Senior Clinical/counselling Psychologist Or Halftime

Purpose of the Post

· To provide a senior level of professional practice, clinical leadership, educational and professional development with The Centre for Obesity Management at St. Columcille’s Hospital.

· To work within the Consultant-led MDT and contribute to the continuous improvement of evolving service provision, including change processes within service planning, clinical service delivery, triage and service audit.

· To act as a resource and provide expert opinion, education and guidance locally and nationally to other health care professionals and services regarding the evidence based care of people living with obesity (PwO).

· To advocate for patients at senior level to promote improvements in patient experience and outcome via involvement with professional organisations and media.

· To participate in research in the area of obesity to promote improved understanding of the clinical management of the disease of obesity.

· To provide support and supervision to basic grade psychologists, psychologists in clinical/counselling training or assistant psychologists.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

The Senior Clinical Psychologist will:

Professional Practice

· Provide psychology service delivery within the Level 3 (Outpatient) and Level 4 (Surgical) services.

· Provide clinical expertise, supervision, teaching, and CPD for psychologists and the wider MDT within the Level 3 and 4 services to promote a wide variety of high quality & clinically effective interventions.

· Collaborate in the clinical assessment, case management and delivery of complex interventions to high-risk patients attending the service, including individuals with complex childhood trauma, eating disorders and other psychological issues that may impact an individual’s ability to engage with their treatment such as depression, anxiety, internalised weight bias, severe and enduring mental health issues and chronic pain.

· Contribute in the clinical triage of care pathways that deliver tailored interventions including prioritisation for (a) the COM Inpatient Rehabilitation Programme within St Columcille’s Hospital and (b) case preparation and consideration for progression to bariatric surgery within the Level 4 service

· Demonstrate evidence-based practice through the process of advanced clinical reasoning and decision-making and apply this to the assessment, formulation and treatment of complex cases.

Service Quality, Safety and Risk Management

· Contribute to the development of care pathways and high standards of safe and effective clinical care for the psychological care of severe and complicated obesity.

· Support changes to work practices and procedures and innovative new models of care for best practice in keeping with emerging evidence, to sustain and enhance service delivery.

· Work within the agreed Senior Psychology competency level in terms of triage and an advanced practice role.

· Work collaboratively with other psychologists to facilitate department and service improvement, and to maintain the goal of operational excellence within the Centre for Obesity Management Service.

· Identify, assess and report identified service risks and contribute to the management and review of these risks.

· Set, monitor and report on Key Performance Indicators annually to evaluate service performance as a benchmark to quality assure service delivery in line with international best practice

· Have a working knowledge of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) Standards as they apply to the role for example, Standards for Healthcare, National Standards for the Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infections, Hygiene Standards etcand comply with associated HSE protocols for implementing and maintaining these standards as appropriate to the role.

· Support, promote and actively participate in sustainable energy, water and waste initiatives to create a more sustainable, low carbon and efficient health service.

Leadership and Team Work

· Work as part of an MDT, embracing the concepts of both intra- and inter-disciplinary competencies and contributions to deliver synergistic and integrated interventions that maximise patient and service outcomes.

· Engage with the development and delivery of efficient and effective communication and collaboration pathways within the MDT and wider service.

· Gain a breadth and depth of knowledge in relation to the psychological complications associated with severe and complex obesity that may impact on self-management strategies and outcomes, to promote advanced clinical reasoning in the delivery of complex MDT interventions.

· Work at an advanced level to assess, triage and develop appropriate referral pathways for patients locally including bariatric surgery and externally to appropriate community and specialist services.

· Collaborate with the MDT to support continuous improvement, adaptation and change of work practices and procedures to deliver innovative, efficient and effective models of care in keeping with emerging evidence and service needs.

Education and Development

· Initiate and participate in self-directed structured CPD

· Participate in CPD planning and delivery within The Centre For Obesity Management Services in St Columcille’s Hospital

· Act as an expert resource, both locally and nationally, to provide training and educational CPD opportunities in the area of obesity for other HCPs.

· Provide specialist placements for trainees from doctoral level clinical and counselling psychology training programmes in accordance with the department’s commitment to post-graduate training programmes.

· Work within the competency limits of professional expertise and actively collaborate with other disciplines and other services to enhance patient outcomes

Research

· Track record of presenting research findings related to psychological treatment for persons living with obesity at psychology conferences.

· Evaluate the effectiveness and outcomes of new or altered therapies as they emerge and support the implementation of revised clinical practice based on the results.

· Support and contribute to local and professional body journal clubs, and relevant special interest groups, where new research findings are disseminated.

The above Job Description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently, the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post which may be assigned to him/her from time to time and to contribute to the development of the post while in office.

Eligibility Criteria

Qualifications and/ or experience

Candidates must by the latest date for receipt of completed application forms for the post possess:

Eligible applicants must:

i. Have a university degree or diploma (QQ1 level 8 equivalent) obtained with 1st or 2nd class honours in which Psychology was taken as a major subject and honours obtained in that subject

And

ii. Have an Irish post-graduate professional psychology qualification accredited by the Psychological Society of Ireland in Clinical or Counselling Psychology

Or

An equivalent qualification from another jurisdiction validated by the Department of Health.

And

iii. Demonstrate competence in Adult Psychology.

And

iv. Applicants must have at least five years satisfactory post-graduate experience in the area of professional psychology, no more than three years of which was spent in gaining the postgraduate professional qualification and no less than two years full-time spent in post-qualification experience as a professional psychologist. Years in excess of the permitted three years for completion of the post-graduate training or time not worked will not be taken into consideration when assessing the five years’ experience requirement.

1.2 Experience:

• Candidates are required to demonstrate experience of working as a professional psychologist within a multidisciplinary team

• Candidates are required to demonstrate experience of working as a professional psychologist with an adult population, ideally within a hospital environment

2.Professional Development Practice

Candidates must demonstrate commitment to continuing professional development

And

Candidates must have the requisite knowledge and ability (including a high standard of suitability, management, leadership and professional ability) for the proper discharge of the duties of the office.

3.Health

Candidate for and any person holding the office must be fully competent and capable

of undertaking the duties attached to the office and be in a state of health such as

would indicate a reasonable prospect of ability to render regular and efficient service.

4.Character

Each candidate for and any person holding the office must be of good character.

Post Specific Requirements

· Demonstrate depth and breadth of experience of working as a professional psychologist within a multidisciplinary team with an adult clinical population

Other requirements specific to the post

Have access to appropriate transport to fulfil the requirements of the role

Skills, competencies and/or knowledge

Candidates must demonstrate:

Professional Knowledge

• Demonstrate evidence of senior level clinical experience, knowledge, reasoning and skills in the assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation and modification of evidence based, high quality psychological interventions with an adult population.
• Demonstrate evidence of experience in differential diagnosis and in keeping with current evidence based practice.
• Demonstrate evidence of application of clinical standards, guidelines and procedures.
• Demonstrate evidence of IT skills to enable service and statistical analysis, health care records documentation, report writing and email communication and a willingness to develop IT skills relevant to the role.
• Demonstrate evidence of appropriate documentation in line with HSE standards for Health Care Records.
• Demonstrate a commitment to CPD.
• Demonstrate a commitment to supervision.

Evaluating Information & Judging Situations

• Demonstrate evidence of independent and collaborative evaluation of information in clinical decision making
• Demonstrate evidence of collecting, evaluating and reporting data on therapy outcomes for service users.
• Demonstrate evidence of use of evidence based practice through clinical reasoning and decision making, applying evidence based outcome measures to evaluate efficacy of treatment and quality of care.
• Demonstrate competence in advanced clinical decision making including risk assessment and collaborative formulation

Commitment to Providing a Quality Service

• Demonstrate evidence of clinical leadership in development of new service initiatives in collaboration with colleagues and other appropriate stakeholders
• Demonstrate evidence of application of research, audit and resulting change initiatives
• Demonstrate a commitment to assuring high standards and strive for a user centred service.
• Display awareness and appreciation of the service users and the ability to empathise with and treat others with dignity and respect.
• Demonstrate initiative, flexibility and openness to change.

Planning and Managing Resources

• Demonstrate evidence of appropriate planning and balancing of clinical demands with other responsibilities through effective time management and organisation skills.
• Demonstrate evidence of appropriate delegation of tasks within the clinical area.
• Demonstrate evidence of ability to manage caseload and prioritise clinical need as appropriate

Communication & Interpersonal Skills

· Demonstrate an ability to develop and maintain strong therapeutic relationships

· Demonstrate an ability to work collaboratively within a team and to build relationships with a range of relevant stakeholders

· Demonstrate evidence of experience in communication skills, oral and written, in a clear, concise and well-structured manner

· Demonstrate an ability to modify communication as appropriate to the situation/audience and

· Demonstrate evidence of communication skills in formal presentation

Managing and Developing

• Demonstrate evidence of team-building skills.
• Demonstrate an ability to manage and develop self in a busy working environment.
• Demonstrate commitment to supervision and professional development for self and others

Please complete and upload the application form attached to the job advert CVs will not be accepted