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Sussex Partnership NHS FoundationTrust
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About
We provide NHS care and treatment for people living in south east England. Our mental health services provide care and treatment for people with conditions such as psychosis, depression, anxiety, dementia and personality disorder. Our vision is to provide outstanding care and treatment you can be confident in.
Assistant Psychologist
Accepting applications until: 07-Aug-2024 23:59
Vacancy status: Open
Accepting applications until: 07-Aug-2024 23:59
Key details
Location
- Site
- Forget Me Not Unit, Swandean Hospital
- Address
- Arundel Road
- Town
- Worthing
- Postcode
- BN13 3EP
- Major / Minor Region
- West Sussex
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Salary
- Salary
- £25,147 - £27,596 Per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Grade
- (NHS AfC: Band 4)
Specialty
- Main area
- Mental Health
- Interview date
- 10/09/2024
Welcome from our Chief Executive
Our organisation is expanding and we're looking for people with the right values, skills and/or potential to join us. We need people with energy, expertise, enthusiasm to help us provide the very best possible specialist NHS mental health and learning disability care. This involves helping us achieve our strategy to improve the quality of life for the communities we serve through People, Prevention and Partnerships.
So what can we offer you in return?
We're an organisation which puts people first. We'll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. We'll help you learn, acquire new skills and gain further experience to support your career development. And we'll provide the opportunity for you to bring your fresh ideas to work about how we can do things differently and continue improving.
You will also be joining a health and care system committed to working together to do the best we can for the communities we serve. Above all, at Sussex Partnership you'll have the chance to make a difference to the lives of the patients, carers and families across our communities.
As a Trust we are committed in making a difference. Your development is important to us, so don't forget to ask us during interview what opportunities we can offer. We can offer fully funded lifelong learning opportunities such as an apprenticeship from GCSE to Masters level.
If you like the sound of that, then come and join our team.
Job overview
We are delighted to offer an exciting opportunity to work as an Assistant Psychologist within our inpatient dementia intensive care unit. The Assistant Psychologist will work alongside two other Assistant Psychologists and a Clinical Psychologist. The unit provides a specialist service to individuals with dementia who experience psychological and behavioural distress, as well as their families/support networks. Key responsibilities are to assist with psychological assessment, bio-psycho-social formulation, psychological and psychosocial interventions and evaluation of outcomes. This will include working collaboratively with the person’s family/social networks. The role includes working as part of a multidisciplinary team. The Assistant Psychologist will have a key role in assisting the development of psychologically informed care plans, which aim to enhance empathy and understanding of the psychological needs of each individual with dementia; and will work both directly and indirectly to promote the psychological well-being of people living with dementia, their families/support networks. Working closely under the supervision and support of the Clinical Psychologist, the Assistant Psychologist will also assist with providing a psychological perspective within risk assessments and safety plans for individuals who have been admitted to hospital with a high risk of harm to themselves or others.
Advert
Dementia Inpatient Service works within a person-centred care ethos and an important part of the Assistant Psychologist’s role is to assist with service development to further enhance person-centred care approaches. Experience and knowledge in person-centred dementia care (e.g. Enriched model of dementia (Kitwood)/Newcastle model (James)) is particularly desirable. We are interested in recruiting an Assistant Psychologist with a clear passion for working with people living with dementia, with experience of working with or knowing a person living with dementia/people with other cognitive difficulties (please give details of your experience of this in your application). There will be opportunities to gain experience in a wide range of assessment, formulation and intervention models, alongside the core model of Person-centred dementia care, such as Positive Behaviour Support, Systemic, Neuropsychological and Cognitive-behavioural. There is also the potential opportunity to train (and gain a qualification) as a Dementia Care Mapper and use this to inform person-centred care plans/ interventions alongside the multidisciplinary team.
Working for our organisation
The successful applicant will join a friendly, highly-skilled and enthusiastic community of applied psychologists within West Sussex, who have close links with the Doctoral Clinical Psychology training programme at the University of Surrey. We place a high value on staff wellbeing and you will receive regular supervision and continuing professional development opportunities. At Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust we are at the forefront of best practice in Dementia Care and Dementia research. There are likely to be opportunities to collaborate with the supervisor on publications, such as poster presentations for UK Conferences.
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health, learning disability and forensic services in and across Sussex. The Trust has recently been rated by the CQC as Good overall and Outstanding for care. Sussex Partnership has teaching status and is developing into one of the country’s leading teaching mental health trusts. Psychological Therapies are highly valued in Sussex Partnership and Psychological Therapists occupy a range of senior positions across the Trust. Working here offers continued training and development, variety, plus all the benefits of living in Sussex. Sussex is a beautiful county with good transport links, vibrant communities, rural areas, and tourist attractions, including the Coast and the South Downs.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Closing date two weeks from advert. We anticipate and hope for a high number of applications. Therefore this post is likely to close ahead of the advertised closing date.
Main responsibilities include:
- To undertake assessments and interventions (for example neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect observations and semi-structured interviews of clients, family members and others involved in the clients care), as appropriate to level of training, competence and under live or regular supervision from a qualified practitioner Psychologist.
- To gather information to contribute to the assessment, formulation, and interventions completed with people living with dementia on the ward at the time. This will involve communicating with the person with dementia themselves, communicating with their carers, reviewing notes, and speaking to other professionals (within the MDT and other agencies).
- Indirect psychologically-informed work including arranging and contributing to meetings with people living with dementia and those who support them, members of the MDT, and professionals from other services. This includes admission and discharge meetings, best interest meetings, and team formulation meetings.
- To assist in the development of psychologically based frameworks of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service.
- To ensure relevant documentation is kept up to date and accurate (for example safety plans). If required, to compile risk histories to inform care plans, risk and crisis plans.
- To formulate and deliver care, training or research plans within settings where there may be a hostile atmosphere, challenging behaviour or high levels of expressed emotion.
- To conduct literature searches, collate audit and outcome evidence, analyse relevant data and produce reports to inform and enhance care delivered by the service.
- To assist in the coordination and running of therapeutic groups, training or research projects.
- To work with other team members to improve care, training and research practices and the quality of life of clients.
- To attend and contribute to multi-disciplinary meetings.
- To support the delivery of evidence based psychological interventions for clients.
- To carry out other clinical and administrative tasks as appropriate to the post holder’s grade.
- To be up to date with both de-escalation, physical breakaway and PMVA techniques appropriate to the service environment.
- To attend regular supervision and CPD sessions.
Sussex Partnership NHS FT is committed to supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our communities. Our workforce is currently under-represented from Black and Minority, Ethnic and disabled communities and we would welcome applications from these communities.
We regret that we are unable to advise candidates if they have not been shortlisted. If you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date please assume that you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.
In the event of an excessive number of applicants the Trust reserves the right to close this vacancy earlier than indicated.
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust takes its responsibilities for the safeguarding and protection of children and young people and vulnerable adults very seriously and expects this of all its employees and bank workers. The Trust works with adult and children’s social care to ensure that the integrated service has systems in place to equip staff and bank workers with the knowledge and skills to recognize abuse, and take action to safeguard and protect vulnerable adults and children and young people. It is expected that all staff and bank workers familiarise themselves with the appropriate structures and policies and with the Sussex child protection and safeguarding procedures and the Sussex multi-agency policy and procedures for safeguarding vulnerable adults and undertake the relevant essential training and further training appropriate to their role.
Successful candidates are normally offered salaries at the bottom of the relevant salary range. However, where previous or equivalent NHS experience in a similar role can be demonstrated and evidenced, this may be taken into consideration when setting the starting salary.
Applicant requirements
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.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Honours degree at 2:1 or above in Psychology, or equivalent. Eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartership with the BPS
Knowledge/Experience
Essential criteria
- Relevant clinical and research skills
- Experience of working as part of a team
- Basic knowledge of databases, research skills and methodology
- Ability to apply existing psychological knowledge to a health context
- An understanding of psychology applied to health care
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Rebecca Butler
- Job title
- Senior Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0300 304 0644
- Additional information
Suesan Summers
Matron for the Forget Me Not Unit
0300 304 0644
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