Band 8A Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist (Obesity) - Fixed Term
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
Band 8a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist (Obesity) - Fixed term (12 months until August 2026) 0.8WTE
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an ambitious person to join our weight management team at Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. The Our Healthier South East London ICS commissions us to provide a Tier 3 Weight Management Service in Lambeth, Bromley, Bexley, Lewisham and Southwark.
The successful candidate will join our valued and growing Tier 3 Obesity Psychology and Psychotherapy team to support in the development and delivery of psychologically informed care for people living with obesity. In addition to working with a health psychologist, psychotherapist, and assistant psychologists, the successful candidate will also work alongside our wider multidisciplinary Tier 3 Obesity team.
As per the job description and person specification, we are seeking a passionate and enthusiastic candidate who has experience of delivering behaviour change interventions to groups of patients living with complex obesity. The successful candidate should have experience of delivering interventions to people from the Black African and Black Caribbean communities, and must have a developed understanding of weight bias and stigma in both healthcare and everyday life.
We are committed to diversity and inclusion within our team, and very much welcome applications from those from Asian, Black and minority ethnic backgrounds, and those living with disability.
Main duties of the job
The role offers an exciting opportunity for the successful candidate to enhance the care of patients within the Tier 3 Obesity Service.
The 8a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist will be expected to provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation and therapy to patients as part of the Tier 3 Obesity Psychology and Psychotherapy Service. The successful candidate will also play a vital role in holding a psychological perspective within the Tier 3 Obesity multidisciplinary team, working with the patient and healthcare team to develop holistic and patient-centred care plans.
The post holder will be expected to have a strong research background and an enthusiasm for audit, policy, service development and research.
The post holder will be responsible for the supervision and management of the Tier 3 Weight Management Psychology Team, as appropriate, in addition to providing supervision, training and support to the wider Tier 3 Obesity Team.
The post will involve working remotely from home for some of the time and from the hospital, delivering the online interventions, as well as delivering face-to-face groups at community sites across South East London. While exact working hours will be established upon starting with the service, the post will include some evening and/or weekend working.
Working for our organisation
We are the largest Dietetics Department in the UK, employing over 150 dietitians, dietetic assistants, psychologists, nutrition nurses, administrators, pathway coordinators, project managers and operational leads.
We actively encourage and support learning and development. We have an active health and wellbeing team, and a working group developing sustainability across our range of functions and services.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
See attached documents for full details of main responsibilities, job description, person specification and functional requirements
Person specification
Additional Information
Essential criteria- The post holder will be required to travel between sites and work remotely
Skills/Knowledge/Ability
Essential criteria- Ability to cope with challenging caseloads
- Ability to communicate at a high level with both written and oral level
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS
- Ability to work as an autonomous practitioner with appropriate supervision
- Proficient research and service development skills
- Experience of teaching or training
Previous Experience
Essential criteria- Experience of conducting specialist psychological assessments of patients with physical health problems and a range of psychological needs
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups and presentations
- Experience using a range of evidence based group and individual psychological interventions
- Experience of working in an MDT
- Experience supervising and managing trainee and graduate psychology staff
- Experience of working with individuals from Black African and Black Caribbean communities
- Experience of assessing and monitoring risk
Education/Qualifications
Essential criteria- BSc (Hons) in Psychology
- Doctorate level qualification in Psychology with eligibility for HCPC registration as Practitioner Psychologist
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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