Principal Practitioner Psychologist - Adult Inpatients

National health service; Rowley; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

National Health Service is seeking a Principal Practitioner Psychologist to lead the inpatient psychology hub and the new Women's Mental Health Pathway within the ECU. The role requires extensive post-qualification experience in adult mental health, ideally focusing on women, with trauma-informed service development and cross-team collaboration.

You will chair multi-disciplinary meetings, supervise staff, and shape care pathways from inpatient wards to community teams, ensuring high-quality

Qualifications

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical, forensic or counselling psychology.
• Current HCPC registration.
• Leadership and management experience at senior level.
• Experience of supervising trainees and staff.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior clinical leadership within inpatient services and ECU.
• Coordinate delivery and governance of psychological services across wards.
• Deliver specialist assessment, formulation and brief therapy.
• Support workforce development and service evaluation.
• Promote trauma-informed care and cross-team pathways.

Skills

Leadership

Clinical leadership

Assessment

Consultation

Supervision

Trauma-informed

Education

Doctoral training

HCPC registration

Job description

Pathway and a counselling psychology trained AC within the ECU.The USPs of this role are working with experienced senior peer support, the opportunity to shape a new women's pathway and service, steering the model for hub-working across the teams and developing patient focussed pathways between inpatient and community Neighbourhood Teams as they come into fruition . Please see the additional document for more about the vision for the ECU and the inpatient psychology provision going forward.Main duties of the jobProviding senior clinical leadership within inpatient treatment services with the inpatient psychology team including co-ordinating and supporting the delivery and governance of high-quality psychological services across the treatment wards and the ECU.Promoting the role of psychology within the service and offering professional guidance, training, consultation, supervision and support to the inpatient MDT to aid development and support staff wellbeing.Provide specialist
psychological assessment, formulation and bespoke short-term therapy for individuals with complex mental health needs utilising evidence-based practice. The provision for continuing providing longer-term therapy when people have been discharged back into the community is currently under review. This will require support from the Principal Psychologist in reviewing the need for this. Contributing to service development and service delivery at a senior level, promoting a trauma informed approach within the service and working with senior colleagues to develop and establish the Women's MH pathway across the treatment units but specifically the 18 bedded female treatment ward and the 6 bedded ECU.The role will also involve supporting workforce development in line with service need and contributing to a positive culture. This will be based upon service evaluation and national guidance.About usWe are an award winning and CQC rated good health and social care Trust delivering integrated,

Job responsibilities

Person Specification

Job summary

Are you interested in shaping a new Women's Mental Health Pathway including an Enhanced Care Unit (ECU)?If you are an experienced psychologist ready to offer leadership to adult inpatient mental health services, we have an exciting opportunity for a Principal Practitioner Psychologist working into the treatment wards and ECU due to open in Spring 2027. We are looking for a person with significant post-qualification experience in adult mental health settings, ideally for women, developing trauma informed pathways and service delivery .The successful applicant will join the adult inpatient psychology hub, comprising friendly and engaged psychologists, trainees and assistant psychologists and be part of the broader divisional psychology team with community-based colleagues.You will be responsible for co-ordinating the systematic provision of psychological care to the treatment pathway and the ECU, working closely with your peer Principal Psychologist for Crisis & Assessment, EssentialPost-graduate doctoral level training in clinical, forensic or counselling psychology or its equivalent if qualified before 1993accredited by the BPSCurrent HCPC registrationClinical supervision training for doctoral traineesSkills in co-ordinating programmes of care, and providing consultation and specialist advice to other professional and non-professional groupsTo take a senior clinical role in partnership with the clinical team in managing complex casesDesirablePost-doctoral training in one or more specialised areas of psychological practice relevant to this client groupAdvanced/expert understanding/application of relevant clinical practice/standards/audit within identified clinical areaLeadership or management qualification, EssentialDemonstrable experience of working as a practitioner psychologist, to include a significant period of working at a senior level in the specific specialist field where the post is heldExperience of exercising full clinical responsibility for service users' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care co-ordinator and also within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan.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 settingsExperience of teaching, training and professional and clinical supervisionBe able to effectively Chair meetingsDesirableA breadth of clinical practice including clinically specialising in the field where the post is heldProven leadership/management experience, able to demonstrate examples of positive impact/change within service delivery/practice at an advanced
levelAbility to work across team/organisational boundaries developing and maintaining multi-professional and multi-agency partnershipsExperience of developing others through education, mentorship, coaching, teaching, assessing, presentations, publishing, EssentialAble to demonstrate effective communication skillsAbility to lead and motivate staff to embrace changeWorking knowledge of Trust policies and procedures in order to effectively lead and manage othersEvidence of resiliency when working with challenging client groupsDesirableAble to demonstrate effective communication skills at all levels i.e. strategically and locallyBe able to demonstrate leadership/ management skills at an advanced level

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 SponsorshipApplications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. 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.