Clinical Psychologist (Neuropsychology) – RAAR Team

Job overview

We are looking for an experienced clinical psychologist / neuropsychologist to join the well established Rapid Access to Acute Rehabilitation (RAAR) Team at our Denmark Hill site. The RAAR team provides specialist, intensive rehabilitation for 8 patients with a wide range of conditions, including brain injury, spinal cord injury and other neurological or major trauma conditions during their acute admission to hospital, for up to six weeks.

The RAAR team enables patients with complex rehabilitation needs to have access to specialist, intensive rehabilitation at a much earlier point in their rehabilitation journey. The team is a well resourced team with specialist physio, speech and occupational therapy, neuro-psychology, neuro-psychiatry and rehabilitation medicine and dedicated discharge support.

This post is ideal for a practitioner with an interest in neuropsychological assessment and interventions across a range of presentations including with patients with behaviours that challenge, patients with cognitive dysfunction and supporting patients with adjustment post traumatic injury including those with co-existing psychiatric conditions, as well as supporting adjustment for patients with new physical disabilities and supporting families and carers, alongside the Band 4 Assistant Psychologist.

The RAAR team prides itself on working in a truly inter-disciplinary manner with sound formulation and person-centred goal setting at the core of our ethos.

Main duties of the job

You will lead the Rapid Access to Acute Rehabilitation (RAAR) Team psychology service at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust at the Denmark Hill site. You will provide specialist assessment, consultancy and intervention of patients’ neuropsychology needs for patients admitted to the RAAR service across the inpatient wards as clinically indicated. You will carry a caseload of patients with complex health and social care needs using evidence based practise and client centred principles to assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions. You will foster and maintain links with other departments and services and champion an interdisciplinary team (IDT) approach.

You will provide clinical and professional leadership to a team of qualified members of staff and assistants. You will attend relevant meetings as a representative of the RAAR team and will advise on service developments in line with government policy development. You will lead on implementation of local clinical governance initiatives for the service, evidence-based practice, clinical audit and day-to-day operations of the service.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities

• To provide direct highly specialist neuropsychological assessment and intervention to adult inpatients within the RAAR service, including selecting, administering and interpreting specialised neuropsychological assessments, self-report measures and clinical interviews, and integrating this highly complex data.
• To formulate and implement psychologically based treatment and management plans specific to each patient, based upon an analysis of complex factors contributing to the presentation, drawing on appropriate conceptual and theoretical models within the context of neurorehabilitation.
• To select and deliver evidence-based specialist psychological treatments, monitoring outcome and modifying and adapting interventions, drawing on a range of theoretical options.
• To provide highly specialist expertise, advice and consultation on patients’ psychological care to other members of the RAAR service and the wider multidisciplinary team, contributing to a psychologically informed framework within the service.
• To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans; to undertake mental capacity assessments, coordinate best interest meetings and provide highly specialist expertise relating to capacity and consent.
• To contribute to patient care and flow through intervention and liaison with family, carers and agencies involved in care planning and implementation, including coordinating family meetings.
• To provide psychological support to patients experiencing serious emotional trauma in relation to neurological impairment, and to carers and staff working with such patients.
• To communicate skilfully, tactfully and sensitively highly complex and sensitive information with patients, carers and colleagues.
• To work as an independent and autonomous professional within HCPC and BPS guidelines and the policies and procedures of the service, taking full responsibility for own work including treatment and discharge decisions.
• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, and to ensure all services provided are acceptable and accessible to the diverse communities served.

Education, Training and Supervision

• To receive regular clinical and professional supervision at least monthly from the Principal Clinical Psychologist (Band 8b), according to Trust guidelines, with operational management provided by the Deputy Head of Therapies, RAAR.
• To provide professional and clinical supervision to junior clinical psychologists, assistant psychologists and trainee psychologists, to clinically supervise the Neuroscience support workers, and to line manage assistant psychologists as required.
• To plan and undertake teaching and training of pre- and post-qualification psychologists, and specialised training to other professions as appropriate.
• To provide advice, consultation, training and supervision to staff and carers working with the client group, including supervision of the psychological work of other multidisciplinary staff as appropriate.

Leadership, Policy and Service Development

• To lead on and implement service development projects and policies within own service area and other relevant agencies as required.
• To identify aspects of the service which need to be improved and to lead on service change and development, advising service and professional managers on appropriate changes.
• To liaise with other agencies and service providers in relation to the provision of psychological services and service development.
• To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and developing services.
• To participate in clinical governance initiatives as agreed by the service clinical governance committee and to act as clinical governance link-worker as agreed by the service.

Research and Service Evaluation

• To lead on the development of services through initiating, undertaking and supervising service evaluation and audit, proposing and initiating audit projects and service improvement based on the findings.
• To lead on the development of outcome measurement, assessment and implementation, assisting other staff in the implementation of same.
• To initiate appropriate research, undertake literature reviews and research studies relevant to the service and client population, and provide research advice and supervision to other staff undertaking these.
• To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles, utilising theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.