Assistant Psychologist

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 5 Assistant Psychologist to join our Macmillan Cancer Psychology Service Lincolnshire. The service provides specialist level 4 psychological support to adults affected by cancer, including family and carers, both within the community and in hospital. The service consists of a qualified Clinical and Health Psychologist who delivers evidence-based psychological interventions across the cancer pathway.    The post holder will support the clinical work of the qualified psychologists with opportunities to assist in the delivery of assessment and intervention under supervision, contributing to group work, co-delivering level 2 psychological skills training to the cancer workforce, supporting outcome measurement, service development, and the preparation of clinical materials. Regular clinical supervision will be provided.

The role requires a compassionate, organised, and reflective individual with strong communication skills and the ability to work with people experiencing distress related to cancer diagnosis, treatment, death, and survivorship.

The speciality prides itself on being a close, tight-knit and very positive team to work in, where people are very motivated to provide the best service they can using their initiative and love of working with the diverse challenges.

Enquiries to Dr Jennifer Carty, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Email [email protected] tel. 01476 464046.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be supporting the Head of Speciality and the Practitioner Psychologists in the delivery of high-quality psychological care for adults affected by cancer.

Some patient contact is expected, which includes delivery of pre-assessment support to patients and the opportunity to deliver assessment, formulation and intervention under the supervision of a qualified psychologist.

Additionally, the role involves the development of a therapy group programme and co-delivery alongside a qualified psychologist. It involves assisting in ongoing use of organisational and IT systems, including clinical data collection and the collation of metrics enabling continued evaluation of the service to support future funding requests. It will require liaison with individuals both in LPFT and outside of it, including key stakeholders, referrers and neighbouring services.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to Job Description and Person Specification for full details

Assist in the effective and efficient operationalising of the Macmillan Psycho-oncology service

To be an advocate for patients and to enable their care needs to be met in a realistic and appropriate manner. To assess and manage safety and risk to patients and carers/family members who contact the services in distress, being the front line point of contact. To provide immediate therapeutic interventions to such distressed patients. Processing risk documentation and contacting the relevant agencies where necessary. Both in consultation with colleagues/supervisor, but also independently when necessary.

Ensure timely recording of all information relating to patient care within the patient’s clinical record on the relevant clinical information system in accordance with Trust policy.

Understand the contribution you make to the security and protection of Trust information, systems and networks including your personal responsibility for handling information appropriately and your personal accountability for deliberate or avoidable breaches of policy.  The relevant Trust policy “Data Security, Information and Records Management” with hyperlinked supporting procedures and processes is held on the Trust Intranet.

It is the responsibility of all staff to minimise the Trust's environmental impact by recycling wherever possible, switching off lights, computers, monitors and equipment when not in use, minimising water usage and reporting faults promptly

To attend, contribute and take minutes at meetings.

To assist in the design and evaluation of audit and research projects.

Participation in clinical trials.