Clinical Psychologist in Neuropsychology

Job summary
This is an exciting opportunity to join a thriving department of Psychological Medicine in a large University Hospital NHS Trust in a temporary capacity. We are looking for an enthusiastic and able individual to work in the adult clinical neuropsychology team.

Main duties of the job
As an integral part of the adult clinical neuropsychology team the postholder will provide neuropsychological assessment of patients referred within the Oxford Neurosciences Centre, by neurologists, neurosurgeons, clinical nurse specialists, GPs and AHP colleagues. This is a temporary 6 month post to provide cross-cover and waiting list management in the Adult Neuropsychology service.

The post holder will work closely with other health professionals (e.g. neurologists, neurosurgeons, clinical nurse specialists, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists).

The post holder will be a valued member of the Psychological Medicine Centre which encompasses Clinical Health Psychology, Children's Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry.

About us
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the country. It provides a wide range of general and specialist clinical services and is a base for medical education, training and research. The Trust comprises four hospitals - the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.

Our values, standards and behaviours define the quality of clinical care we offer and the professional relationships we make with our patients, colleagues and the wider community.

We call this Delivering Compassionate Excellence, and its focus is on our values of compassion, respect, learning, delivery, improvement and excellence.

These values put patients at the heart of what we do and underpin the quality healthcare we would like for ourselves or a member of our family. Watch how we set out to deliver compassionate excellence via the OUH YouTube channel.

In 2023 NHS England launched its first sexual safety charter, and our Trust proudly signed it. We pledge zero tolerance for inappropriate sexual behaviour and commit to the ten core principles

Oxford University Hospitals promotes a safe, respectful hiring environment.

If you want to make a difference with us, come and join our team. Together, we will uphold the highest standards of care and professionalism.

Job responsibilities
CLINICAL

• To undertake highly specialist neuropsychological and psychological assessment and communicate a clinical opinion to inform and/or develop a medical diagnosis and/or case formulation to guide psychological intervention/consultation. Assessment will be based on analysis interpretation and integration of highly complex information from a variety of sources including clinical interview, direct observation, questionnaire measures, neuropsychological tests, literature review, and psychometric assessment - incorporating medical investigations if relevant. To give an opinion based on this in cases where professional opinion may differ, and in which a judgment must be made about the significance of data where data may be unreliable/missing.
• As an integral part of completing a neuro/psychological assessment, to simultaneously exercise well-developed manual skills (i.e. accurate manipulation of a wide range of test materials, including physical materials), where accuracy is important and it is often necessary to take account of interfering factors (such as patient distractibility, or level of comprehension).
• To develop specialised plans for formal neuro/psychological intervention and/or management of the patients neuro/psychological difficulties, based on the individual assessment and formulation, and making use of an informed judgment of evidence of treatment efficacy and psychological principles.
• To be responsible for implementing a range of neuro/psychological interventions, within and across teams, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining several provisional hypotheses.
• To evaluate and make decisions about treatment options considering both theoretical and therapeutic models and highly complex factors concerning historical and developmental processes that have shaped the individual, family, carers or group.
• To support the work of the multidisciplinary team, providing training, supervision, and consultancy as appropriate.
• To communicate effectively, empathically and clearly with patients and family members regarding neuro/psychological or medical matters which will regularly be highly complicated (such as explanation of multi-faceted clinical formulations including neuro/psychological principles, medical factors, personal and family psychological factors, and the implications of these), highly emotionally charged (such as eliciting/discussing experiences of trauma or childhood abuse), and which may require managing difficulties in understanding (such as cognitive difficulties), or overcoming communication challenges with patients who are experiencing high levels of anxiety, depression or symptoms in keeping with enduring mental health difficulties.
• To communicate effectively and clearly with clinical colleagues regarding neuro/psychological assessments and interventions by organizing and sharing the highly complex information involved in a relevant and usable form in formal written and spoken reports, as well as in day-to-day liaison and consultation.
• In carrying out the duties of the post, to exercise very high levels of mental concentration for prolonged periods (for example in consecutive psychotherapy sessions or prolonged neuropsychological assessment), regularly requiring sustained emotional concentration (for example in communicating highly distressing news or eliciting/discussing experiences of trauma or childhood abuse), while sitting in a constrained position for extended periods.
• In carrying out the duties of the post, to cope with and manage behaviours that challenge, including verbal abuse and risk of physical aggression (for example from people experiencing high levels of distress or enduring mental health difficulties).
• To exercise standard keyboard skills and use a computer as necessary for clinical work, including literature searches, word processing, developing and maintaining training packs, information leaflets, inputting data, report writing, maintaining electronic patient records and other tasks as necessary for the efficient running of the service.
• To record activity and outcome data as required by Psychological Medicine Senior Management Team

CONSULTATION

• To provide expertise and specialist neuro/psychological advice and consultation to other professionals in relation to patient assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and care (for example advising medical teams on psychological principles and research or acting as consultant to MDT colleagues in understanding and managing behaviours that challenge).

RESEARCH AND SERVICE EVALUATION

• To take responsibility for keeping up to date with relevant clinical research
• To identify, initiate and complete clinical research as a routine activity (including collaborating actively with MDT colleagues on research projects).
• To conduct and co-operate in audit/service-related projects.
• To use computer software in developing and operating systems for storage and analysis of data and creation of reports for colleagues in relation to audit activities and clinical research.
• To supervise research and development activities of doctoral Trainee Clinical Psychologists, and Student Assistant Psychologists as appropriate.

TEACHING, TRAINING AND SUPERVISION

• To participate in regular supervision in accordance with good practice guidelines and trust policy.
• To participate in the trusts annual values-based appraisal process.
• To attend all relevant mandatory training when required.
• To supervise doctoral Trainee Clinical Psychologists and be responsible for their training in all aspects of Clinical Psychology.
• To supervise Student Assistant Psychologists as necessary, and any other psychologists or professional colleagues associated with the post.
• To provide teaching on Clinical Psychology on the Oxford Training Course in Clinical Psychology as appropriate.
• To provide teaching and training to other professional colleagues/staff groups on psychological matters as appropriate.

ADMINISTRATIVE/ORGANISATIONAL

• To attend local service meetings, regional/national network meetings, and Clinical Health Psychology meetings as appropriate.
• To maintain accurate clinical notes and documentation for professional and legal requirements in line with OUHFT policy.
• To take part in service/departmental policy implementation and development (by for example actively working on policy implementation, as well as raising issues and proposing and discussing changes).
• To plan and organise the work of trainees and assistants as appropriate, in addition to their own caseload, research and other responsibilities and liaise as necessary with other colleagues.

Person Specification
Essential

• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (including in process of completing in 2026)
• Experience of Clinical Neuropsychology

Desirable

• 18 months experience of Clinical Neuropsychology practice as a qualified Clinical Psychologist

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).