Main Duties and Responsibilities

Patient Care

• To communication constructively with a range of healthcare professionals  as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Build relationships with key stakeholders
• Liaise with relevant external agencies to facilitate and enable psychological interventions 
• Communicate to others the core concepts of psychological theory, research and practice in order to enhance their delivery of psychological interventions
• Provide training within teams to enhance delivery of clinical and research practice interventions appropriate to the health and psychological needs of patients across a range of service settings
• To effectively communicate decision making processes which have informed the psychological management of risk; implement and respond appropriately to risk, using appropriate guidance and support, maintaining compliance with service policy and values
• Understand impact of multiple perspectives within the context of multidisciplinary teams
• Explain the rationales to individuals, groups and other healthcare colleagues, for evidence based psychological treatment models and protocols

Clinical

• All clinical duties will be carried out under the supervision and direction of a qualified Practitioner Psychologist. The post-holder has a responsibility to perform all tasks within the spirit and the policies of the East London NHS Foundation Trust. Under such direction and with these conditions the duties will be:
• Will work with patients in their own home, in the community or hospital, or in any settings where their needs are supported and managed
• Will work with individuals and groups with complex and long-term needs
• Act as a psychological resource providing support, guidance and supervision using psychological models to the wider health or social care teams 
• Use psychological measurement tools to evaluate psychological treatments and improve the quality of clinical practice 
• Deliver treatment interventions developed with a Practitioner Psychologist who will review their practice through supervision
• Provide a range of psychological treatments working within their scope of practice, whilst the supervising Practitioner Psychologist retains overall clinical responsibility for their work
• Planning, delivering and evaluating psychological interventions which may include more long term and complex presentations whilst working with individuals or groups with long-term and complex needs
• Acting as a psychological resource to the wider health or social care teams including residential settings whilst seeing patients in their own homes or in the community
• Performing assessments as well as planning and evaluating their own psychological interventions
• To conduct risk management assessments and evaluations
• Understand fundamentals of psychometric principles to guide the use of standardised assessment tools with specific populations
• Understand how to analyse and appraise the range of psychological assessment methods used within applied clinical practice to underpin assessment, drawing on formulations in psychological theory, providing a clinical framework describing an individual’s problem and/or needs, whilst providing a rationale for how problems have developed and are maintained
• Analyse and appraise the range of psychological assessment methods used within applied clinical practice to underpin formulation, taking into account the preferences of the person with complex and chronic conditions, and that of their caregivers when planning a psychological intervention
• Maintaining awareness of prevalence, incidence and impact of common mental health myths, misconceptions and stereotypes on patients and the importance of therapeutic alliance in embedding positive behaviour change and maintain awareness that mental health stigma and discrimination are major barriers to effective psychological interventions in the management of psychological problems
• Use a range of evidence-based psychological models and protocols when addressing individualised patient need and critically appraise these models and interventions to inform treatment planning and appropriate choice of treatment protocols and understand how to interpret treatment choices with individuals, groups and other healthcare colleagues, when managing complex and chronic needs
• Understand how psychological interventions may impact upon self-management strategies and action plans already in place and that they should minimise harm, maximise benefits and result in improvement of overall quality of life indices
• Setting appropriate intervention goals and agreeing these with patients, their families and their caregivers
• Conduct an individualised psychological evaluation utilising behavioural observation and measurement using valid and reliable measurement tools for the purposes of self and other observation of outcome and evaluation of treatment, incorporating evaluation from formal and informal carers
• Carry out risk assessments in relation to psychological distress and to ensure that risk formulations are integrated with interventions understanding contingency management and the use of risk indicators in mitigating against crises
• Implement appropriate crisis interventions that are safe, effective and compassionate and follow a rights-based approach consistent with service standards, reporting and reflection upon critical incidents and serious adverse events influencing and changing clinical practice
• Create, implement and appraise formulations based upon multiple sources of clinical and other data to inform the management of psychological interventions and where no protocols or treatment guidance exists.
• Develop collaborative formulations with patients so as to sense-check understandings and influence delivery of evidenced-based individualised psychological interventions.
• Actively engage patients in treatment regimes to address and resolve emotive contexts and circumstances.
• Apply psychological interventions that are consistent with self-management strategies and action plans for people with complex and chronic needs.
• Accurately measure and evaluate outcomes in a range of care settings, by selecting the appropriate measurement tools from a range of possible options in the context of individual and service level change
• Apply psychological theory and research to address emotive and challenging situations, taking account of conflicting and contradictory information from carers and other healthcare professionals
• To spend sustained amounts of time with service users whose behaviour may be aggressive and hostile, who may have poor verbal communication skills and self-care and special physical and/or mental needs.
• To understand of the needs and assets of individuals and families from a wide range of racial, cultural, sexual, religious and social backgrounds. To join with service users and colleagues, co-produce innovative ways of communicating and working across language and cultural differences.

Administration

• Implement, produce and maintain clear, legible and contemporaneous patient records regarding direct and indirect patient contacts and wider working within teams adhering to professional and ethical standards
• Act on the duty to comply with service and national standards of clinical record-keeping
• Use Trust electronic systems as required for the role
• Undertake any required e-learning as directed by the Trust
• Be proficient in using a variety of software packages

Management

• To be accountable for professionals delivering psychological assessments, formulations, interventions and research within their scope of practice
• To manage a caseload while undertaking their own clinical programmes of work, within their scope of practice
• To be responsible for own learning and development using reflection and feedback to analyse their own capabilities
• Responsible for ensuring that resources are managed effectively
• Use the principles of leadership theory to influence best psychological practice when working in teams
• Recognise the importance and impact of organisational culture in service delivery and development
• Understand the appropriate boundaries of professional competency in offering support and supervision and work within the scope of practice of the role and within the bounds of professional competence, in line with employer’s requirements around values, conduct and ethics

Human Resources

• In all clinical and professional activities, act in accordance with the BPS Professional Code of Conduct, identifying and challenging discriminatory behaviour
• Work to BPS Professional Code of Conduct, local and national policies and procedures that define scope of practice
• Implement, plan and manage psychological interventions when working with complex and long term needs
• Undertake regular clinical psychology supervision accordance with British Psychological Society (BPS) standards for accredited practice; understanding clinical supervision provides opportunities for others to review and modify their practice, maintain high professional standards of competence and to enhance the delivery of individualised care

Performance and Quality

• Participate in the delivery of audit and service improvement projects leading to the continuous enhancement and quality improvement of clinical practice
• Use applied service research and evaluation to inform interventions 
• Use a range of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies relevant to situation and service context
• Use a range of research approaches drawing on specialist psychological tools to collect data to evaluate own practice as well as to enhance service delivery

Financial and Physical Resources

• Contribute to the responsible management of equipment and resources required for the ongoing provision of a high standard of psychological service to the directorate.