Senior Assistant Psychologist

We are excited to be advertising for a new role within our Memory Assessment Service in Bedfordshire, mainly based in the mid-Bedfordshire locality.

The post holder will provide assessments for people receiving services within our Memory Assessment Services, with a focus on assessment of people living in care homes.

This role sits within our work offering the Diagnosing Advanced Dementia Mandate tool (DiADeM) for care home settings. This is a new way of working for our memory services; it is often unnecessary and distressing for some people living with advanced dementia to be offered a formal memory assessment within a memory clinic setting. However, people with advanced dementia, their families and staff caring for them, still benefit from a formal diagnosis as it allows access to appropriate care to meet individual needs and prompts staff to consider MCA and DOLs issues where appropriate.

The post holder will work with people who use our services and their carers to develop a shared understanding of cognitive difficulties, how they cope and the impact this has on their care, mental and physical health needs. Service users seen by the post holder will include those who are experiencing cognitive difficulties and may present with behaviours that express distress. Service users may present with a high level of risk to both themselves and sometimes to other people. Assessments will mainly be within care settings and will involve liaison with care staff.

This is an exciting new opportunity to be actively involved in developing how we develop services and creative new ways of supporting people living with a dementia to access appropriate diagnostic understanding and care.

The post holder contributes to the provision of psychological input to secondary mental health services and those in the community, particularly those vulnerable to poor health outcomes through poverty and other social inequalities, disabilities and physical health conditions. This work will be under the direction of a qualified psychological therapist who will retain clinical responsibility for clinical work carried out, provided that the clinical work is within the care plan specified

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.

The post holder will work with people who use our services and their carers to develop a shared understanding of cognitive difficulties, how they cope and the impact this has on their care, mental and physical health needs. Service users seen by the post holder will include those who are experiencing cognitive difficulties and may present with behaviours that express distress. Service users may present with a high level of risk to both themselves and sometimes to other people. Assessments will mainly be within care settings and will involve liaison with care staff.

The post holder will be responsible for using the DiADeM tool in care homes to support diagnostic decision making, in conjunction with the multi-disciplinary team, under the supervision of a clinical psychologist.

Please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification for details.