Job summary
- Main area
- Inpatient Psychology
- Grade
- Band 7 - Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday, 09:00 - 17:00)
- Job ref
- 350-MHC8047980
- Employer
- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Hollins Park Hospital
- Town
- Warrington
- Salary
- £49,387 - £64,750 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 21/06/2026 23:59
- Interview date
- 07/07/2026
Employer heading
Clinical Psychologist / Practitioner Psychologist
Band 7 - Band 8a
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Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
Using AI to support your application
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a helpful tool when preparing your application, supporting you to organise and structure your application and present your experiences clearly. However, we want to hear about your experiences and achievements. Please ensure everything you submit is truthful, accurate, and reflects your own work and experience. Your authentic story is the best way to help us understand who you are and what you can bring to the role. If content appears to be copied or misrepresented, it may impact the outcome of your application. We encourage you to use AI responsibly as a support tool, not a substitute for your own voice.
For tips and guidance, please refer to our applicant guidance.
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Applications that appear mostly or fully generated by AI, without clear personal examples linked to the person specification, may be rejected.
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Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Clinical Psychologist or Practitioner Psychologist to join our Inpatient Psychology service working across Acute Inpatient Mental Health Wards in Mid Mersey.
The post will be full time across two adult acute inpatient ward at Hollins Park. The wards are Coniston Ward (Male) and Sheridan Ward (Female). Both teams are welcoming of psychology and valuing psychological ways of working.
You will provide a direct clinical service to adults on the wards, will oversee psychology groups and offer 1:1 assessments and brief psychological interventions. You will provide consultancy, training and advice to other clinical staff and offer regular reflective practice. This is a great opportunity to join a network of established inpatient psychologists, and assistant psychologists. You will receive regular supervision and CPD as well as informal support.
Developing clinical guidelines, pathways and processes will also be integral to this role, helping to hold the psychological framework and trauma informed care in mind with ward teams.
Applicants at Band 7 or Band 8a level are eligible to apply. Applicants joining at Band 7 will have the opportunity to engage in a preceptorship programme with the opportunity to progress to Band 8a once required competencies have been met.
Main duties of the job
Successful applicants would be working within teams to support people with a range of psychological issues. The applicant will provide specialist psychological assessment, therapy and interventions to service users and carers, making use of a range of models where appropriate.
Successful applicants would also offer specialist advice, leadership and consultation to non-psychologist colleagues and support the development of psychological skills across the whole workforce through specialist training, supervision, mentorship and reflective practice. Psychological input is highly valued by staff within the service. You will work alongside the senior Clinical Psychologist to be involved in ongoing service development and in shaping service innovations.
We have excellent links with North West doctoral training programmes and offer placements to trainees from local universities on a regular basis and the post holder would be expected to clinically supervise and manage the workloads of assistant psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists within the service as required.
You will contribute towards the continuing professional development, training, research, advising and supporting the Multi-disciplinary team as appropriate.
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The post holder will be responsible for undertaking psychological work with service users.
Main duties include: assessment, formulation, intervention, attending ward meetings, audits and service evaluations, and provide regular reflective practice to both ward teams. You will work closely with two assistant psychologist to support the delivery of individual and group psychological interventions.
Strong emphasis is placed on supporting the wider workforce, enhancing their understanding of and support for psychologically informed ways of working, and promoting formulation based understanding and approaches.
Of primary importance is an interest and commitment to working with individuals with complex mental health needs. You will be committed to improving the quality of life of people with complex mental health problems and you will support the ward teams system to deliver models of care.
The post holder will report directly to the Consultant Clinical Psychologist.
Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for further details.
Person specification
Skills
Essential criteria
- Expertise in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, formulation, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
- Well developed and effective communication skills, oral and written, to communicate complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and nonprofessional groups
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi -media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of service governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
- Ability to self-reflect, use clinical supervision appropriately and consider complex organisational and team dynamics
- Reasonable adjustments will be made for those with sensory impairment
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and in patient settings
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse
- Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level training in Clinical/Counselling/Health psychology, or its approved equivalent accredited by the BPS, allowing registration with the HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist
Desirable criteria
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
- Knowledge of IT systems including word processing, email and local electronic patient information system
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of at least one specialised psychological therapy
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 Helen McGaugley
- Job title
- Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
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