Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the well-established Hospital Palliative Care Service at North West Anglia Foundation Trust (NWAFT) based at Peterborough City Hospital.
The Hospital Palliative Care Team provides specialist palliative care of patients with an advanced, incurable and progressive illness who are thought to be in the last 12 months of life. The team is made up of palliative medicine consultants, specialist nurses. This palliative care post has been well established over the last 10 years. You will work alongside the Cancer Wellbeing Team based at the Robert Horrell Centre who provide wellbeing and emotional support to people affected by cancer. You will be supporting and supervising medical staff in providing level 2 psychological support.
We would encourage applications from recently qualified or early career Clinical Psychologists, as a band 7 preceptorship is available. If you are currently working towards a HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist, which is due to be fulfilled within the next 12 months and would like to apply for this vacancy as a developmental role, please tick the box for HCPC registration, clarifying your course and completion date on the application form.
Main duties of the job
The post is managed and supported by the local mental health trust; CPFT which will provide the post with CPD support and facilitate strong links with primary and secondary care. CPFT also provide Peterborough City Hospital with a Liaison Psychiatric Service on site so the post will have links to them.
We are keen to support and develop our staff through a clear career pathway and encourage promotional opportunities within the Trust. CPFT has over 40 Clinical Psychologists working in the Psychological Medicine Service, working across the age range, and linked with a large variety of specialties. Each Psychologist has expertise within medical specialties, and are accredited in a range of therapeutic modalities, these include CBT, CAT, IPT, ACT and CFT and EMDR, so there are many opportunities to develop skills through supervised practice.
The post would be suitable for a clinical psychologist who has a strong team work ethic, has a passion for working with individuals, couples and families and want to further develop the role of psychology within a palliative care setting.
If you are unable to attend an interview on the suggested date, please let us know on your application form as other options may be available.
About us
Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health & social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health & wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting & empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.
Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services not only via inpatient and primary care setting but also with the community. These services include Children, Adult & Older Peoples mental & physical health, Forensic & Specialist mental health, Learning Disabilities, Primary Care & Liaison psychiatry, Substance misuse, Social care, Research & Development.
To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high calibre candidates that share our vision & values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people & members of our ethnic minorities & LGBTQ+ communities.
Benefits of working for CPFT include:
- Annual leave allowance 27 days plus bank holidays (this may increase depending on NHS service)
- Pension scheme - Flexible job share opportunities
- Salary sacrifice schemes
- Staff discount schemes
- Professional development via the CPFT Academy which provides in-house training programmes
- Mindfulness training
- Stress awareness training
- Counselling Service
To find out more information regarding staff benefits, locations and services please visit -
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities
1. To provide highly specialist psychological assessments based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of highly complex psychological data from a variety of sources including psychological (and neuropsychological tests where appropriate), self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and others involved in the clients care.
2. To develop psychological formulations of presenting problems or situations that integrate information from assessments within a coherent framework that draws upon psychological theory and evidence, and which incorporates interpersonal, societal, cultural, and biological factors.
3. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families, and groups, within and across hospital and community-based teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses.
4. To evaluate and make decisions about psychological 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.
5. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment, and discharge of clients whose problems are managed by psychologically based standard care plans.
6. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis, and treatment plan.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential
7. Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, or a BPS Statement of Equivalence.
8. Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council
Experience
Essential
9. Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and with presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity.
10. Experience of maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse, and the threat of verbal abuse.
Desirable
11. Experience of assessing and treating clients across the full range of care settings.
12. Experience of the application of psychology in different contexts.
13. Experience of working in a hospital/hospice setting.
14. Experience of working within multi-disciplinary setting.
15. Experience of leading and carrying out projects and interpreting data using statistical analyses.
Skills & Abilities
Essential
16. Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention, and management, frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration requiring the use of highly developed analytic skills.
17. Excellent communication skills, able to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information including contentious and highly distressing information to service users, their families, carers, and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
18. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, enabling formation of networks with professionals within the Trust and from other agencies to promote effective team working with clients.
19. IT skills to fulfil the duties of the job description.
20. Able to contain and work with high levels of distress from clients.
21. Able to contain and work with organisational stress.
22. Interpersonally calm and able to defuse difficult, volatile situations.
23. Able to tolerate ambiguity and to take decisions in situations of incomplete information.
24. Ability to meet agreed/specified service targets.
Desirable
25. Proven ability in carrying out clinical audits/service evaluation.
26. Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
Knowledge & Understanding
Essential
27. Demonstrates an understanding for the need to use evidence based psychological therapies and how it relates to this post.
28. Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within clinical health psychology.
29. Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and setting, and its implication for both clinical practice and professional management.
Physical Requirements
Essential
30. Ability to exercise appropriate levels of self-care and to monitor own state, recognising when it is necessary to take active steps to maintain fitness to practice.
31. Good organisational skills.
32. Motivated towards personal and professional development with a strong CPD record.
33. Ability to provide and promote appropriate means of support to carers and staff exposed to highly distressing situations and severely challenging behaviours.
34. Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings.
35. Able to tolerate prolonged periods of sitting.