SHSCT Practitioner Psychologist Band 7 -Permanent Posts & Trustwide Waiting List

Job details

• Branch: Southern HSC Trust area (SHSCT)
• Location: Southern HSC Trust area (SHSCT)
• Directorate: Mental Health & Disability Services
• Functional Area: Mental Health Division
• Salary: Band 7 (£47,810 - £54,710)
• Contract Type: To create a waiting list
• Opening Date: 29/05/26
• Closes: Fri, 12 June 2026 @ 4:00 PM
• Interview Dates: TBC

Notes

We are currently recruiting to a number of full-time permanent posts within our Psychology Services. A waiting list will be created for similar posts that may arise while the waiting list is live, this may include temporary or part-time posts. This will be managed in line with the updated HSC waiting list principles effective from 1 April 2026. Important Information If you are submitting a manual application, please post it to: Recruitment Shared Services, Rosewood Villa, Longstone Hospital Site, 73 Loughgall Road, Armagh, BT61 7PR. Applications received after the advertised closing date/time cannot be considered, so please allow enough time for postage. Please remember to save or print a copy of the job description before submitting your application, as it will not be accessible afterwards. Flexible Working We welcome flexible working requests from day one. All HSC organisations offer a range of flexible working options. The options available for this post will depend on the requirements of the role. Find out more about flexible working options on our website.’

JOB DESCRIPTION

JOB TITLE

Practitioner Psychologist

BAND

Band 7

DIRECTORATE

This advertisement is to create a waitlist for Band 7 practitioner psychologist in a number of directorates including Mental Health and Disability, Children and Young People and Older People and Primary Care

INITIAL LOCATION

Southern Health & Social Care Trust

REPORTS TO

Lead Consultant Psychologist Within the Specialism

ACCOUNTABLE TO

Team Leader of Specialism (operational)

Head of Psychology Services (Professional)

JOB SUMMARY

The post holder will provide specialist and systematic clinical/counselling psychology input to individuals and their families/carers throughout the Southern Health and Social Care Trust.

KEY DUTIES / RESPONSIBILITIES

Core Responsibilities

This post has responsibility for the provision of a high quality specialist clinical/counselling psychology assessment and treatment service to individuals and their families/carers within the Southern Health & Social Care Trust.

1.2 The post holder will participate in, and provide services as part of a

multidisciplinary team as appropriate and will liaise with other professionals

and services dedicated to the provision of care and services to people referred for psychological support.

Clinical

To be responsible for the provision of specialised psychological services of assessment and intervention at various levels to individuals and their families/carers within the Southern Health and Social Care Trust.

2.2 To provide a clinical/counselling psychology service of assessment and intervention to individuals and their families/carers referred from a variety of sources.

To make skilled evaluations and decisions about treatment options taking

into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and complex factors

concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped

individual and or family functioning.

To provide a specialist service of psychological assessment and treatment of

individuals and their families/carers referred to the service,

based upon the appropriate use, interpretation, and integration of complex

data from a variety of sources including clinical interview, psychological tests,

self-report measures, rating scales, and direct observations.

To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and

to provide advice to other professionals on psychological aspects of risk

assessment and management.

To support, where appropriate, the work of other staff working with

individuals with psychological needs through consultation and supervision.

To liaise with and establish and maintain links with other professionals

involved in the provision of psychology services.

Where appropriate, the post-holder will provide consultation to other

professionals within this field.

3. Organisational

3.1 To ensure that activities within the their specialty comply with the operational policies of the service.

3.2 To comply with requirements for continuing professional development, as recommended by the Division of Clinical Psychology and other relevant professional bodies.

3.3 To be responsible for implementing measures for auditing the quality of

services provided.

To participate in the Performance Review and Staff Development Policy

within the Trust.

4. Teaching and Training

4.1 To develop, organise and participate in the education and training of other

professionals as appropriate.

4.2 To provide supervision for associate psychologists and/or trainee

psychologists as agreed by Lead Consultant Psychologist

4.3 To contribute to the specialist training needs of other psychologists.

4.4 To contribute to teaching for families and carers.

5. Administration

5.1 To maintain proper clinical records and provide statistical returns, as

required.

5.2 To be involved in monitoring and evaluation of the role of clinical psychology

within the Team.

6. Research

To participate in the development of audit procedures for the service.

To participate in the evaluation of on-going clinical psychology services and innovations within the service.

To contribute to appropriate research in areas relevant to clinical work and consistent with the Trust’s objectives as laid down in its business plan.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

The post holder will be required to

Ensure the Trust’s policy on equality of opportunity is promoted through his/her own actions and those of any staff for whom he/she has responsibility.

Co-operate fully with the implementation of the Trust's Health and Safety arrangements, reporting any accidents/incidents/equipment defects to his/her manager, and maintaining a clean, uncluttered and safe environment for patients/clients, members of the public and staff.

Adhere at all times to all Trust policies/codes of conduct, including for example

Smoke Free policy

IT Security Policy and Code of Conduct

standards of attendance, appearance and behaviour

All employees of the trust are legally responsible for all records held, created or used as part of their business within the Trust including patients/clients, corporate and administrative records whether paper-based or electronic and also including emails. All such records are public records and are accessible to the general public, with limited exception, under the Freedom of Information act 2000 the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the Data Protection Acts 1998. Employees are required to be conversant with the Trusts policy and procedures on records management and to seek advice if in doubt.

Take responsibility for his/her own ongoing learning and development, including full participation in KSF Development Reviews/appraisals, in order to maximise his/her potential and continue to meet the demands of the post.

Represent the Trust’s commitment to providing the highest possible standard of service to patients/clients and members of the public, by treating all those with whom he/she comes into contact in the course of work, in a pleasant, courteous and respectful manner.

Understand that this post may evolve over time, and that this Job Description will therefore be subject to review in the light of changing circumstances. Other duties of a similar nature and appropriate to the band may be assigned from time to time.

It is a standard condition that all Trust staff may be required to serve at any location within the Trust's area, as needs of the service demand.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

The post holder will be required to

Ensure the Trust’s policy on equality of opportunity is promoted through his/her own actions and those of any staff for whom he/she has responsibility.

Co-operate fully with the implementation of the Trust's Health and Safety arrangements, reporting any accidents/incidents/equipment defects to his/her manager, and maintaining a clean, uncluttered and safe environment for patients/clients, members of the public and staff.

Adhere at all times to all Trust policies/codes of conduct, including for example

Smoke Free policy

IT Security Policy and Code of Conduct

standards of attendance, appearance and behaviour

Contribute to ensuring the highest standards of environmental cleanliness within your designated area of work.

Co-operate fully with regard to Trust policies and procedures relating to infection prevention and control.

All employees of the Trust are legally responsible for all records held, created or used as part of their business within the Trust including patients/clients, corporate and administrative records whether paper-based or electronic and also including emails. All such records are public records and are accessible to the general public, with limited exceptions, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Employees are required to be conversant with the [org name] policy and procedures on records management and to seek advice if in doubt.

Take responsibility for his/her own ongoing learning and development, in order to maximise his/her potential and continue to meet the demands of the post.

Represent the Trust’s commitment to providing the highest possible standard of service to patients/clients and members of the public, by treating all those with whom he/she comes into contact in the course of work, in a pleasant, courteous and respectful manner.

This Job Description will be subject to review in the light of changing circumstances and is not intended to be rigid and inflexible but should be regarded as providing guidelines within which the individual works. Other duties of a similar nature and appropriate to the grade may be assigned from time to time.

It is a standard condition that all Trust staff may be required to serve at any location within the Trust's area, as needs of the service demand.

PERSONNEL SPECIFICATION

JOB TITLE AND BAND Practitioner Psychologist Band 7

DEPARTMENT / DIRECTORATE Mental Health & Disability/ Children and Young People and Older People and Primary Care

HOURS Full time and/or Part time hours depending on post

Notes to applicants

You must clearly demonstrate on your application form under each question, how you meet the required criteria as failure to do so may result in you not being shortlisted. You should clearly demonstrate this for both the essential and desirable criteria.

Shortlisting will be carried out on the basis of the essential criteria set out in Section 1 below, using the information provided by you on your application form. Please note the Trust reserves the right to use any desirable criteria outlined in Section 3 at shortlisting. You must clearly demonstrate on your application form how you meet the desirable criteria.

Proof of qualifications and/or professional registration will be required if an offer of employment is made – if you are unable to provide this, the offer may be withdrawn.

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

SECTION 1: The following are ESSENTIAL criteria which will initially be measured at shortlisting stage although may also be further explored during the interview/selection stage. You should therefore make it clear on your application form whether or not you meet these criteria. Failure to do so may result in you not being shortlisted. The stage in the process when the criteria will be measured is stated below.

Factor

Criteria

Method of Assessment

Experience

Experience of specialist psychological assessment 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 and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.

Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentation within public, professional and academic settings.

Ability to identify, and employ, mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.

Ability to accept and use supervision appropriately and effectively.

Shortlisting by Application Form

Qualifications/ Registration

At least 2:1 Honours Degree in Single Honours Psychology

Doctoral level qualification, (or equivalent for those trained prior to 1996), in clinical/counselling/educational psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as recognised by the British Psychological Society and/or the Psychological Society of Ireland OR Statement of Equivalence training from the BPS by the time of taking up the post.

This is open to applicants due to qualify within 12 months of closing date i.e. those with an Expectation of a qualification in Post-graduate Doctoral level training in Clinical, Educational or Counselling Psychology in the next 12 months

Eligibility for registration with Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a practitioner psychologist OR registration with HCPC as a practitioner psychologist currently pending i.e. application for registration has been lodged or pending transfer to HCPC register OR provide a statement that application with HCPC will be lodged upon completion of doctoral training in the next 12 months

Shortlisting by Application Form

(Evidence of Degree Certificates (if the successful candidate has not yet completed doctoral training, evidence of degree certificate will be required before taking up post)

(Evidence of live registration with HCPC as a practitioner psychologist will be required before taking up post)

Other

Hold a full current driving license valid for use in the UK and have, on appointment, access to a car. This criteria will be waived in the case of applicants whose disability prohibits driving but who have access to a form of transport approved by the Trust which will permit them to carry out the duties of the post.

Shortlisting by Application Form

SECTION 2: The following are ESSENTIAL criteria which will be measured during the interview/ selection stage:

Skills / Abilities

Ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems.

Knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, mental health, cognitive impairment, clinical psychometrics, and psychological therapies relevant to this specialism.

Ability to use complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.

Ability to communicate effectively at both a written and oral level complex, highly technical and clinically sensitive information, to clients, their families, carers and a wide range of lay and professional persons within and outside the NHS.

Knowledge of research design and methodology including complex multivariate data analysis within the field of clinical psychology.

Ability to use psychological knowledge and learning to advise and guide service development and planning.

Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the client group.

Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.

Enthusiasm for a broad range of psychological phenomena, an interest in models of service delivery, and an ability to articulate the value added by clinical psychology services within the context of multi-disciplinary services.

Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and ability to ‘hold’ the stress of others.

Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentation in public, professional and academic settings.

Ability to articulate and interpret clearly the role of the profession of clinical psychology based upon a good understanding of the framework of government and national professional policy.

Interview

As part of the Recruitment & Selection process it may be necessary for the Trust to carry out an Enhanced Disclosure Check through Access NI before any appointment to this post can be confirmed.

Successful applicants may be required to attend for a Health Assessment

THE TRUST IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYER

All staff are expected to display the HSC Values at all times