in the advert.

If you are an internal applicant there is the option for secondment, all applicants must have the endorsement/support of their line manager prior to application.

If you have a disability that makes submitting this online application difficult and would like assistance, please contact us on [emailprotected] quoting the vacancy reference number.

Person specification

Education/Qualification

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology or counselling psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996/Psychological Therapists) as accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Registration with HCPC

Experience

• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient, and residential care settings, including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of providing teaching, training and professional clinical supervision
• Assessed experience of working as a qualified psychologist/psychological therapist within the specialist field of Clinical Health Psychology.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients’ psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified
• Experience of providing teaching, training and professional clinical supervision.

Skills, abilities and knowledge

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management (frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration)
• Highly developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to patients with psychological difficulties.
• Knowledge and skills in the theory and practice of highly specialist psychological therapies and assessment methodologies, in particular CBT, and their application with adults with chronic pain, and fatigue and Long COVID.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.

Special Circumstances

• Ability to travel between sites within Buckinghamshire.

PPE requirements: Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust requires all colleagues to wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) in accordance with our infection prevention and control procedures.

Flu vaccinations remain the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course our patients from the viruses when working in our healthcare settings. We encourage our staff to be vaccinated when recommended.

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.