Principal Psychologist - TANDeM

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Professional / Clinical responsibilities

· Responsible for leading and co-ordinating the psychology activity of the TANDeM Team, including and supporting the psychology senior leadership of the Newcomen Neurodevelopmental Team, including the evaluation and management of children and young people with neurodevelopmental disorders (particularly autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, complex feeding, tics and sleep problems) and behavioural, and / or mental health problems).

· Provide specialist psychological assessments of children and young people involving appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including diagnostic assessments (e.g., Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule), and other psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with children, family members and others involved in the patient’s care.

·  Share responsibility for the specialist psychological intervention service for children and young people with tics and other movement disorders, including those presenting with co-morbid difficulties such as anxiety and/or challenging behaviour, providing highly specialist interventions such as Habit Reversal Therapy and Exposure and Response Prevention.

· Share responsibility for the management of patients with highly complex needs as evidenced by the presence of challenging behaviour problems or learning disability – this includes developing protocols of managements and liaising with all key members of staff and other professionals involved in the child’s care both internal (e.g., nurses) and external (e.g., teachers) to the Trust.

· Independently and expertly modify treatment plans and strategies as improvements, change and experience demand to guarantee the direct but flexible delivery of a broad range of appropriate and specialist psychological treatments/interventions and programmes.

·  Ensuring that suitable psychological measures are in place to evaluate the efficacy in terms of measurable improvements for patients and their families.

· Assure clinical quality across the care pathways through clinical leadership, breadth of clinical knowledge, and skilled practice in the assessment and treatment of young people with autistic spectrum disorders.

·   Undertake risk assessment and risk management of individual patients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management in line with national and Trust policies and in consultation with paediatric liaison psychiatry services.

· Employ a broad theoretical knowledge base to analyse, interpret and compare complex information in order to develop a specialist understanding and psychological case formulation and to design specialised programmes of care and management tailored to individual need.

·Join in leading on the provision of highly specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation regarding children’s formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan, to other teams within the Trust (e.g., in-patient wards) and external agencies (e.g., schools, social services, and voluntary agencies).

·Ensure that all members of the treating team have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding and care of children and young people with neurodevelopmental disorders through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory.

·  Act as an autonomous practitioner responsible for the delivery and evaluation across the range of the responsibilities noted above.

· Management of a personal caseload as agreed with Psychology Consultant Leads and Head of Service and within the set referral criteria.

· Ensure that appropriate preventative interventions are implemented in response to early indicators of distress or difficulty - such as the provision of support and advice at recognised times of vulnerability (e.g. transfer to secondary school)

·  Participate in the setting up and running of service user and carer groups, which promote acquisition of life skills and facilitate long-term psychological adjustment and well-being.

· Use a broad theoretical knowledge base and specialist clinical skills to develop and support the psychological skills of others (assistant psychologists’ members of other staff groups) via the development and delivery of teaching, training, supervision, support and consultation.

·  Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the discharge of patients whose problems are managed by psychological based standard care plans

·  Responsible for keeping accurate records concerning patients and their use of the psychology service

·  Act as an expert resource in relation to neurodevelopmental disabilities and in particular tics and other neurodevelopmental movement disorders for other members of the Paediatric Neurosciences Team, staff across the Trust, and other external agencies, including Local Education Authorities.

·  Travel to home and schools as indicated to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of clinical services through outreach and development and evaluation of skills in children’s natural environments.

Management and Leadership

· Join in managing and leading the provision of psychological services to the TANDeM team and across Paediatric Neurosciences. 

· Address operational issues as they pertain to psychology provision within the team (e.g., ensuring appropriate clinic coverage in staff absence/sickness).

· Participate as a senior psychology clinician in the development of high quality, responsive and accessible services, including advising both service and professional managers on those aspects of service where psychological and/or organisational matters need addressing.

·  Manage the workload of other qualified psychologists, assistant psychologists and other professionals, exercising delegated responsibility for managing psychology resources within these services, including performance management, appraisal and recruitment.

·   Participate in the recruitment process of junior psychologists, other professionals from the various disciplines involved in paediatric neurodisability services.

·  Contribute to the procurement, storage and efficient use of all psychological resources owned by the team, including psychometric test equipment, related consumables, and therapeutic manuals.

·   Contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and developing services for those affected by the full range of paediatric neurodisabilities.

· Propose and implement service development and management projects within the Paediatric Newcomen Neurodevelopmental Team, through participating as one of the lead psychologists at the monthly team multidisciplinary meetings.

·  Participate in clinical governance initiatives as agreed by the Trust and Directorate Clinical Governance Committees.

·  Deputise for the Consultant Psychologists as required at strategic or operational planning meetings within Paediatrics at GSTT.

·   Contribute to the development of services, both locally and nationally, through initiating, undertaking and supervising complex service evaluation and audit.

·  Initiate appropriate research, including engaging in collaborative research with other neurodevelopmental disorders team professionals from other disciplines or other neurodevelopmental psychologists nationally and to provide research advice to other staff undertaking research within the service and through disseminating research plans and ideas at multidisciplinary research and audit meetings for the whole team and in the paediatric psychology meetings

· Initiate the development of outcome measurement, assessment/implementation and assisting other staff in the implementation of these.

Education & Professional Development.

·  Receive regular clinical supervision from the Consultant Lead Psychologists for Paediatric Neurosciences and, where appropriate, other senior professional colleagues as outlined in an agreed supervision plan.

·   Develop skills in business planning and service development for the Paediatric Newcomen Neurodevelopmental Team in particular and the Trust’s Psychology Service more widely, in line with Trust initiatives and policies.

·       Provide professional support and teaching to trainee, assistant and undergraduate psychologists as needed. 

·       Provide advice, consultation and training to other professionals working with this patient group and their families, in relation to both clinical and research-related activities. 

· As a senior psychologist, to lead on the development of the knowledge and skills base within the wider neurosciences service by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychology, child and adolescent mental health and more specifically in neurodisability. 

·   In conjunction with the Consultant Psychologists, to coordinate and provide professional and clinical supervision to more junior qualified neurosciences psychologists, assistant, trainee and undergraduate psychologists for all aspects of their work. To line manage junior psychologists and other professionals and assistant psychologists, as required. 

·  Provide clinical placements for trainee psychologists ensuring that trainees acquire the necessary skills, competencies and experience to contribute to good psychological care and to contribute to the assessment and evaluation of such competencies.  To supervise doctoral research projects as required.

·       Provide advice, consultation, training and supervision to staff and carers working with children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders.