Practitioner Psychologist

Job overview

The Adult Cystic Fibrosis Service at King’s College Hospital is continuing to grow, as life expectancy of people living with CF improves. We are an energetic and forward-thinking multidisciplinary team, and are excited to be recruiting a full time Band 7 Practitioner Psychologist to join our Clinical Psychology team.

We are seeking someone with an interest in working in physical health who enjoys working in a busy medical environment.  As a fully integrated team member, you will work alongside colleagues from other disciplines, including medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, dietetics and social work. In addition to direct clinical work you will be providing consultation to other members of the multidisciplinary team and contributing to service development, training and research initiatives.

Professional support and supervision will be provided by the Band 8B Clinical Psychologist who works within the Adult CF Service.  There will be ample opportunities to link with a broad and strong local network of psychologists working in physical health settings across the King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre, which includes the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN).

Main duties of the job

• To contribute to the delivery of a specialist applied psychology service in the Kings College Hospital Adult Cystic Fibrosis Service. •    To provide specialist psychological assessment, treatment and monitoring of outcomes, focusing on the identification and treatment of psychological issues which have negative impacts on adherence to treatment plans, and on more general physical and psychological well-being. •    To provide clinical consultation and supervision to other members of the Adult CF multidisciplinary team in relation to psychological aspects of patient care.  •    To take a role in service evaluation, audit, research, teaching and policy development. •    To work as at appropriate levels of independence, following clinical guidelines and the policies and procedures of the service, and seeking help from clinical/professional supervisor or manager as required.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities

• To provide highly specialist expertise in the psychological care of patients in the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Service on an inpatient and outpatient basis.
• To provide specialist assessment and clinical formulation to patients with psychological needs, including depression, anxiety, poor adherence to treatment plans and issues related to life choices and to approaching the end of life.
• To select and administer highly specialist psychological assessments, interpreting and integrating highly complex data drawn from several sources, including clinical interviews and observations, discussion with colleagues from other disciplines, psychological assessment tools and rating scales.
• To select and deliver evidence-based, specialist psychological treatments, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions, and drawing on a range of theoretical models.
• To provide psychological reports, including relevant formulation, opinion and interventions, in order to inform referrers and, where appropriate, service users.
• To work flexibly, including providing psychological input to ward rounds, outpatient clinics and annual reviews, where appropriate.
• To provide psychological support to clients who are emotionally distressed, due to the serious consequences of their medical condition, or to other traumatic events in their lives.
• To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations related to serious illness and the end of life, and to support others involved in such situations.
• To be responsible for psychological interventions with families which include one or more member with cystic fibrosis.
• To communicate, skilfully and sensitively, highly complex and sensitive information with patients, carers and other professionals involved in their care, taking account of sensory and cultural barriers to communication.
• To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans.
• To work as an autonomous professional within Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and BPS guidelines and the policies and procedures of the service, taking full responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions.

Contributing to team or service clinical functioning

• To advise other members of the service on psychological aspects of patient care.
• To contribute to the effective working of the team and to a psychologically informed framework for the cystic fibrosis service.
• To provide highly specialist psychological consultation and professional and clinical supervision to colleagues and others.
• To support other professionals in working together as a team to provide a high quality service for patients who have complex needs.
• To liaise with referrers, GPs and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.
• To ensure that all services provided are acceptable and accessible to the diverse communities served by the cystic fibrosis service.

Management and supervision

• To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychologist, according to HCPC and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust guidelines.
• To supervise clinical psychology trainees and to provide clinical supervision for psychological work undertaken by assistant psychologists, as appropriate.

Research and Service Development

• To identify any aspects of the service which need to be improved and to advise service and professional managers on appropriate changes.
• To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and developing services.
• To contribute to, as appropriate, research projects relevant to the needs of the service.
• To provide research advice and supervision to other staff undertaking research within the service.
• To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through reports, presentations and published articles.
• To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

Teaching and Training

• To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the cystic fibrosis service for adults, by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in clinical health psychology, particularly with regard to cystic fibrosis, and by implementing knowledge gained in practice.
• To provide specialist training in psychological approaches to care to other professions.
• To plan and undertake teaching and training of pre- qualification psychologists

Care or management of resources

• To take care of, and use carefully, the Trust’s equipment and physical resources.
• To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed.

Governance / Quality Control

• To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.
• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, in line with professional and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry.
• To participate in clinical governance initiatives as agreed by the local clinical governance committee and to act as clinical governance link worker if appropriate
• To ensure own Continuing Professional Development in line with BPS requirements and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Personal Development Plan requirements.
• To comply with the HCPC ‘Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics’ and ensure professional development in line with the HPC ‘Standards for Continuing Professional Development’ and ‘Standards of Proficiency’.
• To be accountable for and comply with the British Psychological Society’s Code of Conduct, the Division of Clinical Psychology’s Professional Practice Guidelines and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust policies and procedures.
• To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.
• To participate fully and implement standards devised from King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s clinical and research governance activity.