Band 8c Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Clinical Programme Lead for the Neuro-behavioural Service
Salary grade: £75,931 - £83,576 per annum
Department/ward: Therapy - Clinical Psychology
Role: Band 8c Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Clinical Programme Lead for the neuro-behavioural service
Department: Therapy – Clinical Psychology
Responsible to: Lead Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist
Responsible for: Clinical psychology and clinical neuropsychology service to the neuro-behavioural service
Salary range: £75,931 – £83,576 per annum (dependent on experience). Incremental reviews take place on an annual basis
Hours of work: 37.5 hours per week (full time)
Location: Putney, Southwest London
Closing date: 09/09/2024
Interview date(s): TBC
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.
We help those with the most complex of health needs and disabilities including degenerative or progressive conditions as well as providing palliative care. The patients we support usually have complex physical challenges alongside their neuro-disability.
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 proud to be recognised nationally in the UK as ‘Leaders in Safeguarding’.
Here at the RHN we live and breathe our four core values also known as “The Putney Way” which are:
- Seeing the whole person
- Willingness to learn
- Delivery on promises
- Honesty and Integrity
We are seeking a Consultant Clinical Psychologist to join our Neuro-behavioural service at the RHN. This service provides assessment, rehabilitation and long-term care for patients and residents who present with behaviours that are challenging to manage in the context of complex neuro-disability.
The service consists of three wards and caters for short- to medium-term rehabilitation for patients with acquired brain injuries and/or progressive disorders such as Huntington’s disease, and longer-term care for residents with enduring behavioural needs regardless of aetiology.
Qualifications & Education
*Please note: Applicants who meet the ‘essential’ but not the ‘desirable’ criteria for Qualifications and Education are invited to apply for the post. If successful, the initial appointment will be at Band 8b until the ‘desirable’ criteria are achieved.
Essential
- Doctorate in Clinical Psychology or equivalent overseas qualification
- Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
- Has completed the knowledge component of the Specialist Register of Clinical Neuropsychologists (SRCN), e.g. by successful completion of an accredited PGDip course
- Has completed training in clinical psychology supervision that has been provided by one or more UK clinical psychology doctorate courses and/or has been approved by the BPS for registration on their Register of Applied Psychology Practice Supervisors (RAPPS)
Desirable
- Has completed the practice component of the Specialist Register of Clinical Neuropsychologists, e.g. by successful completion of an accredited PGDip course, and is therefore eligible for entry onto the SRCN
- Has completed training in management and senior leadership
Experience
Essential
- Extensive experience of working clinically with adults with acquired brain injury and/or progressive neurodegenerative disorders
- Experience of working in a neuro-behavioural setting
- Extensive experience of conducting psychological and neuropsychological assessments and interventions with clients with severe and complex neuro-disability
- Extensive experience of working with clients who present with behaviours that challenge
- Extensive experience of working systemically with families and multi-disciplinary staff teams
- Experience of conducting complex decision-specific mental capacity assessments
- Experience of providing clinical supervision and line management to qualified clinical psychology staff
- Experience of carrying out service development projects
- Extensive experience of providing teaching, training and professional and clinical supervision to clinical psychology staff including qualified clinical psychologists and Band 6 trainee clinical psychologists
- Proven track record of leading teaching and training to both psychology staff and to multi-disciplinary clinical teams in areas relevant to expertise
- Good understanding of methods used to support people who present with behaviours that challenge, particularly the positive behaviour support approach
- Knowledge of relevant guidelines and legislation, particularly the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, and their associated codes of practice
- A high level of ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing. This includes being able to communicate complex, technical and highly sensitive information in a manner appropriate to clients with brain injury, their families, clinical and non-clinical staff, and a wide range of professionals outside the organisation.
- Skills in providing consultation to multi-disciplinary teams
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS
Desirable
- Experience in and ability to demonstrate clinical leadership and management skills
- Experience of providing leadership and consultancy on psychological needs of patients and their families at organisational level
- Experience of carrying out research and/or audit projects relevant to a neuro-behavioural service
- Experience of providing developing and leading teaching and training around positive behaviour support
Please see attached the JD for full role expectations and requirements
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 Sarah Crawford [email protected] 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 [email protected]
- Provide expert leadership into the behavioural management plans for patients admitted for neuro-behavioural management, ensuring appropriate assessment, formulation, interventions and monitoring of the relevant behaviours.
- To lead clinical psychology/neuropsychology provision across the neuro-behavioural service and provide clinical supervision and support to the psychology team for the service.
- Lead on training across RHN in relation to understanding and managing behaviours that challenge.
- To take a lead in the evaluation of the neuro-behavioural service, and work with other members of the senior management team to implement RHN’s neuro-behavioural clinical strategy.
- To promote the neuro-behavioural service both internally and externally in collaboration with the unit’s senior management team
- To develop and maintain excellent working relationships with key stakeholders outside RHN.
- To carry out specialist assessments of cognitive, behavioural and emotional functioning with clients with complex neuro-disability where standardised neuropsychological assessment tools are often inappropriate.
- To lead the psychology team within the service and ensure that clinical work is allocated appropriately based on skills and experience. Ensure that psychology staff within the service are skilled in carrying out assessments, formulations and interventions, and provide support and training as necessary to build their skills.
- To carry out and advise on assessments of mental capacity and determination and implementation of best interests decision-making for residents who lack capacity.
- To provide expert psychological leadership for the neuro-behavioural service, including having an in-depth understanding of the formulation and management plan for each patient and resident and, consequently, being able to advocate for their complex needs, both within RHN and with external agencies such as funders, case managers and solicitors, as needed.
- To be involved in pre-admission assessments, taking the lead in assessment of behaviours that challenge and determining the rationale and initial behavioural goals for the admission, and the timeframes and measures for evaluating these goals. To work closely with the Head of Service, Admissions team, and other clinical leaders within the service in order to achieve timely and appropriate admissions and discharges.
- To lead on positive behaviour support plans for all residents. This will include supervising and advising the team on behavioural observation and monitoring methods, functional analysis, psychological formulations and interventions and ensuring that all members of the multi-disciplinary team have access to this information at a level appropriate to their knowledge and skills and their involvement with the patients.
- To work with other members of the senior management team for the neuro-behavioural service to implement RHN’s neuro-behavioural strategy and promote the service to referring clinicians and funders.
- To provide line management, and clinical and professional supervision to psychology staff within the neuro-behavioural service, and ensure that they have the knowledge, skills and support to provide evidence-based clinical psychology at an appropriate level.
- To support other clinical psychology staff within the service with complex clinical presentations, and/or with challenging systemic work, e.g. via supervision, teaching, modelling or joint working.
- To lead on training on behavioural management strategies within RHN. This will include leading our established training programme for both internal and external staff: ‘Managing Behaviours that challenge in brain injured individuals: The positive behaviour support approach’.
Please see attached the JD for full role expectations and requirements
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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 [email protected].