Clinical Psychologist | East London NHS Foundation Trust
| Posting date: | 02 March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | £47,810 - £62,682 per annum pro rata |
| Hours: | Part time |
| Closing date: | 01 April 2026 |
| Location: | Bedford, MK41 6AT |
| Company: | East London NHS Foundation Trust |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 7789114/363-BED7789114 |
Summary
Our team is seeking an experienced or newly qualified clinical psychologist to join our innovative, multi-disciplinary countywide service across Bedfordshire and Luton.
We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated clinician to work within the Learning Disability Psychology service. The successful candidate will work as part of a well-integrated, capable multidisciplinary team delivering high quality evidence-based services for this group.
The post offers the opportunity to engage in assessment, formulation, therapy, indirect work with carers, consultation and signposting. There is also a significant element of multiagency working with social care colleagues.
The successful applicant will be part of a supportive multidisciplinary team that is highly committed to continuing professional development and quality improvement.
We are happy to consider applications from trainees who will qualify this year, subject to meeting essential criteria on the person specification.
The post will be based in Bedford with an expectation that the candidate will be able to work across Bedfordshire and Luton. In order to fulfill this countywide post the candidate will need to be able to drive.
For an informal discussion please contact Dr Vicky Lucas (Consultant Clinical Psychologist) on 01234 310589.
Please note that we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants must have the permanent right to work in the UK
Working with adults with learning disabilities and their families and carers to provide psychological assessments and interventions tailored to individuals with significant cognitive impairments and complex needs. Primary duties include conducting assessments to support with behaviours of distress with a strong knowlege of the Positive Behaviour Support framework. Providing direct therapy for mental health issues like anxiety or trauma—adapted for the client's cognitive level—while also performingdiagnostic neuropsychological assessments for conditions such as dementia or autism. A significant portion of the role involves consultation and systemic work, working with and supporting family members and multidisciplinary staff to improve the person's quality of life and ensure "reasonable adjustments" are met under theEquality Act 2010. Furthermore, they often lead on mental capacity assessments to support complex decision-making in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
The post holder will work with adults with learning disabilities and their families and carers across Bedfordshire. They will provide highly specialist psychological assessments, formulations and therapies, specialist risk assessments and advice on risk management, and provide psychological advice and consultation to others involved in service user care. The post holder will be part of a multi-disciplinary team and will contribute to psychological thinking within the MDT. The geographical area covered by the service requires the post-holder to drive.
The post holder will providespecialist advice and consultation to other professions and carers.
The post holder will utilise research skills for audit, policy, research and service development within the service as a whole and specifically for psychology within the service.
The post holder will participate in CPD and other developmental activities, keeping up to date with relevant psychological research and national guidance. They will attend clinical, professional and managerial supervision.
Clinical
1. Provide highly developed specialist psychological assessments, based on the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources (including psychological/neuropsychological tests, measures/rating scales, direct and indirect observation and semi-structured interviews with clients, family members and involved others.
2. Formulate plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management ofpeople with a learning disabilityacross a range of care settings, based upon a broad theoretical knowledge base to analyse, interpret and compare complex information in order to design specialist programmes of intervention for individuals, groups and families tailored to individual need.
3. To be responsible for implementing a broad range of evidence-based specialist psychological interventions which require the formulation and modification of plans and strategies as practice and experience demands. This will require the adjustment and refinement of complex formulations which draw on different explanatory models, and the maintenance of a number of provisional hypotheses.
4. To provide expertise and specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other multidisciplinary professionals contributing directly to service users’ formulation and intervention plans.
5. To ensure that multidisciplinary colleagues have access to a psychologically based framework for understanding the care of service users.
6. To undertake risk assessment and management and to provide specialist advice for psychologists and other professionals on psychological aspects of risk assessment and management.
7. To be responsible for providing and receiving highly complex, sensitive, distressing and emotionally challenging information in relation to health issues where there are often barriers to acceptance.
8. To spend sustained amounts of time with service users who may be experienced as aggressive and hostile, who may have poor communication skills, poor self-care and complex physical and/or mental health needs.
9. To be mindful of the needs of individuals and families from a wide range of racial, cultural, sexual, religious, disabilityand social backgrounds and to develop with colleagues innovative ways of working across language,culturaland communicationbarriers.
10. To be responsible for developing and maintaining knowledge of local resources and developing working relationships with relevant statutory, voluntary and community groups and organisations. Provide expert consultation about the psychological care of the service user group to external staff and organisations.
11. To be responsible for recording, monitoring and reporting on clinical work and communicating complex clinical information to a variety of recipients, e.g. service users, families and carers, other professionals, formal panels and statutory and voluntary organisations, orally, in writing and/or electronically.
Teaching, Training and Supervision
1. Provide specialist consultation, training and (where agreed) clinical supervision to other multidisciplinary professionals for their provision of psychologically-based interventions for service users.
2. To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate.
3. Develop and deliver, jointly with other clinical psychologists where necessary, teaching events for clinical psychology Doctoral training programmes.
4. Ensure the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes.
5. In line with professional practice guidelines and HCPC registration requirements, take part in regular professional supervision and appraisal.
1. To receive regular clinical, professional and managerial supervision in line with good practice guidelines.
2. To work in a coordinated and co-operative way with other psychologists employed within local services and the wider psychology services in the Trust. This will involve participation in the effective development and organisation of the Trust’s Psychology Services by attendance at meetings as required.
Research and Service Evaluation
1. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-based practice in direct and indirect interventions, during consultations, in MDT work and during meetings.
2. To monitorthe effectiveness of the clinical work undertaken either personally or jointly with other members of the multi-disciplinary team to ensure that it reflects the best available evidence for practice.
3. To participate in data collection, audit and clinical research designed to improve the understanding and effectiveness of services delivered to service users. This will be agreed with the Trust according to clinical governance guidelines and in agreement with the post-holder’s service and professional managers.
4. To disseminate research from work that the post-holder has been involved in, in a way that will benefit the services provided by the Trust. This will include feedback from any training opportunities that the post-holder has been able to attend as part of their employment with the Trust.
Information Technology
1. Provide accurate and timely clinical information as required and input into Trust electronic record systems. Ensure that supervisees meet the required standards for recording.
2. Use information technology in line with Trust and NHS information governance requirements, and maintain up to date knowledge of systems and governance requirements.
3. Collate and report on information across service area using information systems to a high standard.
4. Prepare teaching materials and presentations to a professional level.
This advert closes on Thursday 16 Apr 2026