Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust
Looking for a new job for 2025 in a fabulous city? We have an opportunity to join the Sheffield Memory Service (SMS) as the lead psychologist. This is a permanent 8b role (0.6wte) within SMS which is an MSNAP accredited memory service. The successful applicant will join the psychology team at SMS (qualified, assistants and trainees) and will be an integral part of the wider MDT. This is an exciting time to work in SMS and to lead some organisational change and developments as part of the wider Older Adult Community Mental Health Transformation programme.
Neuropsychology assessment is a well-established pathway within SMS and there may be the opportunity to undertake postgraduate clinical neuropsychology training.
As part of the Older Adult and Neurological Conditions (OA&NC) psychology department you will have access to strong psychology support and leadership. The OA&NC department are a group of psychologists working into a range of settings (older adult mental health, dementia, stroke, brain injury, long term neurological conditions), allowing you access to a wealth of experience (CBT accredited supervisors, neuropsychology supervision, EMDR trained psychologists).
Main duties of the job
1. To provide a qualified specialist clinical psychology service to service users of Sheffield Memory Service (SMS). To provide specialist diagnostic neuropsychological assessment. To offer highly specialised advice and consultation on service users' psychological care to psychologist & non-psychologist colleagues alike, and to non-professional (informal) carers.
2. To provide highly specialist diagnostic neuropsychological assessments of service users referred to SMS, 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 service users, family members and others involved in the person's care.
3. To formulate and share SMS care plans, in diagnostic feedback appointments, to identify the relevant treatment and/or management of a service user's problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the person's problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across a full range of care settings.
About us
At SHSC, we prioritise the well-being and safety of both our service users and employees. It is our policy and a condition of employment that all employees must join the DBS Update Service. This service carries an annual fee, which employees are responsible for paying up front. However, employees may claim this cost back through the Trust's Employee Expenses Reimbursement Policy. For those requiring a Basic DBS check, it is necessary to register for a DBS Online Account.
We are passionate about providing the very best care to the people we support, and we're looking for amazing people who share this passion to join us.
What is it that makes our Trust such a special place to work? Well, it's all about the people. Our staff, service users, carers and families all come from such diverse backgrounds and all have expertise and stories to share.
It's important that you feel supported in your role, that the people who you work with are as passionate as you are and that your health and wellbeing is taken care of.
If you're interested in developing your career, you'll have access to a range of training and education opportunities, including apprenticeships, work experience and placements, as well as the chance to get involved in research.
We are all very proud of the difference we make to people's lives each and every day and if that's something that you'd like to be part of we'd love to have you with us.
Job responsibilities
Please see Job Description and Person Specification for further information
Clinical
1. To provide highly specialist diagnostic neuropsychological assessments of service users referred to SMS, 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 service users, family members and others involved in the persons care.
2. To formulate and share SMS care plans, in diagnostic feedback appointments, to identify the relevant treatment and/or management of a service users problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the persons problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across a full range of care settings.
3. To work on a daily basis in face-to-face individual, family and/or in group therapy settings with service users presenting with highly complex and sometimes distressing psychological problems.
4. To be responsible for implementing an appropriate range of specialist psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of different provisional hypotheses.
5. To evaluate and make decisions about neuropsychological assessment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning cultural, historical, developmental processes and acquired disabilities that have shaped the individual, family or group.
6. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of service users whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
7. To provide highly specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals (both psychologists and non-psychologists) contributing directly to service users formulation, diagnosis and treatment plans.
8. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all users of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the service user group.
9. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual service users and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
10. To coordinate, where appropriate, complex intervention plans, taking responsibility for initiating planning and reviews of plans, and including service users, their carers, referring agents and others involved in the network of care.
11. To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of service users under their care and to monitor progress during both the course of uni- and multi-disciplinary care.
Teaching, Training and Supervision
1. To receive regular clinical professional supervision in accordance with professional practice (HCPC), BPS and Trust guidelines.
2. To provide supervision to other MDT staffs (neuro)psychological work, as appropriate.
3. To provide supervision for trainee clinical psychologists.
4. To provide clinical supervision to less experienced qualified clinical psychologists, assistant(s), or other professionals.
5. To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical psychology.
6. To provide highly specialised advice, consultation and training to staff (including both psychologists and non-psychologists) working with the service user group across a range of agencies and settings.
Management, Recruitment, Policy, Organisational and Service Development
1. To significantly contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of aspects of the teams clinical practice through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit.
2. To co-ordinate the systematic governance of psychological practice within their own team by developing and collecting relevant measures of outcome and audit, and to provide consultation to other health and social care professionals to enable them to develop their own effective systems of governance.
3. To advise both service and professional management on those aspects of the service where psychological and / or organisational matters need addressing.
4. To be involved, as appropriate, in the shortlisting and interviewing of Assistant Psychologists.
5. To line-manage the work of qualified & assistant psychologists within the framework of the team / services policies and procedures.
6. To coordinate and organise of the work of other psychologists and other clinical members of the team who provide psychologically based care and treatment. To be responsible for monitoring and co-ordinating psychology resources available to SMS by responding to referrals, making autonomous professional and clinical judgements based upon complex information, prioritising accordingly and contributing to multidisciplinary decision making. To manage any waiting lists and participate as a senior clinician in the allocation of cases taking into account skill mix and caseload.
7. To implement the policies and propose changes to working practices/procedures concerning professional good practice for the provision of psychological services as applicable to LTNC in particular in order to ensure the highest standards of service to the service user group.
8. To propose policy or service changes which impact beyond own area of activity by participation in Trust working parties and other local development groups.
Research and Service Evaluation
1. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
2. To undertake appropriate research and provide research advice to other staff undertaking research.
3. To supervise DClinPsy research projects.
4. To supervise the research activities of Assistant Psychologists.
5. To initiate, undertake and supervise project management, service evaluations and complex audits with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision.
6. To disseminate research findings through publications and conference presentations.
Person Specification
Training and Qualifications
* Post-graduate, doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996), including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the HCPC and BPS.
* Registration with the HCPC as a Clinical Psychologist.
* Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
* Additional qualification in Neuropsychology.
Knowledge
* Evidence of significant experience working within specialist Older Adult Services, specifically including diagnostic neuropsychological assessment for Dementia.
* Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
* Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies/psychosocial interventions in specific complex groups including Dementia and other Neurological conditions.
Experience
* Significant experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of Older Adult service users across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in-patient settings. Including experience of working with clients with possible dementia & other neurological conditions.
* Ability to work with Older Adult service users presenting with complex psychological difficulties. Ability to work with the potential of individuals or their carers becoming abusive and aggressive.
* Significant evidence of being able to work effectively in multi-disciplinary settings and teams.
* Experience of providing clinical supervision.
* Experience of providing teaching and/or training.
* Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care.
* Experience of the application of (neuro)psychology in different cultural contexts.
Other
* Ability to plan, prioritise and organise own workload and co-ordinate that of others.
* Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain own clinical practice and to co-ordinate to that of others.
* Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials including PowerPoint suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
* Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
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.
Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust
Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Head of Service
#J-18808-Ljbffr