Trainee Clinical Psychologist

The Critical Care Unit at UHD NHS Trust aims to provide the highest quality and best outcomes for patients being treated for and recovering from critical illness . As part of our continual development, we are expanding our multi-professional team to include Clinical Psychology in line with national guidelines (GPICS) and professional body recommendations. This will enable us to continue providing the most up-to-date and comprehensive care for acute treatment and rehabilitation from all aspects of critical illness.


This is an exciting opportunity to develop a new service working in a new purpose-built unit due to open in March 2025. You will work as part of the multidisciplinary intensive care team with the aim of setting up, developing, and providing the most up-to-date and evidence-based critical care service to meet the psychological and emotional needs of patients, as well as those of the staff who work in this challenging environment.


Specialist knowledge, experience and skills and personal qualities to fulfil the post: Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology as accredited by the BPS or equivalence HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologist post-doctoral training in a specialised area of practice relevant to rehabilitation of patients following critical illness formal training or qualification in leadership and provision of clinical supervision and excellent team working and development skills.


To work with the multi-professional critical care and rehabilitation teams to develop and implement an evidentially underpinned and clinically effective Psychology pathway and service to meet the needs of patients, relatives, and staff.


To include: identifying patients at risk of or affected by psychological morbidity such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress associated with or exacerbated by their critical illness or ICU admission conducting comprehensive psychological assessments of highly complex patients in hospital and at follow-up, incorporating psychological and neurobiological data as appropriate providing detailed formulations and advice to patients, relatives and the wider multi-professional team planning, implementing and evaluating evidence-based interventions to maximise outcomes providing ongoing education and training for clinicians, nurses and allied health professionals and act as a resource for other professionals directly supporting staff and colleagues in dealing with the stressors and psychological consequences of working in a challenging healthcare environment linking as appropriate with other agencies and/or external services related to patient's ongoing care post discharge and designing and implementing systems and processes to continuously measure impact and outcomes of the service.
UHD are investing in services across the Trust, with many being transformed and developed following merger and the New Hospital Programme.


This means that some services may move site this year or next, either temporarily or long term. There is a planned move for this service anticipated during 2025, when this role and base of work will relocate to Royal Bournemouth Hospital. Upon relocation of the role/service, excess mileage allowance / reimbursement will not apply, and any travel between the postholder's home and work base will be classified as a commute. To work together with the Critical Care follow up and rehabilitation team to establish a Critical


Care specific psychology service for patients, relatives and staff.


To work alongside the critical care follow up nurses and consultants and to attend follow up


clinics to help identify patients and relatives that may benefit from psychological interventions


and to provide these in separate psychology clinics


To identify and treat inpatients in critical care that may benefit from acute psychological


To work closely with the critical care multi-disciplinary team, give advice and help guide


patients recovery and rehabilitation


To work closely with and support all members of staff in the Critical Care Units this includes


holding debrief sessions after potentially traumatic events, wellbeing sessions and providing


To help create individual de-escalation plans for inpatients whose behaviour is challenging for


To liaise with other critical care psychologists locally, regionally and nationally for professional


development and to help develop the service further


undergraduate and postgraduate psychology students during their placement, assistant and trainee psychologists, and qualified psychologist To collect data and organise feedback to evaluate and audit the psychology service To contribute to research
Ability to manage the delivery of a service or part of a service, balancingthe priorities of quality and resource capacity


Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical or applied psychology ( or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996)


Pre or post-qualification training and qualifications in leadership, teaching, clinical supervision, and/or research.


Application of Specialist psychological therapies relevant to the clinical service


University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
University Hospitals Dorset