Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose:

To ensure the systematic provision of a high quality clinical neuropsychology service within a highly specialist service area, across all sectors of the organisation.

To practice as an autonomous independent specialist professional clinical practitioner and assume continued responsibility for a caseload of clients with the most complex difficulties, exercising full clinical responsibility for their psychological care both as a clinician and supervisor for other professionals.

To work within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service/team and to ensure that systems are in place and working effectively for the clinical and professional supervision and support of all other psychologists within the service/sector for which the post holder has designated professional responsibility, including clear systems for professional appraisal, and the identification of CPD needs across the service/sector.

As a major requirement of the job to act as a highly specialist resource to the wider professional community and to carry out audit, policy and service development and research activities and/or programmes.

To propose and implement policy and service development changes within the area served by the team/service.

To be a Mental Capacity Lead in the Trust, providing guidance on implementation of policy and pathways.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Clinical Duties:

1. Working within a highly specialised clinical area, to provide highly developed specialist neuropsychological assessments of clients with neurological conditions based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from sources including psychometrics, scans, medical reports, neuropsychological tests, self report measures, psychological models, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the clients care, and decide upon treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning neurological, historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.

2. To work with a vulnerable group including individuals with long term health conditions, severe and enduring mental health difficulties, challenging behaviours, family breakdown and victims of child sexual abuse and formulate plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

3. To utilise advanced specialist assessments and diagnostic techniques based on acute medical data (Glasgow Coma Scale, PTA), neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, psychometric and psychosocial factors and formally make a diagnosis in conditions which require a specialist assessment of developmental, medical, psychological and cognitive histories, including offering a specialist second opinion and/or independent advice.

4. To communicate using the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills, in skilled and sensitive manner, highly complex information about cognitive functions and neurological diagnosis, to patients and their families as well as communication regarding clinical consequences and restrictions due to acquired disability. Due to the nature of the information and the client group, this can be in a hostile, antagonistic or more frequently, highly emotive situations (patients with mental illness, challenging behaviours, physical illness and psychological trauma). This may be within the context of out-patient clinics, day care services, specialist units, prisons and patients own homes.

5. To utilise the highest level of communication skills to deliver and manage diagnosis and prognosis around terminal and degenerative diseases, which may require end of life planning with acute services, community facilities and specialist agencies such as hospices and palliative care. This involves supporting the family and care staff, as well as clinical case management in supporting staff delivering palliative care plans where care is delivered in the community.

6. To undertake first line risk assessment for relevant individual clients and to provide both general and specialist advice for psychologists and other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management. This may include individuals who may be in post-traumatic amnesic states and therefore aggressive, agitated or sexually disinhibited, presenting with challenging behaviours or those with severely compromised capacity. Also devise appropriate risk management for individual clients and to provide general advice to other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management within a complex patient group with elevated levels of risk associated with impulsive verbal and physical aggression/ violence and self-harm.

7. To actively manage high level risks for the most complex patients within the community including holding full clinical responsibility for managing the risk of suicide, risk to children, verbal and physical aggression/ violence, risk of abuse/ exploitation to and by others, and forensic recidivism through analysis, interpretation, and comparison of a range of management options.

8. To formulate and implement complex and highly specialist plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a clients cognitive, behavioural and emotional sequelae in clients with a neurological diagnosis. To formulate an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems, employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings. Emotional management includes therapy for child sexual abuse, suicidal ideation, personality disorders and severe and enduring mental health difficulties.

9. To be responsible for implementing a range of highly specialist psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon extensive knowledge of different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses, using expert models such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Psychodynamic therapy, Cognitive Analytical Therapy and Systems Therapy.

10. To be an accredited practitioner in the administration, interpretation, and supervision of others, with regards to Neuropsychological Tests, Psychometric assessments of psychopathology and Risk. This would include approved registration at Level C or above for agencies that monitor the use of psychometrics, such as Harcourt and the Psychological Corporation.

11. To provide specialist neuropsychological and psychometric assessments, and provide written reports to help inform diagnosis, formulation, and intervention in all aspects of health care.

12. To be responsible for leading and advising on the provision of clinical care/goal setting to meet clients needs, co-ordinating the work of others involved with care, arranging clinical reviews as required and communicating effectively with the client, his/her family and all others involved in care; and to monitor progress during the course of multi-disciplinary interventions.

13. To advise Responsible Medical Officers and specialist consultants in issues with direct regard to neuropsychological aspects of the patients condition and treatment.

14. To be independently responsible for providing, developing, implementing, and managing complex systematic neuropsychological Care Plans, involving Acute, Post- Acute, and Community Health Services, as well as Social Care and the Voluntary Sector, in line with national guidelines.

15. To exercise full responsibility and autonomy for the acceptance, treatment of and discharge of clients whose problems are managed as a psychologically based standard care plan, ensuring appropriate assessment, formulation and interventions, communicating with the referral agent and others involved with the care on a regular basis.

16. To ensure that all members of the clinical team have access to a psychologically based framework for the understanding and care of clients of the service, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological knowledge, research, and theory.

17. To influence decision making about allocation of resources (e.g. funding) to ensure appropriate care/treatment of the client is secured. This can involve presentations to large multidisciplinary panels, managers, commissioners, and external agencies.

18. To provide a specialist clinical opinion and formal reports in the review of residential placements within and out of area, informing funding managers and commissioners to provide feedback and advice on such clients progress and ongoing needs.

19. To highly undertake specialist assessments of mental capacity in the most complex cases, where statements are made around issues such as treatment, residence, best interest and financial capacity. These will often involve being the official signatory on legal forms which are taken up by the Court of Protection, High Court, and other legal authorities.

20.To be formally trained in skills such as Care and Restraint or similar, for physical strategies in managing physical violence and risk to self.

21. To frequently sit in a restricted fashion for purposes of delivering therapy and psychometric assessment. This requires extended periods of intense concentration for patient interaction, responding and recording information for up to two to three hours at a time.

Please see full Job Description attached.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or equivalent) as accredited by the HCPC, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics /neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• Post-doctoral qualification or progress towards qualification in the specific area of formal clinical neuropsychologist qualification (Practitioner Full Member)
• Undertaken training in the supervision of Trainee Clinical Psychologists.
• Accreditation in the use, interpretation, and application of psychometrics.
• Chartered Clinical Psychologist eligible/ HPC statutory regulation eligible

Experience

Essential

• Relevant post qualification experience.
• Formally assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical neuropsychologist at Senior/ Principal level, including significant post-doctoral qualification experience within neuropsychology.
• Experience of autonomously exercising full clinical responsibility for clients psychological care and treatment, both as a care co-ordinator, team member, supervisor of others and as an autonomous practitioner.
• Experience of management and supervision of qualified and pre-qualified clinical psychologists.
• 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 working with multi-professional teams or services.
• Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• Experience of the application of Psychology in different cultural contexts.
• Experience of representing the profession in local and national policy forum

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical psychology including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, and two or more distinct psychological therapies.
• Experience of professional management of qualified and pre-qualified clinical psychologists.
• Skills in the use of complex methods of neuropsychological assessment, psychological formulation, intervention, and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration. This requires the use of highly developed analytical and judgement skills.
• A high-level ability to communicate effectively at both a written and oral level complex, highly technical, contentious, highly distressing and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside the NHS.
• Skills in individual and group work and programme planning
• Skills in self-management including time management.
• Skills in planning and organising for caseload management.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Highly developed understanding of other professionals theoretical perspectives of this client group.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practised within the field of clinical psychology.
• Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group and mental health.
• Developed awareness of relevant national policies in neuropsychology and their implications for service development across all specialities.
• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS. Knowledge of the requirements of the profession in relation to clinical practise.
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
• Advanced keyboard skills.

Personal

Essential

• Excellent and highly developed interpersonal and communication skills enabling the formation of networks with professionals within the Trust and from other agencies to promote effective team-working with clients.
• Great enthusiasm for developing the work of clinical neuropsychology in a broad range of settings. A strong interest in models of service delivery, and an ability to articulate the value added by clinical psychology services within the context of multi-disciplinary mental health services.
• Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to hold the stress of others.
• Ability to contain and work with high levels of distress from clients and their families.
• Interpersonally calm and able to diffuse difficult, volatile situations.
• Able to tolerate ambiguity and to take decisions in situations of incomplete information.
• A commitment to the evaluation of services, enthusiasm for both multi-professional and uni-professional audit, and a wish to continue to develop expertise in the service area.
• Ability to demonstrate leadership and management skills and enthuse others.
• Good organisational skills.
• Motivated towards personal and professional development with a strong CPD record.
• Ability to exercise appropriate levels of self-care and monitor own state, recognising when it is necessary to take active steps to maintain fitness to practice.

Additional Criteria

Essential

• Ability to identify provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
• Experience of working within a multi-cultural framework.
• Ability to identify, and employ as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.
• Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.
• Ability to articulate and interpret clearly the role of the profession of clinical [neuro]psychology based upon a good understanding of the framework of government and national professional policy.
• Ability to tolerate prolonged periods of sitting and sustained attention.
• Ability to assess and manage risk.
• Ability to recognise and challenge discrimination in all its forms

Desirable

• Experience of professional management of qualified and pre-qualified clinical psychologists.
• Record of having published in either peer reviewed or academic or professional journals and/or books.

Job Specific Requirements

Essential

• The ability to travel independently across the Trust
• The ability to work flexibly in accordance with service needs

Right to Work / Relationships

Essential

• Do you have the right to stay and work in the UK without sponsorship (share-codes will be checked if applicable)
• If you are related to a director, or have a relationship with a director or employee of an appointing organisation, please state the relationship:

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 .

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 .

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website .

Employer details

Employer name

Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub

Jubilee Way

Warrington

WA2 8HE