Job overview

The Pain Management Service at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust is seeking an experienced Principal Practitioner Psychologist to provide strategic, clinical and professional leadership for psychological services within our multidisciplinary Pain Management Team.

Based at Plymouth Marjon University, this role offers an exciting opportunity for a highly skilled Clinical, Counselling or Health Psychologist with substantial experience in chronic pain and complex physical health settings.

The post holder will lead the development and delivery of psychologically informed pain pathways for patients with highly complex chronic pain presentations and co-morbid physical and mental health difficulties. Working as an autonomous advanced practitioner, the successful candidate will provide highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation and intervention, alongside expert consultation to multidisciplinary colleagues.

The role includes leadership of specialist pain programmes and pathways, including psychological assessment for invasive pain procedures such as spinal cord stimulation, as well as responsibility for supervision, service development, governance, teaching, audit and research.

***Preference will be given to internal Trust staff, as well as ‘Priority’ and 'At Risk' status including NHS At Risk staff throughout Devon who are able to display recent relevant experience as dictated by the Person Specification.***

Main duties of the job

• Provide highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation and intervention for patients with complex chronic pain presentations and co-morbid physical and mental health conditions.
• Deliver evidence-based interventions including CBT, ACT, mindfulness-based approaches, motivational interviewing and trauma-informed interventions.
• Lead and contribute to multidisciplinary Pain Management Programmes and specialist pain pathways.
• Provide specialist psychological assessment and recommendations for patients undergoing invasive pain procedures including spinal cord stimulation.
• Offer expert consultation and psychological leadership to Pain Consultants, nurses, physiotherapists and wider MDT colleagues.
• Provide professional leadership, supervision and line management to psychology staff within Pain Services.
• Lead on service development, pathway redesign, audit, governance and quality improvement initiatives.
• Contribute to teaching, training and psychologically informed practice across the Trust and regional networks.
• Participate in research, outcome evaluation and innovation within Clinical Health Psychology and Pain Services.
• Work autonomously within HCPC and professional guidelines while contributing strategically to the future development of Pain Psychology Services.

Working for our organisation

We are a people business – where every member of staff matters and can make a difference. Patients are at the heart of everything we do. Joining University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust means becoming part of a team of dedicated staff, who are committed to leading the way through innovation, clinical excellence and great customer care. The Trust has great opportunities for career development in a highly progressive working environment. We offer all of this in a vibrant, modern city with a historic reputation for adventure. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL COMMUNICATION WILL BE ELECTRONIC, PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT REGULARLY. If you have any issues with applying online and need additional support including reasonable adjustments with the application process please contact the recruitment manager for this post who will put you in touch with the recruitment team. We recognise that work life balance is important for our colleagues and so we invite requests from applicants around less than full time/flexible working for our advertised roles. Please contact the recruiting manager to discuss this prior to your application submission. We commit to giving this full consideration in each case. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds to apply for our roles, as diversity strengthens our teams. It is sometimes necessary to close vacancies before the closing date. If you have not heard from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been shortlisted.