Professional Lead Psychologist (Liaison Clinical Health Psychology)

Are you someone looking for a career in one of the UK's most respected mental health and learning disability trusts?

Would you like to be part of a dedicated team committed to making a difference to peoples lives to enjoy a better future?

This Band 8b post offers an exciting opportunity to lead and shape psychological services within urgent care pathways. You will provide expert assessment, formulation, and intervention for individuals presenting with complex psychological needs, and contribute to service development, training, and supervision.

We are looking for a Band 8b Professional Lead Psychologist to join the expanding Liaison Psychiatry service based at Wonford House in Exeter. The post is part time and would require flexibility as the role works both closely alongside the Liaison Psychiatry teams as well as Acute Colleagues within the Royal Devon University Hospital (Eastern and Northern).

The post will be based in Exeter, but includes a supervisory role of the 8a psychologists within Liaison, currently in RDUH Hospitals in both Exeter and Barnstaple.

Main duties of the job The Liaison Psychiatry service provides support for peoplewho are experiencing severe psychological distress whilst in hospital forphysical healthcare. The service is focused on developing a morepsychologically-informed approach and has prioritised the funding to employ asmall team of psychologists across the service provided into hospitals inExeter and Barnstaple. This is fast-paced and dynamic working environment,embedded at the interface of physical and mental health. The service is lookingfor a professional lead 8b practitioner psychologist to lead the psychologyinput and also become part of the wider leadership team within liaisonpsychiatry. This post offers an exciting opportunity to develop psychologyinput to the liaison service and to embed a psychologically-informed approach.

As well as being part of the Liaison leadership team, the post-holder will have strong links into other parts of the Trust involved in DPTs wider strategy of Integrated Psychological Medicine. This includes Health Psychology and Neuropsychology service and Talking Health, part of the local NHS Talking Therapies offering. These links offer opportunities to engage with psychologists and psychological professionals working embedded in physical health care.

We welcome applications from practitioner psychologists workingin any setting, and would particularly welcome those with experience ofin-patient working, of working with behaviours that challenge or working in anurgent care context.

About us We provide mental health, learning disability and neurodiversity services, as well as a range of specialist & secure services for the wider south west region & nationally. We are passionate about promoting good mental health & wellbeing. We strive to use the expertise & resources within our organisation, and through our partnerships, to deliver high quality services that are safe & focused on people's recovery.

We are committed to developing a culture of coproduction, involving patients, families & carers in everything we do

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications & experience - we recruit individuals who possess & demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. These include such attributes as showing a commitment to quality of care, improving lives of others, giving respect, dignity & compassion. We can bring those values to life in our everyday tasks by giving a smile; making time for people; challenging ourselves & others, & being open to new ideas.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer & applications are encouraged & welcomed from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics as governed by the Equality Act 2010. Part time & flexible working applications will be considered & supported, where possible. We particularly encourage applicants with lived experience of mental health conditions, neurodiversity or learning disabilities. We are a Disability Confident Leader.

Job responsibilities Please see uploaded Job Description for full details.

This is a key leadership role focused on developing the psychology offering within Liaison Psychiatry. The post-holder will have three key areas of focus.

- To provide direct clinical interventions to patients, including psychological assessment and therapy;

- To support the wider Liaison Psychiatry team to develop and maintain psychologically-informed practice. This could include a range of activities, including joint formulation, reflective practice, case-specific consultation and the development and delivery of training programmes;

- To be part of the Liaison Psychiatry leadership team, working to enhance the service via the development of new clinical pathways, ensuring adherence to best practice and maintenance of high clinical standards.

Key relationships for this post include the leadership team for liaison psychiatry, stakeholders in the acute hospitals and psychology colleagues in DPT health psychology. The post-holder will have supervisory responsibility of the band 8a Psychologists working in Liaison Psychiatry within RDUH hospitals in Exeter and Barnstaple.

The post has the following key areas of responsibility -

• To deliver an appropriate range of psychological interventions to patients under the care of liaison psychiatry, including psychological assessment and therapeutic interventions.
• To be one of a team of Professional Leads with responsibility for coordinating the smooth running of the local liaison psychology services linked to the RDUH Hospital in Exeter and Barnstaple.
• To continue the development of the psychology service within liaison, including defining the service remit, designing and evaluating new service developments and monitoring the effectiveness of the service via appropriate outcome measures.
• To work collaboratively with psychology colleagues in health psychology and neuropsychology within DPT to ensure appropriate care planning for clients experiencing physical and mental health difficulties. This may include attendance at MDT meetings and consultation.
• To provide supervisory support and managerial oversight to the 8a clinical psychologists working within liaison services across the RDUH in Exeter and Barnstaple.
• To support the professional and managerial leads in Liaison Psychiatry services by undertaking service development and (re)design projects and coordinating the resulting work within the Liaison Psychiatry team.
• Provide input and support to the liaison team including via consultation, joint formulation and MDT discussion.
• Work to develop a psychologically-informed liaison psychiatry workforce by leading the planning and delivery of a range of activities that build capacity for psychological interventions across the service, including reflective practice, supervision and training.
• Work to embed practice-based evidence and evidence-based practice across the service area. This will include using data from service outcome measures to support key performance indicators and to demonstrate the impact of the service, as well as working with people using the service to ensure their involvement in service design and evaluation.
• All staff within the Liaison teams will be responsible for ensuring involvement and experience, social inclusion and race equality agendas inform and support their work.
• Work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the services policies and procedures.

Person Specification Experience

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community and in patient settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity
• Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• Experience in undertaking leadership roles within clinical psychology/psychological therapy services in the NHS and in contributing to the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies and clinical policies in multi disciplinary, multi agency contexts. Proven leadership skills in a senior qualified position.
• Experience, and/or training in diversity awareness and social inequality.
• Experience of working in an urgent care setting.
• Experience of working within an inpatient setting.
• Experience of working with challenging behaviours.
• Experience of working with complex medical presentations.

Skills and abilities

• Strong leadership qualities, resilience and ability to handle ambiguity and uncertainty.
• Skills in managing conflict, negotiation and achieving consensus in complex situations in the pursuit of agreed strategic aims
• Ability to integrate and manipulate complex data, interpret this information and write comprehensive reports.
• Ability to make highly skilled evaluations and decisions; and take a long term perspective.
• Good interpersonal and communication skills that are maintained when under pressure within a fast paced setting.

Knowledge

• Broad knowledge of specialist services and of the services in the NHS where clinical health psychology is commonly applied.
• Extensive knowledge of the skills, practice and knowledge base of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Therapies.
• Knowledge of the policy context of specialist psychological services within the organisation and of clinical leadership arrangements in this setting.
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