Diabetes Lead Psychological Practitioner

Job summary

It's a really exciting time to be part of diabetes care with the introduction of new treatment technologies that require our truly multi-disciplinary holistic approach. We're an innovative and nationally-recognised consultant-led service that embraces psychological interventions to support the wellbeing of our patients. We now have a rare and exciting opportunity for a qualified, accredited and experienced psychotherapist to contribute to the delivery of Diabetes Care For You (DCFY), a multi-disciplinary team providing holistic care to adults 18+ living with diabetes in Brighton & Hove, High Weald, Lewes & Havens. Interested candidates are encouraged to talk through our opportunities for full or part time working Monday-Friday, based at Moulsecoomb Health Centre, just off the A27 with free car-parking. The role is varied and involves travel to other sites as required.

Main duties of the job

As the Lead Psychological Practitioner in DCFY, you will provide quality psychological triage, assessment and hold a small caseload of time-limited psychotherapy treatment to patients living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes with mild to moderate anxiety and/or depression. All the psychotherapy team attend the service-wide MDT to input therapeutically to wider team case discussions. You'll have ample opportunity to utilise your clinical supervision skills, supporting a small team of psychotherapists, working collectively to ensure timely interventions are provided either individually or as part of structured group therapy. You'll also contribute to the leadership of the wider service, working with team leads from the other disciplines, ie dietetics, medical and nursing, podiatry and operational colleagues. You'll have regular contact with wider partners including the locally provided LTC Talking Therapies services and secondary mental healthcare.

You'll need to have experience of supporting others and managing service delivery through meeting key performance indicators (KPIs). Enthusiasm for parity of esteem is a must, as is the ability to provide consultation across the team. The team is well supported operationally and managerially, working closely with Leads as required.

About us

We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex. Our 6,000 staff serve a population of million providing essential medical, nursing, and therapeutic care to adults and children.

Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community, helping people plan, manage, adapt to changes in their health, supporting avoidable hospital admissions and reducing hospital stay times.

We have opportunities for everyone across our wide variety of services including medical, clinical, support and corporate services.

Why work for us?

Positive 2023 NHS Staff Survey results, scoring highly in compassionate culture & leadership, and staff wellbeing support Variety of working environments across the community, in patients' homes, within our community hospitals and bases across the county Supportive flexible working patterns such as: part time, flexi time, annualised hours, and flexi retirement options Excellent training and development opportunities Research opportunities Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove and Brighton Thriving BAME, Disability and Wellbeing, LGBT+ and Religion and Belief staff networks Level 3 accredited Disability Confident Leader, committed to creating inclusive workplaces Veteran Aware Trust, achieving accreditation from Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA) Located in stunning Sussex, with easy access to the South Downs and the coast Access to a wide range of benefits and discounts for NHS staff Job description

Job responsibilities

1. Job overview

a) To lead our specialist psychology service to patients living with diabetes within the community diabetes service, Diabetes Care for You. You will provide highly specialist psychological assessment and therapy at the same time as offering advice and consultation on clients psychological care to GPs, secondary care diabetes and mental health services, non-psychologist colleagues and to other, non-professional carers. Working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the services policies and procedures, you will be accountable for the psychological service delivery including responsibility for the day-to-day management of the other psychotherapy team members.

You will assist with the holistic care of patients living with diabetes and the provision of clinical health psychology services to adults with diabetes within the Brighton, Hove, High Weald, Lewes and Havens (HWL&H) catchment area. This will entail providing psychotherapy in a variety of community settings across East Sussex and virtually as appropriate. Service provision within this scope will involve liaison with more than one team and travelling to different sites in Brighton and the High Weald Lewes & Havens part of East Sussex.

You will be required to utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by the service. You will also be involved in networking with other relevant services and offering training and consultation with regards to psychological aspects of diabetes care where appropriate.

Youll be a member of the Trusts Psychological Professionals Forum, which offers professional and peer support with other psychological practitioners working in a variety of health care settings. We ensure there are additional opportunities to join peer supervision groups and attend CPD events.

2. Communication and working relationships

a) Liaise with other team members and partners, including other psychological practitioners and mental health professionals, primary care, secondary care mental health services, physical healthcare providers, family members/ carers and other relevant agencies responsible for the clients care.

b) Provision of a psychotherapy service to patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes within our consultant-led, multi-disciplinary team (MDT). Working alongside other psychological practitioners and health care professionals (ie consultants, diabetes specialist nurses, dietitians, podiatrists, and support staff) within Diabetes Care For You (DCF) to provide time limited evidence based psychological assessments and therapy. Regularly liaising between team leads of the various disciplines and contributing to the wider service development as a member of the DCFY senior management and leadership team. To advise both operational and clinical management on those aspects of the service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing and identify how changes can be managed and implemented.

c) To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care. This will include assessment of risk both of own patients and of those within the psychotherapy team. Providing support and guidance alongside regular clinical professional supervision to members of the psychotherapy team.

d) To deliver presentations and specialist training on issue specific to psychology and mental health as required to various audiences. Provision of psychological advice and clinical consultancy to other members of the MDT and senior professional colleagues as appropriate.

3. Main tasks

a) To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients with diabetes referred to DCFY based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and psychometric tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the clients care.

b) To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a clients mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the clients problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.

c) Implement a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups within and across teams. Adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models.

d) To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.

e) To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.

f) To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.

g) To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the post holders professional and service manager.

h) To become a member of the trust Psychological Professions Forum, attend CPD events and to contribute to internal CPD/ peer learning events as appropriate.

4. Main responsibilities

a) To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the teams operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.

b) To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues to help develop service provision. Work alongside operational and professional management on quality improvement opportunities of the service. To provide regular audits reflecting the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the psychotherapy team within DCFY.

c) To manage the workloads and clinical supervision of the psychological practitioners in the team such as assistant, graduate and trainee clinical psychologists, psychotherapists and psychological wellbeing practitioners (PWPs) within the framework of the Trusts policies and procedures.

d) To be responsible for the DCFY psychotherapy team, ensuring current appropriate accreditation, alerting operational team where there are concerns. Day-to-day management responsibility for the team alongside involvement by operational / management team as required. To be involved in the recruitment of psychological positions within the team. To exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the team. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.

e) To contribute to the development and articulation of best practice in psychological therapies within the service and the Trust, by continuing to develop the skills of a reflexive and reflective practitioner in the context of the evidence based and NICE guidelines. Take part in regular professional supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of clinical psychology and related disciplines.

f) To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members. To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry (SystmOne) and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with the professional registration aligned to the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) or other governing bodies and Trust policies and procedures. To input and maintain appropriate computer and manual clinical records and statistical data and provide this to the Service Manager/ Clinical Lead when necessary.

g) There is no financial responsibility with the post however the operational team will require guidance and recommendation for equipment and resources to be purchased that are relevant to the psychotherapy team.

h) To undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.

5. Organisation chart

Professionally accountable to

Chief Psychologist

Clinical Service Manager Consultant Lead

Diabetes Lead Psychological Practitioner

Psychotherapist(s)

Specialist Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP)

Person Specification

Qualifications and professional registration

Essential

Psychological Professional, accredited and registered with an accredited body approved by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA); eg HCPC, BABCP, UKCP, BACP. Specialist training since qualification in the delivery of psychological adult mental health therapy, eg CBT. Clinical supervision training or equivalent experience.

Desirable

Specialist training relevant to diabetes or health-related psychological treatment. Postgraduate research experience and relevant skills.

Skills & Knowledge

Essential

Evidence of continuing professional development.

Experience

Essential

Significant post qualification experience as a qualified psychological professional working with long term conditions (LTCs) such as diabetes. Specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across a range of care settings including, outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings. Significant experience of clinical governance to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour. Experience of working in a physical healthcare setting and within a multidisciplinary team setting. Experience of the application of psychology to the different cultural contexts. Experience of teaching, training and supervision as B8a or in a senior capacity.

Desirable

Experience of managing own waiting lists and service information requirements. Experience of managing staff performance.

Skills & Knowledge

Essential

High level knowledge of the theory of practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies. Able to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to patients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS. Evidence of continuing professional development.

Other requirements

Essential

Access to a car for work purposes and able to travel to various sites.

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