Location
Preston, England
Salary
£57,528 - £64,750 pa pro rata
Profession
Psychologist
Grade
Band 8
Deadline
28 Jul 2026
Contract Type
Fixed term: 12 months (To cover maternity leave)
Posted Date
14 Jul 2026
Medical Protection — the side of locally employed doctors from £83

Job overview

Would you like to be part of a service which is innovative, forward-thinking and committed to enabling people who are experiencing eating disorders to recover and discover their potential?

We are currently seeking an experienced, enthusiastic and motivated HCPC registered Clinical Psychologist to join a busy and well respected All Age Eating Disorder Service (EDS), which covers the Lancashire and South Cumbria area. We are very pleased to be able to offer a 12 month maternity cover senior post, which would be based in The Bay. You should be an excellent communicator and team player, with successful applicants joining a dynamic multi-disciplinary team of professionals.

The successful candidate will be expected to take a specific clinical lead role in their locality team in relation to psychological assessment, formulation and intervention with children, young people and adults with eating disorders. You will contribute to the broader aims of the service through joint working, consultation, training, supervision, and service development/ research. You will be joining the service at an exciting time of development and will be able to help influence change going forward.

You will benefit from an enthusiastic, hard-working and supportive peer group and will be part of a community of psychological professionals within the Trust and Network. The post-holder will receive regular supervision and professional support from an experienced Clinical Psychologist within the service

Main duties of the job

  • To ensure the systematic provision of a high quality specialist clinical psychology service for people struggling with eating disorders across the age range and in and across a variety of settings, including home, community and education contexts.  •    To offer advice, consultation and supervision on this client group’s psychological care to psychology colleagues, non-psychology colleagues and other non-professional carers.  •    To work autonomously within professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the systematic governance of psychological practice within the service. To propose and implement policy changes within the area served by the team/service.  •    To utilise doctoral level research skills as a major component of the post for audit, policy and service development and research and to supervise research carried out by trainee and assistant psychologists.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role.

Person specification

Personal

Essential

  • Ability to sit in constrained positions when working with clients
  • Ability to sustain intense levels of concentration, responding and participating as required.
  • Ability to self reflect and use clinical supervision appropriately.
  • Ability to cope with unpleasant working environments or conditions.
  • Ability to cope in, and deal with highly distressing emotional circumstances.

Experience

Essential

  • Assessed experience of working as a qualified clinical psychologist at a specialist level.
  • Experience of working with all ages presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including community, in-patient and residential.
  • Experience of working with adults with complex mental health difficulties.
  • Experience of working systemically with family and carer groups and establishing the most effective methods of working with children, young people and their carers.
  • Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients’ psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified autonomous practitioner and also within the context of a multidisciplinary treatment plan.
  • Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.

Knowledge & Skills

Essential

  • Doctoral level knowledge of clinical psychology including highly developed specialist knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, particularly the literature pertaining to two or more distinct psychological therapies for use with children, young people adults and their families/carers.
  • Skills in the use of highly complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
  • A high level of ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to children and young people, adults, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
  • Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
  • Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical psychology.

Training & Qualifications

Essential

  • Post-graduate doctoral level training (or equivalent) in clinical psychology, including specific models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS

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Applying for this NHS job

This advert is for Senior Clinical Psychologist with Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust in Preston, North West, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Psychologist role. The advertised salary is £57,528 - £64,750 pa pro rata. The contract type is Fixed term: 12 months (To cover maternity leave). The application deadline is 28 Jul 2026.

Before you apply, compare the job description with the person specification and mirror the employer's essential criteria in your supporting information. Use the vacancy title, employer, location, salary, contract type, closing date and posted date (14 Jul 2026) to decide whether this role fits your current NHS job search. If the employer can close applications early, prepare the application before the stated deadline rather than waiting for the final day.

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