Lead Practitioner Psychologist GSTT Infected Blood Psychology Service
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it.Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’.Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS.We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
This is an exciting and important opportunity to set up, lead and provide the GSTT Infected Blood Psychological Service (IBPS) which is based within the GSTT Haemophilia Centre. We welcome applications from HCPC registered Clinical/Counselling/Health Psychologists with substantial post-qualification experience relevant to this context.
We aim to attract a committed, diverse, and talented workforce who are passionate about delivering psychological care within an acute hospital setting and adapting approaches to meet the needs of our services and service users. In return, we offer a supportive, dynamic work setting where you can link with colleagues and develop your career.
The GSTT IBPS is one of several new services across England commissioned by NHS England (funded for 5 years initially) following the recent Infected Blood Inquiry with the aim to support patients and their families infected/affected by contaminated blood products.The GSTT IBPS comprises of 1.0 wte 8b Lead Practitioner Psychologist, 0.7 wte 8a Practitioner Psychologist and 0.8 wte Advanced Social Worker. The service provides multidisciplinary care for those infected and affected by contaminated blood products by: a) conducting outreach and psychosocial assessments led by a social worker; and b) providing psychological therapies.
It collaborates closely with its Multidisciplinary Team (MDT), while maintaining a distinct identity.
Main duties of the job
The main duties of the job are:
- Lead on the implementation of the GSTT Infected Blood Psychological Service.
- Work with the consultant psychologist and relevant leads within the directorate to oversee and deliver/implement key tasks and promote good governance.
- Provide highly specialist psychological assessment, referrals and treatment to the service users as part of an MDT.
- Independently report and manage individual caseload and to support the GSTT Haemophilia Centre MDT based on workload capacity.
- Lead on the collection and analysis of data and to utilise research skills for audit, research and service development purposes.
- Support outreach and engagement efforts with the service beneficiaries.
- Supervise and manage prequalified/qualified psychologists
- Supervise, manage and oversee the contributions of other professionals (e.g. patient navigator/social worker, admin team) within their competencies as a psychologist and in conjunction with their professional leads and the Consultant Psychologist as required.
- Engage with the service’s supervision, training and education activities
- Contribute to the profession through attendance of Trust wide meetings as well as those regionally
- Routinely attend clinical and research meetings held by IBPS, GSTT Haemophilia Centre, HPS and GSTT Psychology
- Foster close collaborations with other regional providers of IBPS and with relevant third sector organisations.
Working for our organisation
GSTT is an organisation which values and respects all of its staff and the communities it serves. We are committed to equity and would particularly welcome applicants who can add to the diversity of the psychology service and who value working with diverse communities.As a flexible working organisation, we are open to discuss flexible working on appointment.
You will work in a team which values your unique experience, ideas and interests. You will work as part of the wider IBPS and the GSTT Haemophilia Centre MDTs. You will be supervised and line managed by the Consultant Clinical/Health Psychologist in Haematology and have close links with the Haematology Psychology Service (HPS) which has been providing psychological support to patients with blood disorders and their families at GSTT for over 20 years.The HPS is comprised of Practitioner Psychologists at various stages in their career and provides regular placements for Doctoral clinical psychology trainees, MSC healthy psychology trainees and psychology undergraduates. The team has a strong ethos of supporting each other, with access to reflective practice, learning spaces and Trust wellbeing initiatives.
We meet regularly with other psychologists across GSTT and are involved in Trust-wide initiatives.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please view the attached Job Description and Person Specification documents for full details regarding this post.
Person specification
Experience
Essential criteria- Substantial experience of working as a qualified practitioner psychologist at the highly specialist level with clients presenting with a range of psychological needs of a complex nature in the context of physical health problems, grief and trauma
- Experience of supporting families through distressing experiences over time.
- Experience of providing supervision and management to qualified, pre-qualified and trainee psychology staff
- Experience of representing psychology within an MDT, showing respect for different approaches and a desire to work to collaboratively to enhance team cohesion and support
- Experience of developing and carrying out complex audit, research and service evaluation projects
- Experience of initiating and leading an area of service development
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts
- Experience in the psychological management of haematological disorders and with those infected or affected by infected blood products.
- Experience in the psychological support of trauma relating to experiences of healthcare and associated impact on relationship to services.
- Experience of working with stigma.
Knowledge/Qualifications
Essential criteria- Doctoral level qualification or its equivalent in Clinical, Health or Counselling Psychology as accredited by BPS
- Registered with HCPC as practitioner psychologist
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies and how to apply these in a flexible way, according to a person’s main and presenting concerns and relevant to the care of those infected and affected by contaminated blood products
- Highly specialist knowledge of the literature on psychological problems associated with physical health problems, grief and trauma
- Knowledge of how power may be exercised in discriminatory ways within healthcare, and to show skill in addressing acts of discrimination at the level of the individual and organisation
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
- Training and/or qualification in a specific area of psychological expertise beyond Doctorate
- Knowledge of policy and guidelines relevant to the care of those infected and affected by contaminated blood products to inform psychological ways of working with both individuals and the wider system supporting them (professionals and significant others)
- Received formal training in supervision of other psychologists
Skills
Essential criteria- Well-developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professionals both within and outside the NHS
- Well-developed leadership skills and ability to work effectively as a resource and role model for the inter- and multidisciplinary team, and contribute to effective team functioning with colleagues both within and outside the NHS
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
- Significant experience and ability to undertake risk assessment of client in relation to self and others, and refer on to appropriate services as necessary
- Skill to sensitively manage staffs’ performance related concerns
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service.We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
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