Go back Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Principal Clinical / Health / Counselling Psychologist, Band 8b

The closing date is 20 August 2025

Principal Clinical / Health / Counselling Psychologist -Band 8b

20 hours per week (0.53wte) Permanent

A newly permanent Band 8b opportunity has arisen for an experienced Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical, Health or Counselling) to take a lead in providing and evaluating a highly specialist psychological interventions to patients with chronic pain and complex long term conditions.

Main duties of the job

To provide psychological assessment and therapy for patients

To work in collaboration with the lead for Pain and LTCs develop services for patients

To liaise closely with the multi-disciplinary team

To work systemically

To contribute to the delivery of teaching, training and supervision for non-psychologist colleagues where helpful in relation to complex health issues.

To utilize research skills for the purposes of audit, policy development and research, joined with other practitioner psychologists

To contribute to service evaluation and service development in line with service objectives and with the aim of meeting national and local guidelines and targets

To liaise with multidisciplinary team colleagues, other health and social care agencies and staff involved with the care group, and with other psychologists both locally and nationally for professional development.

About us

We can offer you:

- An autonomous 8b role with the flexibility to develop and shape the service going forward

- An innovative, stimulating and well organised department - part of a well-established Psychology Department employing a range of applied psychologists

- A friendly and supportive team of colleagues, excellent peer support and regular supervision

- A commitment to the training and support of applied psychologists and active involvement in the local clinical doctoral courses.

- Dedicated time within the role for advancing special interests and funding for professional development.

Job responsibilities

As a newly reconfigured post this is an exciting opportunity for an innovative and creative professional to work in our Pain Self-Management Team, and our Psychology services within Chronic Complex Long-Term Illness, where there is lots of scope to engage in service development. The post is a combination of outpatient clinical work and indirect clinical work such as training, consultation and supervision, with space for cultivating leadership skills in supporting the growth of psychologically and trauma informed care in services. We wish to recruit someone who relishes MDT working, someone who wants to be present and involved in all aspects of the service, and someone who really values team cohesion and wellbeing.We are looking for someone with a wide range of experience, and this may include previous work in physical health or working in mental health or with clients with complex needs. A background in physical health is not essential. You will need to work and liaise across wider settings where indicated.

The Pain Self-Management team is part of wider Chronic Pain Services in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, and we work with nine supportive Chronic Pain Consultants in our two local Trusts. Our MDT includes Physio and Prescribing Nurses and a great admin team. You will work closely with the clinical lead and managerial colleagues to achieve effective, evidence based psychological provision with close links to pain services and other key medical disciplines.

Additionally, as an experienced practitioner psychologist, you will work alongside the Lead Psychologist in planning the development and systematic provision and evaluation of psychological services for people affected by long term conditions - including high intensity users of services in GHNHSFT. There are many services within the Trust that have no Psychology input, including Cardiology, Gastroenterology and Respiratory.

You will work autonomously within professional guidelines ensuring that services provided are high quality, cost-effective, culturally appropriate and based on best clinical and professional practice, national strategic and policy guidelines.

There will be a good deal of autonomy within the role but there are strong links with a supportive and friendly psychology department (varied services with about 25 Clinical, Counselling, and Health psychology colleagues mostly based in the same building as Pain Management). That gives the post a base in the MDT and in the Psychology service, with lots of opportunities for linking across services. Clinical supervision is valued and there is good support for development and training.

The post is permanent and based at Gloucester Royal Hospital with the post holder required to work in Cheltenham or Hereford at times.

Further information is detailed in the JD and Person Specification document

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Good Honours degree in Psychology with eligibility for Graduate Basis for Chartership (GBC) with the BPS.
• Doctoral level training in clinical/counselling/health psychology, including models of psychopathology, psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS
• Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist.
• Further training in psychological approaches to psychological approaches to physical health
• Pre- or post-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology. A track record of conference presentations and publications in the current clinical or related area.
• A track record of conference presentations and publications in the current clinical or related area.

Experience

• Experience delivering highly skilled psychological assessments, interventions, follow-up and data monitoring utilising at least two therapeutic models.
• Experience of supervising pre-qualified psychologists/qualified psychologists and/or professionals from other disciplines.
• Experience of teaching and training health professionals in psychological concepts
• Substantial and demonstrable post-qualification experience of working as a HCPC Registered Practitioner Psychologist with experience working with people with medical problems.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the full range of clinical severity and across a range of care settings (outpatients, community, inpatients).
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment, both as a professionally qualified healthcare professional and also within the context of a multi-disciplinary team approach.
• Experience of working in pain, long term conditions or other relevant physical health.
• Formal training in supervision. Experience of setting up new services. Formal Quality Improvement training.
• Experience of working in physical health acute or community service environments. Experience of setting up new services. Experience of working with service users as co-producers.
• Formal training in supervision.
• Formal Quality Improvement training.
• Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.

Knowledge/ Skills

• Psychological assessment, intervention and management, frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration. Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies as applied in a clinical health psychology setting.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Able to take responsibility for managing and providing a specialist service, or systematically providing part of a larger service. Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of facilitating clinical supervision for non-psychology staff and /or reflective practice.
• Well developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies relevant to working with patients & families in an acute healthcare environment.
• Excellent presentation skills
• A commitment to the evaluation of services, enthusiasm for both multi-professional and uni-professional audit, and a desire to continue to develop expertise in the area.
• Awareness of ethnic diversity issues and their impact on health inequalities.

Personal attributes

• Approachable, respectful and empathic, excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and able to defuse difficult, volatile situations.
• Commitment to working in co-production with people living with medical problems and their carers to develop and improve services.
• Willingness to work as part of a team.
• Ability to work independently, organised and flexible and able to prioritise workload.
• Ability to make effective use of clinical consultation and appraisal.
• Able to contain and work with high levels of distress from clients and with organisational stress
• Able to tolerate ambiguity and to take decisions in situations of incomplete information.
• Ability to exercise appropriate levels of self-care and to monitor own state, recognising when it is necessary to take active steps to maintain fitness to practice
• Motivated towards personal and professional development with a strong CPD record

Other

• Ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Able to work within organisational policies and be accountable for own professional actions.
• Able to travel between work sites
• Able to tolerate prolonged periods of sitting.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Gloucestershire Royal Hospital (with the post holder required to work in Cheltenham or Hereford at times).

£64,455 to £74,896 a year(pro rata if part time)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

318-25-T0565

Job locations

Gloucestershire Royal Hospital (with the post holder required to work in Cheltenham or Hereford at times).