Job summary
- Main area
- Cancer services
- Grade
- Band 7
- Contract
- Fixed term: 12 months (End date 30th April 2027.)
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 359-7757198-T3
- Employer
- Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Maidstone Hospital
- Town
- Maidstone
- Salary
- £47,810 - £54,710 per annum pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 17/02/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Clinical Psychologist or Counselling Psychologist - Kent & Medway ICS
Band 7
Job overview
Please note this role is currently only being advertised to staff members who are currently working within the Kent and Medway ICS
The Cancer Psychological Service for Kent and Medway is a new small regional service hosted by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust which offers a specialist level 4 psycho-oncology service to four local Trusts (Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW), East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust (EKHUFT), Medway Foundation Trust (MFT) and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust (DGT). The service is currently funded by the Kent and Medway Cancer Alliance and Macmillan, and this has recently been extended for another year, but we hope that we will receive permanent funding from the NHS from April 2027.
This new Band 7 role will expand the team and will suit a clinical psychologist or counselling psychologist (including those who are newly qualified but able to start in May 2026) who is motivated, passionate and excited to work in a developing, innovative, supportive and highly committed service which began in 2024. As a team, we are highly value-driven and work closely with cancer multi-disciplinary teams and with existing cancer counselling services.
Main duties of the job
The post-holder will be based primarily at Maidstone Hospital but will provide additional services across the region within the Cancer Psychological Service for Kent and Medway, especially at Medway Maritime Hospital. The role involves delivering specialist psychological assessment and interventions for people with a cancer diagnosis and their families, delivering teaching and supervision, liaison with multi-disciplinary cancer teams and working closely with the rest of the psycho-oncology team to continue developing the service.
Working for our organisation
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust ranks among the top 10 NHS Trusts nationwide and was named the second-best Trust to work for in the South East in the 2023 and 2024 NHS Staff Survey.
We are a large acute hospital trust in south-east England, providing general hospital services and specialist care to around 600,000 residents in West Kent and East Sussex. With a dedicated and diverse team of over 8,000 staff we are proud to offer specialised cancer services to over two million people through the Kent Oncology Centre.
Fordcombe Hospital, near Tunbridge Wells, became part of the Trust in October 2024. Specialising in planned care, it offers two operating theatres, 28 inpatient and day-care beds, diagnostic services (X-ray, MRI, CT, and endoscopy), and consultation/treatment rooms.
Looking for flexible working?
We are a flexible working-friendly organisation. Whether it’s adjusting your hours or exploring other flexible arrangements, we want to work with you to find the best solution for you, our patients, and the Trust. Talk to us about how we can accommodate your working needs.
Click here to hear what our staff say.
Joining us includes a comprehensive benefits package:
- At least 27 days of annual leave plus public/bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time staff).
- Membership in the NHS Pension Scheme, with a employer contribution of 23.7% and life assurance benefits
- Blue Light card eligibility
- And more, additional benefits can be found in the benefits documents below
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
We’ve provided all the details you need about this role in the job description and person specification. Please take a moment to review the criteria in the person specification and share specific examples in your application that demonstrate how you meet these requirements. Please also check your application for errors/omissions prior to submission.
Please note that appointment to this post will be subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service Check at Enhanced Level. (Enhanced level now includes regulated checks against vulnerable adults and children). If a role involves regulated activity and requires a DBS check with a barred list check, you cannot apply if you are on the barred list.
All successful applicants will be required to complete our corporate trust induction once a start date had been agreed.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Entry-level qualification in Applied Psychology (professional Doctorate, or combination of MSc plus PG Diploma level additional training) that has been accepted by the HCPC for purposes of professional registration.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Knowledge of NHS structures and policy within a Mental Health & Psychological Wellbeing context
- Approaches to support recovery and independence in those with chronic and complex physical and mental health problems
- Theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base for the relevant treatment of prevalent mental health presentations.
- Knowledge of the theory of psychological therapy and its therapeutic application. Associated awareness of assessment and clinical psychometrics.
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health issues, child and adult protection, and equalities
- Knowledge of factors affecting acceptability and accessibility of mental health care.
- Knowledge on how to deliver psychological/psychotherapeutic therapy across cultural and other differences.
- Knowledge on how to select and administer specialist psychological assessments, interpreting and integrating complex data that require analysis, interpretation and comparison, drawn from several sources.
- Knowledge of racial and other diversity issues and factors affecting access to mental health care.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of individual psychological assessment and interventions
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings
- Maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems and verbal and physical abuse.
- Experience of signposting to a range of external supports and agencies
- Experience of working with assessing issues of risk and safety management both physical and relational.
- Experience of multi-disciplinary working.
- Administration of outcome and evaluation measures
- Experience of short-term time-limited work and relapse prevention planning.
- Experience of promoting wellbeing and social inclusion
- Experience of working with, and addressing issues of, diversity, including experience of working within a multicultural framework.
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in a cancer service.
- Experience of psychological work with people with a range of physical health problems
- Experience in clinical supervision
- Experience of service development.
- Experience of audit, project work and research
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
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.
Application numbers
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr Clare Reeder
- Job title
- Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07773 359122
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