Practitioner Psychologist

The Post-Holder will provide specialist psychology input within the burns unit multi-disciplinary team in respect of all stages of the burn-care pathway. The role provides expert care for patients and relatives within the burns unit which is part of the regional and national burns network as a core contributor to the work of the MDT. The scope of the post includes supervision, training and support of colleagues, as well as strategic work to underpin clinical governance and quality improvement for psychological aspects of patient care in the burns service.The role includes contributing to the work of the burns regional and national networks, liaising as appropriate with professional colleagues in this specialty, to further enhance the highest standards of psychological care following burn injury.

This vacancy is for an experienced practitioner and demands the capability and flexibility to adapt to changing demands and circumstances where input presents new and unexpected clinical challenges that demand an innovative approach.The post holder would join a specialist burns team, part of a national network as well as joining an innovative and thriving psychology team based in one of Europe's most modern acute hospitals and a regional centre for trauma care.

Main duties of the job

Clinical

• Undertake specialist psychological assessments and interventions with individuals and their families in the burns MDT.

• Co-ordinate with the burns MDT regarding delivery of care through weekly MDT care planning meetings, observing all relevant service standards in the provision of interventions, linking with refers and others. This will involve liaison, supervision and consultancy to other health professionals, working with in-patients and out-patients.

• Provide specialist supervision to trainee Clinical Psychologists on placement from regional doctoral training courses, coordinating the provision of placements with the organisation of psychologists across NBT under the Trust Advisor for Psychology.

• Take responsibility for ensuring the quality and safety of psychological input in all aspect of work. This may include partnership working, for example with patient volunteers, where the post holder is expected to understand and maintain agreed terms of co-working and an appropriate balance of responsibilities.

Professional:

Participate in the professional organisation of practitioner psychologists within North Bristol NHS Trust including the support of the regional training of Clinical Psychologists with clinical placement supervision, research supervision, and clinical teaching coordinated through the Psychology Advisor for NBT.

About us

All staff should communicate effectively in their day to day practice with patients and should support and enable patients/carers to make choices, changes and influence the way their treatment or care is provided. All staff, managers and Board members should work to promote effective patient, carer and public involvement in all elements of their work.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Knowledge, Training and Experience Required:

• Fully qualified as a practitioner psychologist with a doctorate degree and associated professional status in clinical psychology (or its equivalent) recognised by the Health and Care Professions Council (HPCC) and the British Psychological Society (BPS) Division of Clinical Psychology (DCP).

• Registered with the HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist.

• Knowledge of and experience of psychological interventions in traumatic physical injury and broadly in the specialty of clinical health psychology.

• At least the equivalent of three years full time relevant post-qualification experience.

• Extended knowledge and experience of the application of psychological models of health and illness for the purposes of assessment and treatment. This is acquired through post-doctoral professional development.

• Knowledge and experience of establishing, developing, and closing therapeutic relationships with individuals, relatives and groups.

• Knowledge of the evidence base for psychological assessment, interpretation, rationale for intervention, and outcome evaluation strategies, as applied to the field of clinical health psychology, reflecting up-to-date knowledge of clinical guidance and relevant clinical research literature.

• Relevant post qualification experience of multi-professional team working and an awareness of the demands of integrating psychological care with other facets of emergency/acute hospital care and coordinated team work.

• Experience of communicating sensitive and complex information, both verbal and written, where such information is difficult to convey, (e.g. explaining the complexities and relevance of complex family dynamics or differing reactions to distressing events in care planning).

• Knowledge and experience of undertaking regular clinical supervision, recognising the need for this and observing the appropriate professional practices involved. The arrangement, frequency and records of clinical supervision to be agreed with the professional line manager.

• A developed expertise of methods of service evaluation and for the critical appraisal of research in health psychology. The knowledge necessary for the completion of clinical research proposals, research ethics submissions, the administration of trials, statistical and qualitative analysis, reporting, and dissemination/publication.

• Post-doctoral knowledge/ experience of psychometrics as applied to the clinical context, including the screening and evaluation of cognitive impairment.

Skills Required:

• Personal psychological resilience for working with the often severe psychological distress of patients and relatives during acute hospital care and afterwards. This is the main characteristic of the role and usual reason for people being referred to the service. It encompasses a wide range including depressive withdrawal, post-trauma psychological effects, suicide threat, and intense anxiety/panic. It requires the ability to make appropriate use of clinical supervision. The post holder is therefore required to have a high level of self-awareness and emotional composure, to be able to maintain a high degree of professionalism in what are often rapidly evolving situations in clinical care.

• To be able to draw together multiple sources of assessment information, identifying critical components, in reaching an interpretation and rationale on which interventions can be planned and carried out. This requires that the post holder will at times formulate a rationale for intervention where no evidence base has been developed.

• To convey sensitive and complicated information to colleagues, clients and relatives, where barriers exist, such as the non-acceptance of personally devastating information to a client. This is also a main characteristic of clients and the reason for referral to this service, i.e. where an individual is in severe difficulty facing a need for major behavioural/ emotional adjustment. This requires the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills.

• To work collaboratively, knowing when to engage other disciplines e.g. working jointly or referring on (e.g. for evaluation of psychotropic medication or regarding the management of risk).

• To administer and interpret formal standardised psychological assessment procedures.

• To effectively communicate the findings of psychological assessment and the rationale for interventions, potentially in an atmosphere of conflict involving clients, their relatives, and healthcare professionals. This includes caution and vigilance regarding the way that expert psychological opinion or evaluation findings may be misinterpreted or misrepresented by others.

• To provide individual and group-based therapeutic interventions using evidence-based approaches, providing appropriate indicators of outcomes.

• To manage competing work demands in a rational way by organising and prioritising a patient workload with other pressures including supervision, training, governance, and professional commitments, in circumstances where these vary unpredictably, and often exceed the available time and resources. This includes an open and cooperative approach with service leads for managing fluctuating demands on the overall service.

• Competency for using IT equipment for the purposes of communication, record keeping and governance and other matters such as test administration and clinical research.

• To provide teaching/training on psychological matters within the MDTs and elsewhere as may be relevant to service provision.

Person Specification

Post graduate doctorate in clinical psychology or equivalent

Essential

• British Psychological Society and HCPC accredited
• Post qualification experience at least two years full time equivalent
• Evidence of post graduate teaching/training experience
• Knowledge and experience of trauma focused psychological treatments

Desirable

• Post qualification experience of working in an NHS acute care health psychology setting

Employer details

Employer name

North Bristol NHS Trust

Address

Southmead Hospital

Southmead Road

Bristol

BS10 5NB

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

339-DAC4554#J-18808-Ljbffr

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