Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities

§  Ensure all practice complies with professional guidelines.

§  The post holder will provide highly specialist psychology input for patients with functional neurological disorders , with input to other adult psychology services if required.  The post holder is expected to work largely autonomously and at an advanced and specialised clinical level in the provision of service.

§  The post holder will be professionally accountable for his/her own work while obtaining supervision from a senior Practioner Psychologist.

§  The post holder is responsible for providing effective and timely communication at all levels (patients, families, multi-disciplinary team, referring agents and external agencies) as appropriate and according to clinical judgement, via the provision of individual sessions, the provision of formal reports and attendance at multi-professional clinical meetings.

§  The post holder will liaise directly with colleagues within the service and external agencies regarding the neuropsychological issues and management of patients referred, to include medical colleagues, nursing colleagues, therapists, social services, other government agencies and employers/educational establishments as relevant.

§  The post holder may be asked to present research and relevant lectures (including case studies) to the Neuroscience community, both locally and further afield, and shall thereby assist in the promotion of the Trust, the Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, and the Department. 

§  The post holder will make clinical decisions (e.g., diagnosis, formulation, recommendations to patient, carer, or other professionals, treatment options, intervention plans, etc.) based on evidence from a variety of sources.  These sources will include, at least, the medical history, information provided during interview (by patient and/or carer), psychometric test data, behavioural observations and other relevant information. There are often no guidelines about making clinical decisions, and they must be made on a case-by-case basis, using the post holder’s knowledge, skills and experience.  In many cases the evidence-base for making clinical decisions is poor or conflicting. As such, expert opinion may differ and the post holder must make his/her decision based on the best evidence that is available.

§  The post holder will keep up to date with the evidence base for functional neurological disorders , advise the consultants and multidisciplinary team   on potential new initiative and treatment approaches, and contribute to in-house multidisciplinary training. 

§  The post holder will frequently come into contact with vulnerable adults and at times child protection issues may be raised.  The post holder will conform to Trust guidelines and follow best principles in conjunction with the multi-disciplinary team. 

§  The post holder will adopt a flexible approach to managing his or her caseload, so that urgent cases can be accommodated at very short notice (e.g., same day).

§  The post holder will liaise with the assistant psychologist to ensure that he/she is used most effectively in achieving the aims of the service.

§  The post holder will provide supervision to assistant psychologists as required.

§  The post holder will use the network drive and shared outlook calendar, to ensure that all appointments are placed on a shared electronic calendar.

§  The post holder is jointly responsible for the security of psychological test materials, computers, office equipment and consumables, and ensuring that other staff members in the area (e.g., assistant psychologist) adhere to security rules (e.g. keeping test materials secure, locking doors). 

§  The post holder will interpret policies determined by professional ethics, and the needs of the clinical service and the directorate.  He or she will decide how to implement such policies in consultation with the FND service lead.

§  The post holder will use the IT infrastructure as required to support the efficient delivery of service, to include using video calls and shared cloud-based resources.

§  The post holder has a responsibility to communicate any issues identified in terms of service provision to the FND Consultant Neuropsychologist/ Clinical Psychologist and contribute to the resolution of these issues as well as to service development plans more broadly.

•      The post holder may occasionally present research and relevant lectures (including case studies) to the Neuroscience community, both locally and further afield, and shall thereby assist in the promotion of the Trust, the Institute of Clinical Neurosciences and the Neuropsychology Department.