Job summary
- Main area
- Mental Health
- Grade
- NHS AFC: Band 7
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 354-AE-21251
- Employer
- Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- St Annes Centre, Conquest Hosptial
- Town
- Hastings
- Salary
- £47,810 - £54,710 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 24/02/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Practitioner Psychologist or Psychological Therapist
NHS AFC: Band 7
Come and join us
We’re looking for people who share our values of compassion, accountability and optimism to help us provide high quality care for the patients, carers, families and communities we serve. We specialise in NHS mental health and learning disability services and we’re proud to make a difference every day.
At SPFT we put people first. We’ll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. You’ll have opportunities to learn, grow and gain new experiences to support your career, with access to lifelong learning and professional development.
We actively promote flexible working and understand how important work life balance is, especially in healthcare. Whether it’s part time hours, hybrid working or flexible start and finish times, we’ll explore what works for you and the role.
We recognise that AI is becoming part of daily life and you may choose to use it to help prepare your application. We welcome innovation but ask that anything you submit reflects your own abilities, experience and voice. AI can support how you describe your skills and experience, but it should never replace your own words as we want to get to know you.
We’re shaping a workplace where ideas are encouraged, technology supports you and everyone has a voice in how we improve. If that sounds like the kind of organisation you want to be part of, we’d love to hear from you.
Job overview
We are delighted to have been awarded funding to appoint to this new post for older adult mental health community team covering Hastings and Rother. This is a brand new role and will work alongside a recently appointed clinical psychologist. The newly established Neighbourhood Mental Health Teams for Hastings and Rother are supported by one specialist team for older people (SOAMHS). The geographical patch is wide, with very varied levels of socio-economic status and a mixture of urban and rural areas. Rother has one of the highest proportions of older people in Britain, with some 32% of people aged over 65. The job would be an ideal first post following psychology training or for a psychological therapist or psychologist looking for a new opportunity working with older people. We have an established and supportive network of psychological professionals working with older people in East Sussex, and this is part of an expansive wider network for all adult mental health. As such the successful candidate will benefit from expert support and supervision to develop their skills and career within the role.
Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will work within the multi-disciplinary team and help in providing psychological opinion and formulations, and contribute to the development of psychological thinking, understanding and interventions/ approaches within the multi-disciplinary team. They will offer consultation, assessments (including cognitive assessments) and focused, short-term individual and group interventions using evidence-based therapy models according the needs of the clients. There will be good opportunities to work with other psychologists, particularly your colleague in this team.
Working for our organisation
The post holder will be a part of the wider East Sussex Psychological Professions group who work closely together and collaborate to promote and support the development and implementation of effective psychological services across our county. They will also be part of the Trust’s Older Adult Psychological network, which provides specialist guidance and support on governance and best practice, including CPD days.
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is a leading teaching and research mental health trust. We were granted teaching status in 2008 in recognition of our research background and our links with the Brighton and Sussex Medical School and other academic institutions. Currently we are in the top 12 mental health trusts in terms of research participants. Applicants with an interest in research will be welcomed.
Working here offers continued training and development, variety and a rewarding challenge, plus the benefits of living in Sussex, by the sea, in the beautiful South Downs or in any one of the exciting towns and cities we have to offer.
If you would like to ask anything or have a chat about this opportunity, please do get in touch.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To provide a qualified, high-quality specialist psychology service to individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams, in line with best, evidence-based practice and trust care pathways.
To be responsible for holding and managing a clinical caseload and to exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the planning and prioritising of own workload and the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients, within the bounds of the service operational policy.
To use analytical and judgment skills and be responsible for taking clinical management decisions in complex clinical issues.
To clinically supervise assistant psychologists and trainee psychologists.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied psychology [or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 or outside the UK], including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as approved by the HPC.
- Professionally registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council (HPC)
Knowledge/Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of specialist psychological working (assessment, formulation and treatment) with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, inpatient and residential care settings, maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
- Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of applied psychology.
- High level of knowledge and skills in neuropsychology and evidence of further practice and/or training since qualification.
- Experience of the application of applied psychology in different cultural contexts and experience of working within a multicultural framework.
- Evidence of continuing professional development as required by the HPC.
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 Patrick McGuinness
- Job title
- Consultant Clinical Psychologist, East Sussex Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07787727671
- Additional information
Interested parties are also welcome to speak to the team manager, Heather Lewis who can be contacted on 07464925088 or at[email protected]
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