Senior Clinical Psychologist – Autism Assessment Pathway

Job overview

This is a new post that will form an essential part of the autism diagnostic pathway MDT, ensuring compliance with national guidelines and leading on the provision and governance of psychology within the pathway.

The post holder is expected to lead on the provision of a highly specialist clinical psychology service for children (0-8yrs) seen within the autism assessment pathway. This will involve undertaking screening assessment, specialist psychological assessment and providing psychological consultation, advice and expertise to other clinical staff.

The post holder will be required to liaise with clinicians at St George’s Hospital, and at other connected agencies across South West London and within the local integrated care system (ICS) to ensure that the evolving service complements current local service provision and fits the vision for improved neurodevelopmental assessments for children and young people.

Main duties of the job

See Person Spec and Job Description

Main duties include Specialist screening and assessment of children 0-5 and 0-8yr on the autism assessment pathway

Leading on service development

Supervision of more junior psychologists inputting into the pathway

Working for our organisation

St George’s, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals and Health Group cares for a population of four million people in South West London and North East Surrey. Our sites include St George’s Hospital, one of 11 major trauma centres in the UK and the largest healthcare provider and major teaching hospital in the area; St Helier Hospital, home to the South West Thames Renal and Transplantation Unit and Queen Mary's Hospital for Children; and Epsom Hospital, home to the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre (SWLEOC).

After years of collaboration, our two Trusts became a hospitals group in 2021. While remaining as two separate Trusts, being a hospitals group will help us to collaborate more closely on research, and the development, education, and training of our 17,000-strong workforce.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

See Person Spec and Job Description

Main duties include Specialist screening and assessment of children 0-5 and 0-8yr on the autism assessment pathway

Leading on service development

Supervision of more junior psychologists inputting into the pathway

Person specification

Qualifications

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS
• Registered with the HCPC, BPS and DoN
• Qualification in neurodevelopmental assessment for autism (ADOS-trained)
• Formal training in the supervision of other psychologists

• Postdoctoral training in psychological therapeutic approaches that can be applied to working with paediatric patients (e.g. ACT, CFT, EBMA)

Experience

• Experience of working with a wide variety of patient groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity indicating the ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems.
• Experience in applying psychological therapy within a family context
• Substantial experience (minimum 3 years) of working as a qualified psychologist in a paediatric service.
• Experience of working in a neurodevelopmental assessment service
• Experience of contributing to and managing MDTs
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for patients’ psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified care coordinator and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary care plan
• Significant experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
• The ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.

• Experience in completing cognitive assessments and the use of key psychometric assessment tools such as the WISC-V, WPPSI-IV
• Experience of professional management and supervision of qualified and prequalified clinical psychologists and psychologists in training
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts

Knowledge

• Doctoral level or post-qualification knowledge of systemic and organisational working within a health care setting.
• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical Psychology, showing sophisticated understanding of models of assessment and intervention related to neurodevelopmental conditions.
• Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the patient population and mental health.
• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology.

Skills

• Skilled in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management that frequently require sustained and intense concentration
• A high level ability to communicate effectively at both a written and oral level complex, highly technical and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside the NHS.
• Skilled in providing consultation and training to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to ‘hold’ the stress of others.
• Ability to identify and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material.
• Must be able to provide effective clinical leadership and to demonstrate leadership and managerial skills
• Ability to articulate and interpret clearly the role of the profession of clinical psychology based upon a good understanding of the framework of government and national professional policy.
• Must be able to plan for delivery of a specialist service, both short/medium and long term

other

• Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS and HCPC