Job summary
- Main area
- Older Adult Clinical Psychology
- Grade
- Band 7 to 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time - 18.75 hours per week
- Job ref
- 267-BM7801835
- Employer
- Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Amber Ward, The Whiteleaf Centre
- Town
- Aylesbury
- Salary
- £47,810 - £62,682 per annum | pro-rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 13/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
(Part-time) Clinical Psychologist - Older Adults
Band 7 to 8a
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
We are a responsive and innovative Foundation Trust that places our values of Caring, Safe and Excellent at the heart of everything we do. We take great pride in our staff and believe that investing in you is key to us achieving our vision of outstanding care delivered by outstanding people.
We work with a wide range of partner organisations to deliver care and support to people in their own homes and from a number of hospitals and community bases. We focus on delivering care as close to home as possible for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.
We actively support anti-racism, equality, diversity, and inclusion so, if you’re excited about this job opportunity and you meet our Trust values, but feel unsure about applying, then please get in touch and we will be happy to have a conversation with you.
We are also committed to increasing diversity in the workforce, that is why we actively encourage applications from those groups of people who are currently under-represented, which include amongst others: people with disabilities; men from all socio-economic backgrounds; people from diverse ethnic backgrounds; and people from the LGBTQIA+ community.
Good luck and we hope to hear from you.
Job overview
Are you a newly qualified Psychologist seeking your first role, or an experienced Psychologist looking for a change of pace?
We’re recruiting a Clinical Psychologist (newly qualified or experienced) to join Amber Ward on a part-time basis (18.75 hours per week) at the Whiteleaf Centre in Aylesbury.
You will provide a high-quality, highly specialist clinical psychology service to an older adults’ inpatient ward supporting patients with complex mental health needs, including dementia.
Key responsibilities include:
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Contributing to patient care through consultation with the multidisciplinary team and supporting the development and implementation of care and treatment plans
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Undertaking psychological and neuropsychological assessments where appropriate
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Delivering individual and group psychological interventions
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Evaluating the effectiveness of interventions and adapting practice accordingly
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Providing consultation and supervision to colleagues to support psychologically informed care
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Working as part of the ward leadership team alongside the Ward Manager and Consultant Psychiatrist to support service improvement and change
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Supervising and supporting assistant psychologists, trainee clinical psychologists, and other team members delivering psychologically based care and treatment
This is an opportunity to work within a supportive multidisciplinary team and play a key role in shaping psychologically informed care for older adults in an inpatient setting.
Main duties of the job
- To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients 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 clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
- To formulate and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a client’s mental health problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the client’s problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
- To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions.
- To provide specialist psychological advice guidance and consultation to other professionals within the service.
- To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients in receipt of older people’s services.
- To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients.
- To communicate in a skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care
Working for our organisation
Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the “candidate guide to making an application” and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.
As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible. Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”
Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”
We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:
• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.
The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview, and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.
We are aware that some candidates may choose to use AI tools to support their application. We kindly remind applicants that submissions should remain an honest and accurate representation of their experience and must take care to ensure the use of AI tools does not generate an application that does not accurately reflect their knowledge, skills and values.
The ability to travel independently between sites within the Trust is essential for this role.
Person specification
Knowledge Requirements
Essential criteria
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, 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 non-professional groups
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies with older people
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to older people and mental health.
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised neuropsychological assessment for dementia
Qualifications – Academic/Skills/Professional
Essential criteria
- Doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or equivalent training in Counselling Psychology with evidence of specific experience of older adults and neuropsychological assessment skills) including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, as accredited by the BPS.
- Registered with HCPC
- Ability to travel across Buckinghamshire to provide patient care, attend meetings etc.
Desirable criteria
- Pre-qualification training and qualifications or experience in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology
- Post doctoral qualification relevant to current post
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, day services and in patient settings.
- Experience of working with a wide variety of clients, 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
- Experience of working with older adults with mental health problems
- Experience of working with clients with functional and with organic illnesses
- Experience of neuropsychological assessment of dementia
Desirable criteria
- Experience of teaching and training.
- Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts
- Experience of supervision of others.
- Experience of working with families, carers and different care systems.
- Experience of working with complex neuropsychological presentations
- Experience of working with complex psychological presentations
- Experience of working with complex trauma
Contractual Requirements or other requirements
Essential criteria
- A positive approach to working with older adults
- Ability to work as part of a team and independently.
- Willingness to develop skills in teaching and training others
- 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
- Commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Willingness to work flexibly
- An awareness of own strengths and limitations
- Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
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 Catriona Craig
- Job title
- Principal Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01865 901309
- Additional information
At Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust we want to employ people not just with experience, but with the aptitude and motivation to succeed and whose values resonate with our own.
Therefore, if you don’t meet all the requirements of the role and are unsure about applying but are excited about the opportunity, please do get in touch. We will be happy to discuss the requirements in more detail ahead of making a written application.
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