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Band 7 Clinical Psychologist

Job role: Band 7 Clinical Psychologist 

Department: Therapy – Clinical Psychology

Contract type: Fixed-term 1 year

Responsible to: Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Head of Therapy

Salary range: Band 7 dependent on experience – Incremental reviews take place on an annual basis

Hours of work: 37.5 hours per week

Location: Putney, Southwest London

Closing date: 16th October 2023

Interview date: 23rd October 2023

Benefits:

  • Free Parking
  • Generous annual leave entitlement
  • Support for ongoing development
  • Pension scheme
  • Blue Light Card and Discounts
  • RHN Wellbeing Programme and Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

Summary of position and the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability

The RHN is an independent hospital and medical charity. We care for people who have brain injuries and require assessment and intensive rehabilitation for conditions such as Huntington’s disease and prolonged disorders of consciousness. Our specialist services include a ventilator unit and a neuro-behavioural unit. Our vision for the future is that we will be the national centre of excellence for neuro-disability. Our mission is to provide outstanding care and empowering individuals with neuro-disability, enabling them to live their lives to their fullest potential. We are pleased to be recognised nationally as Leaders in Safeguarding.

We are looking for a qualified Band 7 Clinical Psychologist to apply their psychological and neuropsychological formulation and intervention skills to help our clients adapt to change and achieve personally meaningful goals. You will gain expertise in assessing cognition, behaviour and emotional functioning with people with a range of physical, sensory and communication difficulties. Having a good understanding of complex behavioural presentations in people with cognitive difficulties is an essential part of the role, and candidates will be expected to have sound knowledge of behavioural management strategies within a positive behaviour support framework.

 

Effective MDT working is a vital and valued part of the role. Not only will you be part of a large and dynamic clinical psychology team, you will gain a thorough understanding of different roles within the MDT by forming close working relationships with other disciplines including speech & language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, medical, nursing, social work, dietetics and music therapy. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to contribute to hospital-wide teaching and training, service-based research and quality improvement in the field of neuro-psychology.

Qualifications & Education

Essential

  • Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalent overseas qualification, or due to qualify in the near future.
  • Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), or imminently eligible to register.
  • Good knowledge of clinical psychological assessment techniques and clinical interventions.
  • General knowledge of approaches to neuropsychological assessment and behavioural and cognitive interventions.

Desirable

  • Training in clinical neuropsychology.
  • Ability to demonstrate clinical neuropsychological knowledge relevant to this specialist client group.
  • Knowledge of neurological disorders
  • Knowledge of research design, conduct and analysis.
  • Knowledge of relevant guidelines and legislation, particularly the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

Experience

Essential

  • Experience of working clinically with adults with acquired brain injury and/or other relevant presentations (e.g. progressive neurodegenerative disorders).
  • Experience of conducting standardised neuropsychological assessments.
  • Experience of working with clients presenting with challenging behaviour.

Desirable

  • Previous experience of delivering psychological assessments and interventions with clients with severe and complex neuro-disability.
  • Experience of conducting decision-specific mental capacity assessments
  • Experience of working systemically with families and staff teams.

To Apply

Please note to avoid disappointment, we advise you to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close posts at any time.

No agency submissions please: any submissions without prior authorisation from the RHN Resourcing team will be treated as our own and as such no fee will be payable.

If you require any further assistance, please contact Dr Richard Irwin at rirwin@rhn.org.uk  or ring 020 8780 4500.

Candidates applying for a role at the Royal Hospital for Neuro Disability are strongly encouraged to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and Influenza.

RHN is a care provider for vulnerable patients at extreme risk. In consequence, safeguarding patients will always be our highest priority.

RHN is proud to be a diverse and inclusive employer that respects and values the differences of our people to achieve their full potential. If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process, please do not hesitate to contact our Resourcing Team at recruitment@rhn.org.uk

  1. Provide a clinical psychology/neuropsychology service, working with clients, families and teams.
  2. Provide psychological and neuropsychological assessments, formulations and interventions.
  3. To work closely with the MDT including therapy, medical, nursing, and social work colleagues.
  4. To contribute to the general professional activities of the discipline of clinical neuropsychology, and to engage in audit, research and continuing professional development (CPD).
  5. Demonstrate an awareness of RHN’s values and contribute to achieving them appropriately.

  1. To carry out specialist assessments of cognitive, behavioural and emotional functioning with clients with complex neuro-disability and develop clear psychological formulations based on these assessments.
  2. To carry out functional analyses of any challenging behaviours and develop appropriate guidelines and intervention plans.
  3. To make recommendations for interventions and care on the basis of the psychological formulation. To deliver and monitor interventions, e.g. cognitive rehabilitation strategies; psycho-education to patients, families and carers; CBT or other psychological interventions; behavioural interventions, as guided by the formulation.
  4. To conduct decision-specific complex mental capacity assessments and/or contribute to joint capacity assessments with other members of the MDT as needed. To contribute to best interests decisions and meetings for relevant decisions when patients are assessed to lack capacity to make these decisions for themselves.
  5. To provide information, support and advice to patients’ families and carers as appropriate. To support the MDT in working with families as needed.
  6. To work collaboratively within the multi-disciplinary team, respecting the knowledge and expertise of all team members, whilst providing a psychological perspective on the clinical and service issues.
  7. To provide appropriate and prompt input to documentation and formal reports. To participate in monitoring of standards and performance, including timely completion of outcome measures.
  8. To participate in improvements for clinical practice and support the development of policies and procedures, as directed.
  9. To adhere to professional codes of conduct and practice guidelines, and be aware of legislation relevant to practice, e.g. the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

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Benefits

Apply for this role

Candidates applying for a role at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability will be expected to have received their vaccination against the coronavirus strain (COVID-19) as part of our pre-employment process before commencing employment at the RHN. Please let us know if you have not managed to arrange to receive the vaccine via other channels yet, as we can arrange the administration of the vaccine within the hospital. Please note that if you have a medical reason as to why you are not able to have the vaccine or you have any questions on the vaccination, please feel free to contact recruitment@rhn.org.uk.