Job summary
- Main area
- LS H&F MHS
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- 12 months (Fixed term: 12 months)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 222-H&F-081
- Employer
- West London NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- H and F Mental Health Unit
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £64,156 - £71,148 Per annum pro rata inclusive of 20% HCAS
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 30/01/2026 23:59
- Interview date
- 05/02/2026
Employer heading
Band 8a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist
Band 8a
West London NHS Trust provides a full range of mental health, community and physical healthcare services for children, adults and older people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow.
We also provide some specialist services that are commissioned regionally, such as our medium secure services; and nationally, such as the Cassel Hospital for people with complex and severe personality disorder and our high secure services at Broadmoor Hospital.
Job overview
Our 8a Psychologist for both our Specialist Older Adult’s Mental Health Team (SOAMHS) and our older people’s inpatient ward (Meridian) is going on maternity leave, so we are looking for an excellent clinician able to work in both the inpatient and community settings.
Although the psychology team works with psychological therapies with a proven evidence base, we also understand that to truly meet client needs, flexibility of approach is essential.
Our service users come from a wide variety of cultures and experiences, so there is a need to adapt any therapy to the needs of the client and creativity is therefore valued. You will play a key part in enabling the more therapeutic nature of support throughout the services as well as providing and supervising clinical interventions.
The community psychology team is small, (0.5 b7 psychologist and 1 CAP), so you will be working with the whole range of mental health problems as well as the more acute presentations on the ward.
This post is based in both Meridian ward, Claybrooks Unit by Charing Cross hospital, and St Vincents where SOAMHS is based alongside Hammersmith and Fulham CIDS (Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Service). Both sites are well served by transport and other amenities in Hammersmith.
Main duties of the job
On the ward you will support psychological thinking and develop and lead formulation sessions as well as providing assessment and therapy sessions for inpatients.
In the community you will promote psychological thinking within the MDT and the wider system around the patient through collaboration with partner agencies and supporting outreach within a wide range of community resources and organisations.
The post holder will have regular individual supervision from an experienced Clinical Psychologist. In turn they will also provide supervision to colleagues, including CAP and the ward Assistant psychologist as appropriate.
There is an emphasis on service development to ensure the needs of our patients are met and new ideas and evidence-based approaches are welcomed.
The psychology service across the Older People’s Mental Health Service in Hammersmith and Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow is informal and friendly and information, skills and ideas are regularly shared. This includes a range of therapeutic approaches and expertise. As the nature of the work we do and the client population is so diverse, flexibility of approach is essential to truly meet client needs.
Working for our organisation
West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.
Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ over 5,000 staff, of whom 59% are BME. Our turnover for 2024-25 is over £500m.
The Trust is rated as ‘Good’ overall by the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as ‘Outstanding’.
The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached
The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.
Person specification
Qualifications and Training
Essential criteria
- Good honors degree (2:1 minimum) in Psychology. Eligibility for graduate membership of BPS.
- Post-graduate doctorate in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 or those in lateral transfer) as accredited by the BPS.
- Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council.
Desirable criteria
- Other related academic qualifications.
- Evidence of additional training in psychological therapy techniques.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of having facilitated/co-facilitated psychological therapy groups.
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care
- Experience of working with older people
- Experience of working in an inpatient setting
Desirable criteria
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
- Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Completion of at least 1 year’s supervised practice in specialist clinical practice
- Specialist theoretical and practical knowledge of the assessment and treatment of a range of mental health conditions.
- Specialist knowledge, both theoretical and practical, of psychology applied to clinical practice.
- Able to provide and receive complex, sensitive or contentious information, where there are significant barriers to acceptance which need to be overcome using the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills such as would be required when communicating in a hostile, antagonistic or highly emotive atmosphere.
- Able to plan, prioritise and organise own service user caseload, treatment programmes (individual or group) involving other staff and other aspects of the work such as research activity.
- 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.
- Able to use database, word processing and test administration/scoring software.
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable criteria
- Specialist theoretical and practical knowledge of assessment and intervention with families.
- Able to speak other languages present in local communities such as Hindi, Punjabi or Polish.
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria
- Able to adapt to rapidly changing service demands
- Able to maintain intense concentration frequently and for prolonged periods with unpredictable patients (e.g., in the assessment and treatment of patients with complex difficulties).
- Able to function in potentially traumatic circumstances and in highly emotionally distressing circumstances on a frequent basis (e.g., in dealing with patients with serious mental illness, violence, self- harm, sexual abuse).
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Helen Stirk
- Job title
- Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
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