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Job summary

Main area
Clinical Psychology
Grade
Band 4
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week
Job ref
319-7296730RW
Employer
Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
North Tyneside General Hospital
Town
North Tyneside
Salary
£27,485 - £30,162 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
15/07/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust logo

Assistant Psychologist

Band 4

Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022).  Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare and, this is…the Northumbria Way!

What the Northumbria Way means for you:

  • Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
  • Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
  • A range of flexible working opportunities
  • Generous annual leave and pension scheme
  • Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
  • Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
  • On-site nursery places via salary sacrifice
  • Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank

We are proud to be one of the country’s top performing NHS trusts – rated ‘outstanding’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England. Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people’s homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.

We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise – a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people’s lives, such as education, employment and the economy. 

If Northumbria Healthcare sounds like somewhere you could belong we would love to hear from you. Visit our website to catch up on our latest news.

Whilst Northumbria Healthcare are a highly innovative organisation, the use of Third Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes.  If you use AI, and it poses a risk  to the integrity your individual recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process. 

Job overview

We are delighted to be able to offer an Assistant Psychologist post within our Clinical Psychology Service. The Mental Health Service for Older People (MHSOP) includes a variety of services that are responsive to emotional, physical and social needs of people at a vulnerable time of life. Locally, the Clinical Psychology Service has links with Community Mental Health Team, Inpatient Mental Health Services, Nursing Home Support Service, Memory Clinic and Young People with Dementia team. We encourage partnership working and also contribute to national developments within Faculty of Psychologists for Older People.

The post-holder will be joining a thriving and dynamic department and have the unique opportunity to gain both clinical and research experience relevant towards professional development within Clinical Psychology.

Please note we reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the closing date once the required number of suitable applications have been received.

Main duties of the job

We hope the post-holder will be empathetic, adaptable and responsive to the needs of Older People. Experience of working with people who have had problems with mental health or cognitive impairment in any capacity would be desirable. You will also demonstrate emotional resilience and a capacity to maintain a compassionate approach even in stressful situations. The post-holder will have dedicated time for clinically relevant research and should be self-motivated and able to negotiate priorities according to various deadlines. Experience of using psychometrics or carrying out research would be beneficial.

The post holder will be managed and professionally led by the Principal Clinical Psychologist for North Tyneside MHSOP and supervised by other qualified staff. You will be well supported with regular supervision and access to CPD within the speciality and expected to use these structures to maintain safe practice for yourself and others.

Working for our organisation

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, covering one of the largest geographical areas of any NHS trust in the country. Leading in innovation and quality opening a state-of-the-art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn't, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare, this is the Northumbria Way! Please read applicant guidance notes before submitting your application.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

  • To assist in research projects and/or project work including clinically related administration, conduct of audits, and the collection and interpretation of research data under the supervision of a qualified professional psychologist where tasks are agreed and reviewed at appropriate intervals.
  • To role model compassionate and inclusive leadership in order to shape the creation of a collective leadership culture within the trust. This means demonstrating a consistent leadership style which (a) engages, enables and empowers others (b) uses coaching to promote ownership of learning and quality improvement and (c) facilitates team working and collaboration within teams / departments and across organisational boundaries.
  • Northumbria Trust is continually developing and evaluating creative, cost-effective ways of providing services, through research and supporting a range of projects. This post will directly contribute to this endeavor by undertaking both directly supervised work and working independently to a plan agreed with a qualified professional psychologist in a range of research/project activity, as defined by the principal investigator /health psychology researcher. 
  • The postholder will be part of an established Mental Health Services for Older People which offers a wide range of services, including direct and indirect patient care, teaching and training, supervision, project development, audit and research. 
  • The conditions of employment should be in accordance with Guidelines for the Employment of Assistant Psychologists specified by the British Psychological Society, Division of Clinical Psychology (www.bps.org.uk)

Person specification

Qualifications / Professional Registration

Essential criteria
  • A 1st/2i level degree in Psychology (BA or BSc) recognized by the BPS
  • Eligible for graduate membership of the BPS
Desirable criteria
  • Post-graduate training counselling skills or other areas of psychology
  • Masters degree in Psychology, following a degree in a non-psychology subject

Experience and knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Some evidence of an attempt to gain experience in areas relevant to psychology either via paid or voluntary work. Or having worked previously as an assistant psychologist.
  • Experience of using data bases and data analysis (especially reference manager, End note and SPSS)
Desirable criteria
  • Having worked with older people, either via paid or voluntary work
  • Experience of qualitative and quantitative data analysis.

Other requirements

Essential criteria
  • It is an essential requirement of the role that the post holder has a valid driving licence and is either a car owner and able to use the car for work purposes, or has a Trust personal lease vehicle which may be used for the role. However, the Trust would consider making reasonable adjustments to the role, if necessary, to enable a disabled person to undertake the role

Employer certification / accreditation badges

NHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyAge positiveArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardDisability confident employerCare quality commission - OutstandingStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Better Health at Work Award - Maintaining ExcellenceHappy to Talk Flexible WorkingDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - Gold

Applicant requirements

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

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Dr Roberta Caiazza
Job title
Consultant Psychologist
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
0191 293 4060
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