Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Job Purpose:

·       To develop strategy for and lead, manage and plan the delivery of a highly specialist psychological therapy service for the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) in-patient and outpatient teams, and personally provide expert clinical input.

·       To be responsible to the Professional Head of Psychology and Psychotherapy for the monitoring and implementation of professional standards in the practice of psychological therapy, and for the systematic and effective provision of professional supervision.

·       To contribute to enabling other staff, service users and carers from diverse backgrounds to flourish by working to create a psychologically safe environment.

·       To ensure the conduct of research, service evaluation and audits relevant to the service and the research agenda.

·       To develop standards for and take a lead in ensuring the good clinical governance, quality and appropriateness of the work of psychological practitioners in the service.

·       To take a lead on staff support within their area, working closely with Corporate Psychology and Psychotherapy to support colleagues and ensure all staff in SLaM have access to evidence-based support. To participate, as a recipient, in staff support work when appropriate.

Key Responsibilities:

KR 1      Clinical and Client Care

·       To plan, organise and ensure the delivery of psychological services in the OPD in-patient and outpatient teams

·       To plan and organise the integrated delivery of psychological services with other agencies and service providers and ensure co-ordination of psychological therapy with other services.

·       To provide highly specialist psychological therapy assessments, formulations and interventions for clients in the OPD pathway according to discipline, including working with personality disorder and violent offending behaviour, at levels expected of a psychological practitioner who has achieved the equivalent of a PG Diploma-worth of post-qualification specialist development.

·       To provide culturally appropriate psychological therapy interventions with carers or families of referred clients when required.

·       To assess and monitor risk and draw up appropriate risk management plans

·       To ensure that all services provided are acceptable and accessible to the diverse communities which make up the OPD pathway (service users and carers).

KR 2      Responsibilities for team or service clinical functioning

·       To work with the leads/managers of other SLaM services and of other agencies’ services to plan and deliver joint services that are integrated around the needs of service users

·       To co-ordinate and chair team and service meetings for the service to ensure effective functioning and review when appropriate.

·       To ensure the effective working of the team or service and a psychologically informed framework for the service.

·       To take a lead in ensuring the team or service’s ability to deliver accessible and acceptable services to diverse local communities.

·       To be proactive in challenging discrimination and support the development of culturally competent services, including through engagement with the PCREF work happening in the Directorate.

·       To advise other members of the service on specialist psychological care of clients.

·       To liaise with referrers, prison, probation and other professionals concerned with clients in order to develop and review care plans.

·       To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in individual work and work with other team members.

KR 3      Policy and service development

·       To lead on strategy development and the development of policy and guidance for application in the service. To be responsible for the interpretation and implementation of policy.

·       To plan, initiate, implement and ensure appropriate service developments to improve the quality and delivery of services in the service and in partner services, including not only the OPD pathway but also the South London Partnership (SLP) and the wider SLaM inpatient forensic services.

·       To ensure the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities.

·       To participate in, or lead when appropriate, Trust and Directorate strategic development and implementation of new initiatives (e.g. national guidelines), through membership of committees and/or working parties.

·       To lead in the development and application of clinical governance standards within the service and ensure that these are maintained and improved.

·       To take a lead role in ensuring that services to clients are of a high quality and are managed efficiently, according to the overall requirements of the Trust, NHS and government guidance and standards.

KR 4      Care or management of resources

·       To be responsible for the management of psychological resources.

·       To ensure the cleanliness and safe functioning and use of equipment that will be used by clients or other persons.

·       To monitor and advise clients on the safe use of materials and processes.

·       To ensure adequate confidential and safe storage for artefacts produced during the therapy process in line with professional guidelines.

·       To be responsible for obtaining, storing and maintaining all necessary materials and equipment for the provision of therapy in work setting within budgetary constraints.

KR 5      Management and supervision

·       To deputise when appropriate for the Professional Head of Psychology and Psychotherapy.

·       To provide leadership to psychological practitioners and other professionals in the service.

·       To ensure appropriate systems are in place for the clinical and professional supervision of psychological practitioners in the service.

·       To lead recruitment of psychological practitioners.

·       To lead appraisals of, and personal development plans for psychological practitioners in the service.

·       To be responsible for the management of psychological practitioners in the service, including allocation and review of work and initial stages of grievance or disciplinary action etc.

·       To provide professional, clinical and management supervision to less senior psychological practitioners, assistants and trainees and the psychological work of other professions as appropriate and having completed the relevant training.

KR 6      Teaching and Training

·       To organise access to,  and provide specialist clinical placements for trainee applied psychological practitioners.

·       To be responsible for planning, organising, and the delivery of teaching and training of pre- and post- qualification psychological practitioners and specialist training to other professions.

·       To contribute to the development of the knowledge and skills base within the service by maintaining an active awareness of current developments in psychological therapy and by implementing knowledge gained in practice.

·       To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles.

KR 7      Record-keeping and Information Governance

·       To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures.

·       To ensure the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry, in those parts of the service for which the post-holder has management or leadership responsibility.

KR 8      Research and development

·       To take a lead on the planning, initiation and completion of research, service evaluation and audits relevant to the OPD pathway and the directorate research agenda and to be an active participant in the local research governance committee, including chairing on a rotational basis.

·       To initiate and implement the development of outcome measurement and assessment and assist other staff in the implementation of same.

KR 9      Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development

·       To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from a more senior psychological practitioner according to professional and Trust guidelines.

·       To maintain own Continuing Professional Development in line with registered body and Trust Personal Development Plan requirements and the Standards for Continuing Professional Development. 

·       To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current developments in professional and clinical practice and of relevant legislation and policies.

·       To comply with the registered body Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics/Standards of Proficiency.

·       To ensure that all psychological practitioners for whom the post-holder has leadership or management responsibility, maintain professional standards and continuing professional development.

KR10     General

·       To travel to meetings as appropriate and across the Trust when required.

·       To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management.

·       To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations including highly challenging behaviour, abuse and aggression and to support others involved in such situations.

·       To work closely with Corporate Psychology and Psychotherapy to ensure consistent and timely delivery of staff support within their area across all disciplines.  Contributing to the development of the staff support offer in line with relevant quality improvement projects.