Specialist Clinical Psychologist Stroke, Band 8b

Specialist Clinical Psychologist Stroke, Band 8b Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust An exciting Band 8b opportunity has arisen for a qualified Clinical Psychologist to take a clinical lead for psychology across the stroke pathway in Gloucestershire.

This is a fixed term maternity cover post which will provide clinical input, consultancy and training to the Acute and Hyper Acute Stroke Ward at Cheltenham General Hospital, the Stroke Rehabilitation Unit based at The Vale Community Hospital, Dursley, and the community based Early Supported Discharge Team. This 8b post offers the rare opportunity to develop and oversee the psychological care of stroke patients and their families across all areas of the stroke pathway from hyper acute to community outpatients.

Main duties of the job The post holder will:

1. Provide oversight, co-ordination, and development of a psychologically informed approach to stroke patient wellbeing across the Gloucestershire Stroke Pathway from Hyper Acute Inpatient right through to Community Early Supported Discharge.
2. Conduct psychological and neuropsychological assessment and treatment of stroke inpatients in both acute and rehabilitation stroke units and in the community based Early Supported Discharge Team.
3. Develop training for staff teams across the pathway to enhance the continuity of care and clinical experience for patients.
4. Engage in interdisciplinary working contributing to a coherent goal-directed rehabilitation service.
5. Establish and embed best patient care initiatives such as specialist group work.

A commitment to the provision of evidence-based health care is essential as is experience in neuropsychological assessment and the ability to assess creatively and functionally. You also require a good understanding of the psychological factors influencing physical health and delivery of health care, excellent interpersonal and communication skills, as well as an appreciation of the need to adjust therapeutic input to take into account the presence of cognitive impairment. Enthusiasm, commitment and an ability to work as part of a team are essential.

About us We can offer you:

1. An autonomous 8b role to cover maternity leave
2. An innovative, stimulating and well organised environment - part of a well-established Clinical Health Psychology department employing a range of applied psychologists
3. A friendly and supportive team of colleagues, excellent peer support and regular supervision, with an informal and relaxed atmosphere.
4. A commitment to the training and support of applied psychologists and active involvement in the local clinical doctoral courses.
5. Dedicated time within the role for advancing special interests and professional development.

While the post holder will spend time at both Cheltenham General Hospital and The Vale Community Hospital, they will be part of a team of 7 other psychologists delivering a service to neurological rehabilitation in GHNHSFT, a team known for excellent peer support.

This 8b post is supported within the stroke services specifically by a Band 8a Clinical Psychologist and Band 4 Assistant Psychologist.

Job responsibilities Overview: We are seeking a skilled and compassionate clinical psychologist to provide senior specialist psychological assessment, including neuropsychological assessment, support, liaison, and staff consultation for stroke patients seen across the stroke pathway in Gloucestershire.

Job purpose:

To provide highly specialist psychology input at an individual and organisational level to patients across the stroke pathway from hyper acute inpatient through to community early supported discharge. The role will support the development of a psychologically informed approach to stroke patient wellbeing. This includes developing and providing specialist interventions at an individual level and consultation for colleagues. Development of staff training across the pathway including skills development in neuropsychology, will be an important part of the role.

The post forms part of the Clinical Health Psychology Department, based at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.

Required to act independently and be accountable for own actions within professional guidelines and trust policies.

The post holder will be required to closely liaise with the Stroke Clinical Teams across the different stages of the pathway.

Knowledge, skills and experience:

1. Doctoral Degree in Clinical or Counselling Psychology
2. Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council
3. Significant understanding of, and experience with, working with people with physical health issues, including in an acute hospital setting
4. Significant understanding of, and experience with neuropsychological assessment methods and working with people with cognitive or communication difficulties
5. Significant understanding of, and experience with, evidence-based psychological models and therapeutic approaches to health and illness, (e.g. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Compassion Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy).
6. A thorough knowledge of National Stroke Service Model and how it applies to the psychological and neuropsychological care of stroke patients across the pathway
7. Experience in training other health professionals, including senior colleagues
8. Experience in supervising psychologists and other health professionals
9. Evidence of a commitment to continuing professional development
10. Knowledge of psychometric scale development, use and evaluation within physical health settings and experience in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of audit and clinical data
11. Knowledge of IT systems for clinical, training, and research purposes including Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint
12. Knowledge and experience of user involvement and equality of opportunity issues and their relevance to people working within health settings
13. Experience of the clinical assessment of psychological functioning, cognitive abilities, mental health needs and capacity for therapeutically supported change using a range of strategies including clinical interview, patient reported outcome measures, and evaluation of information from other sources

Skills required

1. To communicate in a highly sensitive and skilled manner sensitive information to /with patients, family members, staff members and colleagues in a compassionate and effective way, for example where there are high levels of distress, psychological risk, anger, cognitive difficulty, or where barriers to self-care exist.
2. Ability to undertake detailed and brief neuropsychological assessments, to use the outcome of that assessment to inform patient care, and support / train the wider MDT to do the same
3. Ability to contain and work therapeutically with people in extreme psychological distress including depressive withdrawal, anger, suicidality, anxiety / panic, loss and bereavement, relationship breakdown
4. Ability to put psychological theory into practice in novel and complex clinical settings, synthesising data and theory from a range of evidence-based sources to create individual, group, team intervention plans
5. Ability to deliver training on psychological concepts in clinical settings at a variety of levels to staff and to evaluate / audit training
6. Ability to evaluate and prioritise competing clinical demands and to use planned and ad hoc supervision as part of coping with these
7. Mobile to meet the requirements of the post
8. Initiative and flexibility

Key Result Areas/ Main Duties of Post The post holder will be required:

1. To provide specialist psychological and neuropsychological assessments of patients under the care of the acute and community stroke teams in Gloucestershire based on the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex psychological data from a variety of sources including self-report measures, semi-structured interviews with patients and family members, and neuropsychological testing.
2. To formulate and implement plans for management of patients psychological difficulties in relation to their physical health based on appropriate conceptual framework of the patients problems and employing methods of proven efficacy.
3. To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and high complex factors concerning historic and developmental processes that have shaped the individual.
4. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals to contribute directly to the patients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
5. To build strong relationships with key stakeholders.
6. To work independently and use own initiative in the day to day organisation of the role.
7. To ensure outcome and service data is routinely collected (e.g. to contribute to SSNAP analysis) to demonstrate the impact of the interventions and to share learnings within and outside of the Trust, e.g. at meetings and conferences.
8. To participate in service development projects, working closely with the Clinical Health Psychology leads and the other members of the team and to advise the lead of the need for service developments, policy, protocol or guideline developments.
9. To provide clinical supervision to junior clinical psychology colleagues, assistants, students and trainees.
10. To be aware of and adhere to Trust and departmental policies and procedures and the professional practices for psychologists at GHNHSFT.
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