Principal Clinical/Forensic Psychologist

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 66,000; Full time

Job summary

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust is recruiting a permanent Band 8b Principal Clinical or Forensic Psychologist to lead psychological services at Montpellier Low Secure Unit in Gloucester. The post is part-time (30 hours per week) and combines clinical work, consultation and leadership responsibilities.

The successful applicant will be HCPC registered with experience in complex risk presentations and in complex systems including criminal justice, joining an MDT-led team with

Qualifications

• HCPC registered psychologist with experience in complex risk presentations.
• Experience working within complex systems including criminal justice.
• Strong leadership skills with ability to lead MDTs and teaching.
• Experience in consultancy and service development is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Lead the psychological provision within Montpellier Low Secure Unit.
• Chair risk clinics and lead multidisciplinary team meetings.
• Provide teaching, supervision and guidance to staff and trainees.
• Contribute to CPD, peer mentoring and service development across the SW Provider Collaborative.
• Support safeguarding and high standards of clinical practice.

Skills

HCPC registration

Leadership experience

Risk assessment

Criminal justice exposure

Teaching and supervision

Job description

This role is offered on a permanent basis . The hours are part-time, 30 hours per week. Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (GHC) is pleased to offer a permanent Band 8b Principal Clinical or Forensic Psychology post. We are seeking an enthusiastic experienced Psychologist who can be a positive and flexible leader alongside a skilled clinician to lead the psychological provision within our male low secure unit (Montpellier).

The successful candidate will be HCPC registered and have experience working with service users with complex risk presentations, and experience of working within complex systems including criminal justice.

The post holder will join an existing inpatient psychological therapies service lead by a Consultant Clinical Psychologist. This is a busy and vibrant team covering acute, PICU and recovery units.

There are opportunities for connection and joint working within GHC. Furthermore, Montpellier Low secure unit is part of the South West Provider Collaborative and as such the successful candidate will have opportunities to network across the southwest, including opportunities for CPD and peer mentoring.

The profession of Applied Psychology within GHC has close links with a number of Universities including Bath, Exeter and Plymouth. We support training placements for Doctoral students, Clinical Associate Psychologists (CAPs) and Undergraduates.

The role has a clinical, consultation and leadership function. The successful candidate will divide their time between each of these dimensions.

Clinical work primarily will primarily focus on assessments (including system wide access assessments), ensuring interventions (not just psychological) are formulation driven and focussed on reducing risk and enhancing protection.

Consultation will include chairing and leading risk clinics (alongside other clinical leaders within Montpellier) and care team meetings in addition to internal consultation to Montpellier colleagues and wider consultation to GHC colleagues.

Clinical leadership within Montpellier to assist with bringing a psychological voice to the MDT. There is expectation to lead MDT's CPA's and other professional meetings as required. There are many opportunities for teaching. Specifically it is expected that the successful candidate will provide teaching on risk assessment, formulation and risk management using a SPJ approach.

There may be other, wider requirements, as directed by service need and the Consultant Clinical Psychologist.

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Clinical

Assessment and Intervention

To provide expert forensic clinical psychological assessment, formulation and treatment planning and where appropriate, implementing specialist psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups and to demonstrate awareness of diversity issues. To ensure that interventions are maintained within the boundaries of best practice within risk management and ensure all treatment records are completed according to Trust policy.

Consultation and Guidance

To provide advice, guidance and consultation on:

• forensic (risk) matters
• psychological aspects of patient care
• to colleagues, other service providers, patients and carers.

To lead and contribute to service user planning and review meetings.

Safeguarding

To be responsible for the protection of individuals from abuse and harm in line with local safeguarding policies and procedures, ensuring the appropriate sharing of information.

Teaching, training, supervision and consultancy

To ensure that other staff, professionals, and managers (across a range of agencies and settings) have access to a psychologically based framework for the understanding and care of clients of the service, through the provision of specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation and the sharing of psychological research and theory.

To provide training to others as relevant to service need.

To provide training on the Clinical or Forensic Psychology Doctoral Course as agreed.

Leadership and management

To provide delegated line management for psychological staff as appropriate.

To provide clinical supervision to Psychology Assistants, Trainees and Qualified psychologists.

To hold delegated professional management for specified clinical psychology staff and assistants.

To participate as a senior lead clinician in the planning and development of a high quality, responsive and accessible service. Includes leading on and making proposals for policy implementation and service development for the service. Includes advising both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where forensic, psychological and / or wider organisational matters need addressing.

To participate in supervision of own practice, completing any agreed actions. To participate in own line management sessions.

Research activities, service evaluation and development

Within forensic and secure services, uses professional skills and knowledge including research, service evaluation and audit to suggest ways to improve and develop practice.

Ensures reflective scientist-practitioner approach in own practice and that of supervisees

To provide research advice to other staff undertaking research

To supervise and where necessary organise the research activities of Assistant Psychologists, Doctoral trainees and other staff.

To undertake project management including complex audit and service evaluation to help develop service provision

To explore innovative ways of delivering and improving patient care.

To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support and develop evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

CPD and professional standards

Accountable for own professional actions, acting within the Trust policies and procedures and guided by the Professional Practice Guidelines including the BPS and HCPC.

Exercises own expert clinical judgement in all aspects of work including where there is insufficient or conflicting data.

To carry out C.P.D. activity to maintain knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and wider psychological practice. To maintain a C.P.D. log suitable for submission to the HCPC.

To maintain standards required for ongoing professional registration and to maintain Registration once this in force for the Profession