Practitioner Psychologist - Tower Hamlets Persistent Pain Service

Job summary
We are delighted to offer a permanent Band 7 Practitioner Psychologist post within the Tower Hamlets Persistent Pain Management Service. This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled and motivated practitioner psychologist to contribute to a specialist service and to play a key role in the ongoing development of psychologically informed pain management pathways.

The postholder will provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation, and intervention for adults living with persistent pain, working as an integral member of the multidisciplinary Persistent Pain Management Service.

The successful candidate will work autonomously within professional guidelines and the policies of the service, while receiving clinical supervision from the Lead Clinical Psychologist. They will also provide consultation, joint working, and psychologically informed input to colleagues across the MDT.

Tower Hamlets is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse boroughs in London. While not essential, written and spoken proficiency in Bengali and/or Sylheti is considered a valuable asset to support many of our patients and their families, ensuring our service is as inclusive and accessible as possible.

The postholder is required to attend on site three days per week at the Mile End Tower Hamlets Persistent Pain Management Service, ideally on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Remote working may be agreed on days without scheduled clinical activity, subject to service needs.

Main duties of the job
To be responsible, with the lead clinical psychologist, for providing high quality, specialist clinical / counselling / health psychology input to the Tower Hamlets Persistent Pain Service.

This role involves delivering and developing pain management and psychological skills groups, alongside leading service improvement projects that enhance patient care and team effectiveness. The postholder will provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation, and intervention for individuals experiencing persistent pain, working collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team to promote holistic, evidence-based approaches to pain management. In addition, the role contributes to ongoing service development, evaluation, and innovation to ensure high-quality, patient-centered care.

Where appropriate, the post holder exercises autonomous professional responsibility for clinical decisions, working within professional guidelines and the team's policies and procedures.

The postholder is required to attend on site three days per week at the Mile End Tower Hamlets Pain Service, preferably on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Remote working may be considered on days when there is no scheduled clinical activity, subject to service needs and agreement with the line manager.

About us
Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

Job responsibilities
The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Post-graduate training in Clinical, Counselling or Health Psychology
• Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council

Desirable

• Additional formal training or qualification relevant to Clinical Health Psychology and/or Trauma
• Membership of relevant professional group or society e.g. BPS, ACP, British Pain Soc, IASP

Experience
Essential

• Experience of working in physical health settings
• Experience of psychological assessment, intervention and management working with a wide range of clinical presentations with complex, long-term co-morbid physical and mental health conditions including pain and maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems
• Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts
• Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care

Desirable

• Extensive experience over several years of working in clinical health psychology
• Experience of working in a pain management programme
• Experience of working with clients with trauma
• Experience of working with service user representatives

Skills and Knowledge
Essential

• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapies (e.g. ACT, CBT, EMDR) with relevant client groups (e.g. people with long-term co-morbid physical and mental health problems, histories of trauma and abuse)
• Skilled in working with the above clients individually and within groups and managing group dynamics in the face of highly emotive and distressing difficulties
• Skilled in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management with individuals, couples, families and groups, frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Highly developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
• Skills in delivering and developing group therapy interventions.
• Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
• Post-graduate level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of psychology

Desirable

• Written and spoken proficiency in Bengali and/or Sylheti
• Published peer-reviewed research and/or conference presentations within the field of clinical health psychology
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
• Knowledge of the wider landscape involved in the management of chronic pain

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
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).

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

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).