Assistant Psychologist Paediatrics

This is a newly developed post for the paediatric psychology service and the new weight management service for pre-school children in Somerset. This post will work under the supervision of a qualified Clinical Psychologist within a broader paediatric psychology team with clinical work supporting various specialties within paediatrics and working in the weight management service supporting group intervention work.

The post will include clinical and clinical-admin duties. These could include
- Working closely with qualified Clinical Psychologists to setting up the clinical pathways
- Undertaking appropriate clinical work under the supervision of a Clinical Psychologists.
- Ad-hoc assessments alongside the clinical psychologists observing young people at home/school, structured information gathering from young people/parents/schools including developmental histories using services proformas.
- Active participation in multidisciplinary case discussion and formulation meetings.
- Being the second professional at psychologically informed groups for families as part of a weight management program.
- Involvement in development of policies and project work
- Data gathering for audit and research purposes link.

This is a new post and has therefore been advertised as a 12 month-fixed term in the first instance. Should the role by successful, there is the possibility of extending beyond this if desired.

The paediatric psychology team are currently developing and recruiting.
- The paediatric psychology team is a small team made up of Clinical psychologist that work closely with the Children’s Community Nursing team and Community Paediatricians.

The post holder would have clinical supervision through the Clinical Psychologists in the paediatric psychology service. The Trust has excellent working relationships with Exeter University doctoral training programme and there will be opportunities for professional networking with other assistant psychologists, trainee clinical psychologists, psychologists and psychology networks both within the Trust and nationally, and continuous professional development.

Communication and Key Working Relationships
- To communicate effectively with a wide range of colleagues across the Trust
- To develop and maintain relationships with clinical and administrative colleagues working as part of a multidisciplinary team.
- To effectively communicate psychological information with other professions and agencies.
- To contribute to the writing of clients reports, written from a strengths-based and formulation driven perspective

**Key communication relationships include**:

- Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- Principal Clinical Psychologist
- Community Nursing Team
- Weight Management team
- Yeovil District Hospital Paediatrics Department
- Somerset NHS Foundation Trust Community Paediatrics Department
- Somerset CAMHS

Planning and Organisation
- To prioritise own workload in order to achieve goals agreed and reviewed at intervals with the Clinical Psychologist.
- To effectively use clinical supervision to reflect on, plan and evaluate clinical work.

Analytics
- Assist in the design and implementation of service development projects within the service as required.
- Undertake data collection, analysis, the production of reports and summaries, using IT and statistical programmes.
- Undertake searches of evidence-based literature and research to assist qualified clinical psychologists in evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

Responsibility for Patient / Client Care, Treatment & Therapy

The post will include clinical and clinical-admin duties. These could include;
- Being the second professional at psychologically informed groups for families as part of a weight management program.
- Working under supervision on paediatric cases.
- Active participation in multidisciplinary case discussion and formulation meetings.
- Ad-hoc assessments alongside the clinical psychologists observing young people at home/school, structured information gathering from young people/parents/schools including developmental histories using services proformas.
- Involvement in development of policies and project work
- Data gathering for audit and research purposes.

Policy, Service, Research & Development Responsibility
- To adhere to policies and procedures of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.
- To maintain a high degree of professionalism at all times.
- To attend relevant meetings with a variety of services and agencies.
- To attend and contribute to appropriate multi-disciplinary meetings.
- To assist Psychologists and team members in the delivery of staff training and support, facilitating the acquisition of psychological skills.
- Supporting the collection and analysis of service related data, compiling report as required, and conducting audits.
- Designing and conducting service evaluation projects, including service-user feedback.

Responsibility for Finance, Equipment &