Practitioner Psychologist - Tower Hamlets Persistent Pain Service

Job description

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

Barts Health supports the Pregnancy Loss Pledge and commits to supporting their staff through the distress of miscarriage.

We are dedicated to being an outstanding place to work and will work with you to get the best experience. We know flexible working is not a one size fits all and will mean something different to everyone. We are inclusive, so if you are interested in flexible working, please speak to the recruiting manager.

Job overview

We are delighted to offer a permanent Band 7 Practitioner Psychologist post within the Tower Hamlets Persistent Pain Management Service. This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled and motivated practitioner psychologist to contribute to a specialist service and to play a key role in the ongoing development of psychologically informed pain management pathways.

The postholder will provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation, and intervention for adults living with persistent pain, working as an integral member of the multidisciplinary Persistent Pain Management Service.

The successful candidate will work autonomously within professional guidelines and the policies of the service, while receiving clinical supervision from the Lead Clinical Psychologist. They will also provide consultation, joint working, and psychologically informed input to colleagues across the MDT.

Tower Hamlets is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse boroughs in London. While not essential, written and spoken proficiency in Bengali and/or Sylheti is considered a valuable asset to support many of our patients and their families, ensuring our service is as inclusive and accessible as possible.

The postholder is required to attend on site three days per weekat the Mile End Tower Hamlets Persistent Pain Management Service, ideally on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Remote working may be agreed on days without scheduled clinical activity, subject to service needs.

Main duties of the job

To be responsible, with the lead clinical psychologist, for providing high quality, specialist clinical / counselling / health psychology input to the Tower Hamlets Persistent Pain Service.

This role involves delivering and developing pain management and psychological skills groups, alongside leading service improvement projects that enhance patient care and team effectiveness. The postholder will provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation, and intervention for individuals experiencing persistent pain, working collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team to promote holistic, evidence-based approaches to pain management. In addition, the role contributes to ongoing service development, evaluation, and innovation to ensure high-quality, patient-centered care.

Where appropriate, the post holder exercises autonomous professional responsibility for clinical decisions, working within professional guidelines and the team's policies and procedures.

The postholder is required to attend on site three days per week at the Mile End Tower Hamlets Pain Service, preferably on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Remote working may be considered on days when there is no scheduled clinical activity, subject to service needs and agreement with the line manager.

Working for our organisation

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Post-graduate training in Clinical, Counselling or Health Psychology
• Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council

Desirable criteria

• Additional formal training or qualification relevant to Clinical Health Psychology and/or Trauma
• Membership of relevant professional group or society e.g. BPS, ACP, British Pain Soc, IASP

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working in physical health settings
• Experience of psychological assessment, intervention and management working with a wide range of clinical presentations with complex, long-term co-morbid physical and mental health conditions including pain and maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts
• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care

Desirable criteria

• Extensive experience over several years of working in clinical health psychology
• Experience of working in a pain management programme
• Experience of working with clients with trauma
• Experience of working with service user representatives

Skills and Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapies (e.g. ACT, CBT, EMDR) with relevant client groups (e.g. people with long-term co-morbid physical and mental health problems, histories of trauma and abuse)
• Skilled in working with the above clients individually and within groups and managing group dynamics in the face of highly emotive and distressing difficulties
• Skilled in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management with individuals, couples, families and groups, frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Highly developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and 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
• Skills in delivering and developing group therapy interventions.
• Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
• Post-graduate level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of psychology

Desirable criteria

• Written and spoken proficiency in Bengali and/or Sylheti
• Published peer-reviewed research and/or conference presentations within the field of clinical health psychology
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
• Knowledge of the wider landscape involved in the management of chronic pain

Visa Sponsorship Information

This role is subject to UK immigration requirements. Where sponsorship is required, applicants must meet the eligibility criteria for a Skilled Worker visa in accordance with current UK Visas and Immigration rules, including any salary, qualification, and role-specific requirements applicable at the time of appointment. Candidates who require sponsorship will only be considered where the post is eligible and where all sponsorship criteria can be met. Evidence of the right to work in the UK will be required before appointment. Please note that for roles employed under Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions, the High-Cost Area Supplement (HCAS) is not included when calculating the basic salary for the purposes of sponsorship.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment where staff treat one another with dignity and respect. We aim to create an equitable working environment where every individual can fulfil their potential.

As an Equal Opportunities Employer we actively support applications from individuals' who apply under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme and will process your application as appropriate.

We reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once a sufficient number of applications has been received and we regret that we are unable to provide notification if your application is unsuccessful.

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to Barts Health NHS Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Barts Health is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and to child protection. The Trust aims to ensure as far as is possible that anyone, paid or unpaid, who seeks to work in our organisation and who gains access to children, is safe to do so. As such, you may be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Check as part of the recruitment process if appointed to a post with direct access to children or vulnerable adults.

Barts Health promotes active travel as part of its goal to reach Net Zero. Each site is accessible by public transport and the Trust has a cycle to work scheme and some sites have Brompton Hire Pods.

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