Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; London; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare institution in London is offering a permanent position for a Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist to provide integrated psychological support services for cancer patients. The successful candidate will work within a multidisciplinary team, actively participating in the development of psychological care. Qualifications include a Professional Doctorate in Applied Psychology and HCPC registration. Offering a competitive salary of £64,156 to £71,148 per year.

Qualifications

• Entry-level qualification in Applied Psychology accepted by HCPC.
• Completed training course in clinical supervision.
• Competence in health psychology models.

Responsibilities

• Provide integrated cancer psychological support services.
• Coordinate support across multiple sites.
• Work with multidisciplinary teams.

Skills

Knowledge of psychological assessment

Clinical supervision

Behaviour change techniques

Education

Professional Doctorate in Applied Psychology

HCPC registration as Practitioner Psychologist

Job description

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist

The closing date is 02 October 2025

We are pleased to offer an opportunity for an experienced and dedicated individual to apply for this permanent role. The Cancer Psychological Care Team provides emotional and psychological support for patients, family members and carers. The service was originally established in 2019 as part of a fixed-term partnership project between King's College Hospital and Macmillan Cancer Support, with permanent status agreed in 2021. Enhanced service provision has enabled an increase in the number of psychology positions in the service structure and helped to secure the continued delivery of evidence-based psychological care for the future. The team not only offers clinical services, but is involved in liaising with existing services in the community to help integrate secondary and primary care in order to better share resources and enable access to services in the most culturally and practically acceptable location for the population that we serve.

Main duties of the job

This is an exciting time to join a team which has been recently established and developed, offering excellent service development opportunities. The main objective of this post is to provide, coordinate, support and continually develop the integrated cancer psychological support services across KCH. The successful post holder will be supported by an 8B principal practitioner psychologist service lead, and will work alongside two other 8A Practitioner Psychologists, two Band 7 psychologists, Trainee Clinical Psychologists, and a dedicated Medical Secretary. You will be joining a friendly and innovative group of psychologists and psychotherapists working across various medical specialities in a busy hospital setting that serves a diverse inner-city population. The post-holder will be expected to cover services at Kings College Hospital and Princess Royal University Hospital, and allocation of their time between sites and cancer MDMs will be guided by senior colleagues, commensurate with the needs of the service. Kings College Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital offers a vibrant and supportive working environment.

About us

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK's largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King's to another level.

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King's is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone's contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust's carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

Job responsibilities

If you would like further information about these posts please contact Dr. Mark Groves, Principal Clinical Psychologist and Service Lead for the Cancer Psychological Care Team [e-mail].

Person Specification

Qualifications

• oEntry-level qualification in Applied Psychology (professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level additional training) that has been accepted by the HCPC for purposes of professional registration.
• oAdditional training in a specialised area of psychological practice through formal post-qualification training (PG Diploma or equivalent), OR a combination of specialist short courses, or an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice-based learning in a specialist area of clinical practice, assessed by an experienced clinical supervisor to be of equal level to a Postgraduate Diploma.
• oCompleted training course in clinical supervision.
• oRegistered with the HCPC as Practitioner Psychologist, and evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HCPC.
• oCompetence and/or specialist training in models of health psychology and/or behaviour change (e.g., motivational interviewing)

Knowledge

• oAdvanced knowledge of psychological assessment and clinical psychometrics.
• oKnowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological assessments and interventions including for those living with complex medical conditions.
• oKnowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities.
• oDoctoral level knowledge of psychological research methodology and complex statistical analysis.
• oA good understanding of models of health psychology in addition to models of psychopathology.
• oKnowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in cancer.

Experience

• oEvidence of having worked with people with medical conditions as a clinical specialist under supervision
• oExperience of working in multidisciplinary teams with colleagues from a range of disciplines.
• oExperience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients with a range of complex psychological and physical health needs.
• oExperience of supervising assistant and trainee psychologists having completed the relevant training.

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.

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

£64,156 to £71,148 a year per annum including HCA