Clinical Psychologist Stroke Preceptorship Band 7

Band 7 Preceptorship to 8a, 0.8 FTE(30hours)

We are pleased to offer this exciting opportunity to join the Walsall Stroke Service and the Clinical Health Psychology Service. The role will involve working in the Stroke service providing psychological services to individuals who have suffered a stroke and their families.

PLEASE NOTE, WE MAY CLOSE THIS VACANCY EARLY IF WE RECEIVE HIGH NUMBERS OF APPLICATIONS.

The post holder will work in an out-patient setting as well as the in-patient Stroke Rehabilitation Unit. They will work closely with rehab assistants, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech language therapists, medical staff and social care staff. They will also provide consultancy, teaching and training to other staff, supervision and research skills. Psychology enjoys good working relationships in the multi-disciplinary stroke team and aims to foster good psychological awareness and high standards of practice.

The post holder will work alongside the existing Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the Stroke Service. They would be expected to help plan and further develop psychological services in this area.

The post is a preceptorship at band 7 to 8a. The post holder will be supported in developing the necessary knowledge and skills with a view to fulfilling the requirements of the 8a post. A plan will be drawn up with the post holder to facilitate professional development over a period of approximately twenty four months.

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is an integrated Trust and the only provider of NHS acute care in Walsall, serving a population of 284,300. It provides inpatient and outpatient services at the Manor Hospital as well as a wide range of services in the community. Walsall Manor houses the full range of district general hospital services under one roof. The £170 million development was completed in 2010, and ongoing upgrades ensure the Trust now has state-of-the-art facilities, including a Critical Care Unit, Neonatal Unit, Obstetric Theatre, and Integrated Assessment Unit.

A new Urgent and Emergency Care Centre, opened in March 2023, has significantly improved emergency care facilities and capacity, providing almost 5,000 square metres of additional clinical space.

Job Summary

The post holder will be responsible for providing, specialist comprehensive psychological and neuropsychological assessments (stroke) and programmes of psychological care for individuals who have experienced a stroke and their families. This will include work with people in the in-patient stroke rehabilitation unit and following discharge into the community where appropriate. They will work collaboratively with the other health and social care professionals, third sector staff and non-professional carers.

They will help organise and initiate service developments in consultation with the lead psychologist. As well as managing their own patient workload they will be responsible for supervising the psychological work of Assistant Psychologists and other MDT staff. They will work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the Stroke Services policies and procedures.

Key Responsibilities

Clinical

• Provide a specialist clinical service to patients and their families who have had a stroke.
• Develop trusting and empathic relationships with clients and be able to communicate highly emotive information with clarity and sensitivity.
• Assess and interpret complex clinical situations and information from a variety of sources including, self-report measures, rating scales, structured observations and semi structured interviews with patients, family members and others involved in the patients care.
• Develop formulations and use psychological models and frameworks to provide patients and their families with specialised programmes of care, based on evidence of efficacy, to aid rehabilitation and help them adjust to and cope emotionally with the often significantly distressing aspects of their condition. This may occur in individual or group settings.
• Evaluate and make decisions about treatment options taking into account both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family or group.
• Provide assessment and interventions to enable rehabilitation for clients referred from the stroke rehabilitation unit.
• Carry out neuropsychological assessments where appropriate and communicate findings to the client, family members and other health and social care staff involved.
• Make recommendations and contribute to the neuropsychological and physical rehabilitation of clients with a stroke.
• Help facilitate therapeutic groups where needed in collaboration with other psychologists and MDT staff.
• Participate in multi-disciplinary team meetings and work collaboratively and in an integrated manner with other health professionals e.g.…