Consultant Psychologist: Whole Systems – Adult Mental Health

Job description

Job responsibilities

KR 1: Clinical and client care

To lead, plan and ensure the delivery of a highly specialist psychology and psychotherapy service across the adult mental health pathway, while maintaining effective psychological interfaces with community services.

To provide expert psychological assessment, formulation, consultation and intervention for service users with severe, complex and high-risk presentations, including psychosis, trauma-related difficulties, emotional dysregulation, self-harm, interpersonal difficulties and co-occurring substance use or neurodevelopmental needs.

To offer expert advice where clinical information is incomplete, contradictory or contested, integrating psychological, social, cultural, developmental and risk information to support complex decision-making.

To provide culturally responsive and accessible interventions with service users, carers and families when indicated.

To ensure that assessment and intervention are proportionate to the acute context and support stabilisation, relational safety, recovery, discharge planning and continuity of care.

To assess and monitor risk, contribute to formulation-based risk management plans and support multidisciplinary decision-making in situations involving significant uncertainty or potential harm.

To undertake direct clinical work where this adds specialist value, while balancing clinical activity with strategic leadership and operational responsibilities.

To ensure that pathways facilitate timely transfer, discharge and follow-up between inpatient, crisis and community teams.

To be the senior psychology lead for the agreed whole systems adult mental health portfolio (predominantly acute adult mental health services with additional community adult mental health responsibilities) and provide visible, accessible and authoritative professional leadership.

To ensure that all adult mental health teams work within a coherent psychologically informed and trauma-informed framework, promoting psychological safety, relational practice and least restrictive care.

To chair or contribute to relevant service, governance and psychology meetings and ensure agreed actions are implemented and reviewed.

To provide defined operational management support and oversight to community psychology provision, including advice on capacity, demand, prioritisation, caseload systems, access, quality and complex staffing matters.

To support effective clinical and operational interfaces between acute and community psychology services, reducing fragmentation and promoting continuity across transitions.

To advise senior managers and multidisciplinary colleagues on the psychological dimensions of service delivery, workforce wellbeing, team functioning and complex clinical care.

To lead approaches that improve access, experience and outcomes for diverse local communities and proactively challenge discrimination and inequity.

To support teams following serious incidents, highly distressing events or sustained operational pressure, within the boundaries of the role and Trust processes.

To interpret national, Trust and divisional policy and guidance and lead its implementation within the post-holders area of responsibility.

To lead the strategic development of acute psychology provision and contribute to the development of adult mental health pathways across inpatient, crisis and community services.

To identify service gaps, develop business cases and options appraisals, and lead agreed improvement programmes that may affect more than one service area.

To ensure meaningful involvement of service users and carers in service design, delivery, evaluation and improvement.

To participate in, and lead where appropriate, Trust, divisional and borough committees, working groups and transformation programmes.

To establish standards, pathways and operating procedures that clarify the contribution of psychological professions across acute and community care.

To monitor the impact of developments through agreed quality, experience, outcome and equality measures.

Please see attached JD for full details.

Person Specification

Qualifications and registration

Essential

• Professional doctorate in Clinical or Counselling Psychology, or an equivalent qualification accepted by the HCPC for registration as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• Current HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist and evidence of continuing professional development.
• Advanced post-qualification training in one or more specialist areas relevant to adult mental health, equivalent to postgraduate diploma level through formal study or an evidenced portfolio of supervised practice-based learning
• Completed training in clinical supervision

Desirable

• Formal leadership, management, quality improvement or organisational consultancy qualification.
• Additional training relevant to acute care, trauma informed practice, psychosis, complex emotional needs, neuropsychology or systemic practice.

Experience

Essential

• Substantial post-qualification experience in adult mental health, including significant experience in acute inpatient, crisis or closely related services.
• Demonstrable experience as a senior clinical specialist with service-level leadership responsibilities.
• Experience of expert assessment, formulation and intervention with adults presenting with severe, complex and high-risk mental health needs.
• Experience of leading psychological provision within multidisciplinary and multi-agency systems.
• Experience of operational and people management, including supervision, appraisal, recruitment, workload allocation and management of performance or conduct concerns.
• Experience of supporting or overseeing services across more than one team or pathway, including managing interfaces and transitions. (
• Experience of developing and implementing service changes that have impact beyond a single team.
• Experience of clinical governance, incident learning, audit, quality improvement and outcome measurement.
• Experience of teaching, consultation and supervision across professional groups and levels of seniority.
• Experience of working with and addressing issues of diversity, inequality and accessibility within local communities.

Desirable

• Experience of community mental health hub leadership or operational oversight.
• Experience of budget management, business-case development or workforce modelling.
• Record of publication or presentation in academic, professional or service settings.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

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 (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Northwick Park Mental Health Unit

Harrow

HA1 3UJ

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/work