Principal Clinical / Counselling Psychologist

We are delighted that as part of our integration plans to work across organisational systems, that our Clinical Health Psychology Service continues to offer opportunities in partnership with our Acute Hospital Partners, at Bedfordshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The post holder will join a large, supportive and enthusiastic Clinical Health Psychology team in Bedfordshire Community Health Services Directorate. This post will contribute to the delivery of improved treatment outcomes for patients with Diabetes, through the provision of specialist psychological assessment and intervention delivered as an integrated member of the Diabetes multidisciplinary teams. The posts holder will further develop the psychological skills and knowledge within the teams across the diabetes pathways from acute provision, out reaching with indirect work into the integrated diabetes community hubs. There will be opportunities to deliver training and provide clinical supervision and consultancy, and
develop improved pathways with Eating Disorder Services and Mental Health Services alongside developing one's own leadership style and skills.
All candidates must be HCPC registered , be able to travel between sites and be passionate about clinical health psychology., The post-holder will provide the following integrated and embedded input to the multidisciplinary services for Diabetes:
+ Take the lead in assessing the need for, and providing training and support in, psychological skills for the multidisciplinary teams delivering care
+ Hold a small case load providing specialist individual and group psychological interventions
+ Be accountable for their own professional practice in the delivery of a highly specialist clinical health psychology service
+ Support and build competency in psychological practice and trauma informed care principals within the teams, by providing training, coaching, clinical supervision, consultation, mentorship and advice on matters related to psychological components of care
+ Manage and clinically supervise the work of assistant and/or trainee psychologists/Clinical Associate Psychologists for whom the post-holder has professional responsibility within the services
+ Supervise and support the psychological assessment and therapy provided by other relevant professional staff involved in the care of patients
+ Work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise delegated responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the post-holders areas of responsibility., + Work closely with the Clinical Health Psychology Services Head of Service for Luton and Bedfordshire to facilitate implementation of local diabetes strategy and adhere to national standards appropriate to the health and social care setting, contributing to strategic planning of the service.
+ Utilise research skills for research, audit, and to contribute to quality improvement, policy and service development
+ Advise on and contribute to policy changes within the post-holder's areas of responsibility, in partnership with professional and service manager
For further information please refer to the attached JD&PS
Making Things Better
Quality Improvement is a key part of our work to improve our services and refine how we do things. We have a global reputation for our quality improvement work and we don't stand still! So we offer a fantastic opportunity for our staff to learn, lead and contribute towards improving our services.
We launched our Five Year Strategy in April 2018, which identified four main strategic outcomes to improve: population health outcomes, experience of care, staff experience and improve value. This complements the NHS Long Term Strategy and sets out our direction of travel.
Our Community
We provide a wide range of community health and mental health inpatient services to children, young people, adults of working age, and older adults in The City of London, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Bedfordshire and Luton. We also provide psychological therapy services to the London Borough of Richmond, and provide Forensic services to the whole of North East London. We provide services in urban and rural settings, sometimes in our inpatient units, but mostly in the community close to where people live. Integrated care is key in making the best use of resources and providing effective care.
Aiming High
We were rated 'Outstanding' by the CQC in 2016, were proud to be rated 'Outstanding' again in 2018 and continue to be rate 'Outstanding' in 2021.. We were named in the HSJ's Top 10 best places to work in healthcare and were voted Provider Trust of the Year in 2018.
Staff and Service Users United
We strive to ensure that staff feel valued by the Trust and as they are truly pivotal in delivering better outcomes for our patients and service users. Our aspiration is to help to make ELFT the best place to work. This Trust is clinician-led and provides the highest possible level of clinical expertise throughout its services. We pride ourselves on our service user involvement. A service user will be on your assessment centre and interview panel if you are invited to meet us.
We especially welcome people with lived experience of health difficulties, with insight and understanding of different backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles in our population as we believe that this will equip staff to deliver a high standard of care to our service users and patients.
Diversity
ELFT Is committed to being a diverse organisation and our workforce is reflective of the population and communities we serve. We believe that having colleagues with a range of backgrounds and life experiences enriches and adds value to the outcomes we have set out to achieve. Having partnered and endorsed by organisations who are representative and experts in various areas of equality and diversity, we can ensure we are meeting the pre-set standards all the way from recruitment stage throughout the career journey of our employees by being accessible, having fair inclusive practices and a host of staff networks to support, nurture and celebrate our valued staff in the workplace.
Other reasons to apply
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that's job share, part time or another flexible pattern.
As part of the relocation scheme we presently have, the Trust could support you with offering up to £10,000 for removal and associated expenses. This is subject to change and terms and conditions apply.

Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive - so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations