Job summary
- Main area
- Clinical Psychologist
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time
- Flexible working
- Compressed hours
- Job ref
- 153-SP05815
- Employer
- University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Poole
- Town
- Poole
- Salary
- £55,690 - £62,682 pa pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 12/04/2026 23:59
- Interview date
- 21/04/2026
Employer heading
Clinical Psychologist
NHS AfC: Band 8a
As University Hospitals Dorset we are a three site acute trust with ‘university hospital’ status through our partnership with Bournemouth University, working with an annual budget of £730m.
We offer highly regarded health services, employing some 10,000 staff. Our ambitious £500m transformation programme is well on the way to delivering state-of-the-art facilities over the next two years to meet the current and future healthcare needs of the populations we serve.
In an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with over seven miles of sandy beaches you’ll find inspirational opportunities to achieve your perfect work/life balance. With the New Forest and the Purbecks on our doorstep, we’re also less than three hours from London by road or train. The thriving towns of Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch give way to idyllic villages and unspoilt landscapes just minutes from our hospitals.
We believe that having a diverse workforce, and allowing people to be themselves, is essential in ensuring we offer an inclusive, welcoming and productive place to work.
We especially welcome applications from minority groups in the community who may be underrepresented in our workforce.
At UHD our active staff network groups are the Women's Network, Black Asian Minority Ethnic Group (BAME), Pride Network, European (EU), Pro Ability Staff Network, and the Armed Forces Support Group.
As a Trust we are proudly signed up to the Disability Confident and Armed Forces Covenant guaranteed interview schemes.
We are aware that some candidates may choose to use AI tools to support the preparation of their application. While this is not discouraged, we kindly remind applicants that submissions should remain an honest and accurate representation of your own experience and suitability. Personal integrity is an important part of the recruitment process.
Job overview
To contribute to the Development & Behaviour Pathway neurodevelopmental assessment service to children/young people and their families/carers referred to Community Paediatrics.
Clinical Psychologist (Neurodevelopmental Pathway) Band 8A (0.5 WTE) Poole Hospital
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated Clinical Psychologist to work with the Community Paediatrics Service at Poole Hospital as part of University Hospital Dorset.
This is an exciting time to join the team as we seek to expand our Multi-Disciplinary Team. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to become involved in service development both within University Hospitals Dorset and Countywide. They will work alongside other members of the MDT, delivering specialist psychological care and assessment to children and young people who are on the Neurodevelopmental Pathway and provide consultation to their parents/carers and the MDT.
The post holder will be supported and supervised by the Lead Clinical Psychologist as well as Psychologists working in Acute Care. Experience of working in Paediatrics and/or with neurodevelopmental presentations is highly desirable but applications are welcomed from those with wider experience with children and families.
This role required HCPC Registration.
Base location - Poole with some cross site working expected later in 2026/27
Interview date - Tuesday, 21st April 2026
Main duties of the job
To work as an independent psychology practitioner providing specialist psychological assessments, specifically ASD, and cognitive assessment, of children/young people referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with children and adolescents, family members and others involved in the young person’s care.
Working for our organisation
UHD are investing, developing and transforming Trust services in line with the New Hospital Programme. As part of this, some services may move site this year or next, either temporarily or permanently. Recruiting Managers will be happy to answer any service-specific questions at interview.
If a role or service relocates as part of a planned move, excess mileage will not be reimbursed. Travel from home to the new work base will be classed as a normal commute. Any other changes will be managed under Trust or national terms and conditions.
UHD has active networks including Women’s, BAME, Pride, EU, Pro Ability, and Armed Forces. We support Disability Confident and Armed Forces Covenant interview schemes.
AI tools may be used, but applications must honestly reflect your own skills and experience. Integrity is key to our recruitment process.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description for the full details which demonstrates the main duties and responsibilities specific to this post.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Post-graduate doctoral level training in clinical or counselling psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
- HCPC registered practitioner psychologist
Desirable criteria
- Post-doctoral training in neuropsychology or other related area
Experience
Essential criteria
- 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 a full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems and verbal and physical abuse.
- Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients’ psychological care and treatment.
Desirable criteria
- Post-qualification experience of working in child and adolescent mental health services or paediatrics
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
- Experience of providing clinical supervision, teaching and training.
Technical Skills Competencies
Essential criteria
- Ability to undertake initial assessments from a biopsychosocial perspective pulling together information from a range of sources and including psychometrics where appropriate
- Ability to undertake psychometric assessments and to score and interpret findings including consideration of the reliability and validity of the assessment findings. Frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of adapting assessments to the needs of a culturally, linguistically and neurodiverse population.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level knowledge of clinical / counselling psychology including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology, models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, and two or more distinct psychological therapies.
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.
Desirable criteria
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists
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
- Dr Kate Martin
- Job title
- Lead Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0300 019 3710
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