Clinical Psychologist

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for a Clinical  Psychologist  to provide a specialist psychological service for families whose baby is admitted to the neonatal inpatient unit.  Also to support staff working in the unit to deliver trauma informed care to families. This is part of the wider Psychology in Healthcare Service which provides psychological support to adult, children and neuropsychology patients.

The post holder will be based in the  Paediatric Psychology Service at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne. The successful post holder will be involved in delivering evidence-based interventions to families who are under the care of the regional neonatal service.  We have a very supportive team with close MDT working relationships and managerial support.

• Interview Date: 30 June 2026
• 18 Hours 45 Minutes/Week
• You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy.  Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

Main duties of the job

We are looking for a Clinical Psychologist who must demonstrate essential requirements from the job description.

Key elements of this include:

• A Doctorate in Clinical Psychology.
• Training in models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society.
• HCPC registration.
• Doctorate level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course with presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity.
• Post qualification experience of working a clinical psychologist, preferably in a health setting
• Completion of the supervisors training from a Doctorate of Clinical Psychology training course.
• An interest in working in working with families in a medical setting.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To provide a qualified specialist clinical psychology service to the neonatal service including inpatients and outpatients; providing specialist psychological assessment, formulation and therapy.
• Offering advice and consultation on a patient’s psychological care to colleagues from other disciplines and to other, non-professional carers, working autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures.
• To utilise research skills for audit, policy and service development and research within the area served by the team/service

Within the service, we are keen to support the development of psychologists in the role through post grad training and CPD opportunities.  The post holder will receive regular support and supervision (as well as access to specialist supervision) within the service and have the opportunity to contribute to service development. The  Psychology in Healthcare service provides training places and teaching for the local DClinPsych course.

Clinical

• Delivering specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of patients within a neonatal setting
• Maintaining an individual caseload with patients across a range of clinical severity and working with patients who may need to pace their engagement in treatment dependent on symptom or condition severity.
• Showing professionalism when working with families who may become distressed in the face of ongoing difficulties with their child's health.
• Being aware of the challenges and potential stigma faced by patients with long term disability.
• Consideration of potential barriers to engagement e.g., English is not a 1st language, social deprivation.
• Undertaking triage which involves significant clinical decision-making when assessing referral and clinical information and deciding the appropriate treatment either within the service or signposting to a relevant service.
• Contributing to MDT meetings and participating in effective multidisciplinary teamwork.
• Communicating complex and clinically sensitive information to referrers, patients and professional colleagues effectively.
• Candidates should be organised and self-motivated to manage own workload across settings.

Service Development

• Contributing to service development and the Quality Improvement (QI) initiatives within the service.

Teaching/ Training/supervision

• Teaching and Training for professional groups.
• Teaching and Training for clinical psychology trainees
• Supervision of clinical psychology trainees and other psychology colleagues (assistant and band 7)

Research, audit and service development

This includes:

• Being involved in research and audit service development opportunities.
• Keeping up-to-date with the evidence base and working with colleagues within the service to develop service provision based on evidence.

The post is based in Newcastle upon Tyne.  You will provide psychological therapy services face to face, or via telephone and video appointments.