Principal Clinical Psychologist

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

Principal Clinical Psychologist - Pre-Hospital Critical Care/London's Air Ambulance

London's Air Ambulance is seeking a Principal Clinical Psychologist to lead the development of a pioneering psychological support service for our doctors, paramedics and operational teams working on the frontline of pre-hospital critical care.

This unique role will provide expert psychological support to staff exposed to traumatic incidents, while shaping a culture of resilience, psychological safety and high performance. You will deliver individual and team interventions, advise senior leaders, develop staff wellbeing initiatives, and lead research into the psychological impact of working in emergency trauma care.

You will have:
• A Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and HCPC registration.
• Experience working with trauma-exposed populations.
• Expertise in trauma-focused interventions, including EMDR.
• Experience delivering team-based psychological support and working within multidisciplinary healthcare settings.
• Strong leadership, communication and research skills.

This is an opportunity to help create what is believed to be the first embedded psychological support programme within a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service internationally, positioning London's Air Ambulance as a global leader in workforce wellbeing.

Join us and help protect the wellbeing of those who save lives every day.

Main duties of the job

To develop and deliver a specialist psychological support service for staff working within London's Air Ambulance, one of the world's leading pre-hospital trauma services.

The role will focus on supporting clinicians and operational staff exposed to traumatic incidents and high-pressure decision-making environments. The post holder will provide psychological interventions at individual, team and organisational levels, while developing research and evaluation to improve understanding of psychological sustainability within pre-hospital critical care.

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.

We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as they are underrepresented within Barts Health at this band.

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

Experience

Essential criteria

• Clinical experience of assessing and treating trauma, including the delivery of evidence-based trauma-focused psychological therapy
• Experience delivering team-based psychological interventions for staff who interact regularly with risk, death, dying and trauma
• Experience working with multidisciplinary teams in healthcare

Skills

Essential criteria

• Ability to deliver EMDR independently from the point of appointment, alongside other evidence-based trauma-focused psychological interventions

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Knowledge and experience of traumatic injury, including experience of working clinically with trauma both in staff teams and with individuals

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Post graduate doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or equivalent) as accredited by the British Psychological Society, or British Psychological Society Statement of Equivalence.
• Completion of further post-qualification specialist relevant training, including training in supervision of trainee clinical psychologists and evidence based trauma model
• Registration with HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist
• Completion of the full standard (adult) post-graduate training in Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), with all parts of the training completed at the point of appointment, together with evidence of having applied that training to treat cases independently in clinical practice

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.

Employer certification / accreditation badges