Job summary
To provide a qualified specialist clinical psychology service to an Older People's Mental Health (OPMH) inpatient unit (functional and organic conditions) and the Hospital at Home Team based at The Limes, in Portsmouth, across all sectors of care, which may include a future role in the community.

The post holder will provide specialist psychological assessment and therapy at the same time as offering advice and consultation on patients' psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues and to other, non-professional carers, working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team's policies and procedures. This includes the assessment, formulation and treatment of the behavioural and psychological symptoms of people with dementia and other mental health conditions. To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by the team/service. To undertake a personal research and development programme and develop and encourage a research culture within the clinical team.

The post holder will demonstrate an attitude which respects and values patients and their carers and the core values of the trust: Compassion, Accountability, Respect and Excellence.

Main duties of the job

• To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the client's care.
• To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client's mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client's problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings. This includes the behaviour and psychological treatment of people with dementia.
• To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
• 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.
• To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the team's operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.

About us
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides joined-up mental and physical healthcare for around two million people across our communities. With over 13,000 staff working in the community and local hospitals, we deliver care at every stage of life, helping people live their best and healthiest lives.

Our mental health services include community-based support and early intervention in psychosis (EIP) for both adults and young people, alongside a network of specialist inpatient wards covering forensic, learning disability, eating disorder and older person's care.

We deliver extensive physical health services too, from urgent community response teams helping frail and older patients remain safely at home, to hospitals at home teams providing acute-level care in familiar surroundings. Our neurological services offer rehabilitation and treatment for conditions including Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Motor Neurone Disease, Head Injury, Cerebral Palsy and Stroke. Across Hampshire, our community hospitals provide inpatient rehabilitation as a step down from acute care, and our dedicated teams also staff Treetops Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Portsmouth, offering expert, compassionate support.

Everything we do is underpinned by our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect and excellence.

Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 7
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Part-time
Reference number: 348-PSE-12718

Essential qualifications

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology or DCounsPsy, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS.
• HCPC Registration.

Desirable qualifications

• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Essential experience

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, such as outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings.
• Experience of using CBT with clients for individual and/or group work.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions. Applicants must have current UK professional registration. The Trust will seek to resolve any barriers to application wherever possible.