Principal Psychologist in Cancer

Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Principal Psychologist in Cancer

Job summary
Principal Psychologist - Clinical Health Psychology
Wolverhampton Cancer Service
Band 8b | 0.68 WTE (25.5 hours per week. Compressed hours over 3 days is available)

We are delighted to offer an exciting opportunity for an experienced, compassionate, and motivated Clinical or Counselling Psychologist to join our friendly, innovative, and highly valued Clinical Health Psychology Service within Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Our Clinical Health Psychology Service supports individuals in adapting to and managing the psychological impact of physical health conditions, helping people to develop meaningful and creative ways of living well alongside illness. The service currently operates across Dudley, Wolverhampton, and Sandwell & West Birmingham, delivering a range of specialist psychological services across the Black Country.

This post is based within the Wolverhampton Cancer Service and offers an excellent opportunity to work within a compassionate, psychologically informed, and highly collaborative multidisciplinary cancer pathway. The successful applicant will provide highly specialist psychological assessment, formulation, and evidence based therapeutic interventions for people affected by cancer, alongside support for families, carers, and wider systems where appropriate.

Main duties of the job
The service works closely with Macmillan Services, Living With and Beyond Cancer Services, oncology, haematology, palliative care, specialist nursing teams, and wider multidisciplinary colleagues, supporting patients throughout all stages of their cancer journey, including diagnosis, active treatment, survivorship, recurrence, palliative care, and end-of-life care.

The post holder will work with individuals presenting with a broad range of highly complex psychological and emotional difficulties associated with cancer and physical illness, including adjustment difficulties, anxiety, depression, trauma responses, fear of recurrence, existential distress, complex grief, relationship challenges, and co-morbid mental and physical health presentations.

Psychology is highly valued within the cancer multidisciplinary teams, with psychologists contributing through regular MDT attendance, psychologically informed consultation, reflective practice, formulation, clinical supervision, staff support, and teaching. The successful applicant will play a key role in strengthening psychologically informed approaches across cancer services and supporting the ongoing integration of psychology within physical healthcare pathways.

About us
Employees, workers, and / or contractors will be expected to uphold the values of the Trust and exhibit the expected Trust behaviours aligned to the Trust's values. Individuals have a responsibility to ensure that they display the Trust values and behaviours in carrying out their job and that individuals feel able to challenge (or raise a challenge) when other colleagues' behaviours breach the spirit of Trust values.

The post holder will benefit from joining a supportive and enthusiastic team of practitioner psychologists and psychological professionals who utilise a broad range of therapeutic approaches, including CBT, ACT, Compassion Focused Therapy, systemic approaches, and trauma informed models of care.

The successful applicant will work alongside other Principal Psychologists and applied psychologists, with support from a Consultant Clinical Psychologist within a robust leadership, supervision, and governance structure. The wider psychology network provides excellent opportunities for collaborative working, innovation, peer support, and professional development across physical health services.

Details
Date posted: 29 July 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8b
Salary: £66,582 to £77,368 a year
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Part-time
Reference number: 285-3094B-MH
Job locations: New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton Road, Wolverhampton, WV10 0QP
Employer: Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Address: New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton Road, Wolverhampton, WV10 0QP

Job description
Job responsibilities
The service places strong emphasis on high quality clinical supervision, reflective practice, leadership development, and workforce development. Applicants must hold, or be eligible to work towards, BPS Register of Applied Psychology Practice Supervisors (RAPPS) accreditation and demonstrate substantial experience in providing clinical supervision, consultation, and support to trainee and qualified psychological professionals in line with HCPC and BPS standards.

We are seeking an experienced psychologist with excellent leadership, communication, consultation, and interpersonal skills, who is able to work autonomously whilst contributing effectively within complex multidisciplinary healthcare systems.

Applicants should be able to demonstrate:

• Doctoral level training in Clinical or Counselling Psychology recognised by the BPS
• HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist
• A minimum of five years post qualification experience working as a qualified psychologist
• Significant experience of working with complex psychological presentations within multidisciplinary healthcare settings
• Experience of service development, leadership, and psychologically informed system working
• Experience of providing clinical supervision, consultation, teaching, and reflective practice
• Experience of supporting and developing psychologically informed care within multidisciplinary teams
• Strong formulation, risk assessment, and therapeutic intervention skills
• Excellent communication and collaborative working skills
• Commitment to professional leadership, reflective practice, and ongoing service innovation

Direct experience of working within cancer and palliative care services is highly desirable, although applications are welcomed from experienced psychologists working in related physical health specialties who can demonstrate transferable leadership and clinical skills relevant to complex healthcare environments.

The post holder will benefit from joining a supportive and enthusiastic team of practitioner psychologists and psychological professionals who utilise a broad range of therapeutic approaches, including CBT, ACT, Compassion Focused Therapy, systemic approaches, and trauma informed models of care.

What Our Staff Say About Working in the Clinical Health Psychology Service
The psychology team provided a number of opportunities for broadening experiences, and the roles are varied in nature. For example, there are opportunities to provide supervision, training, reflective practice, team development and individual client work.

Thank you for helping me grow I wouldnt be the psychologist I am today.

My experiences enabled me to develop skills in consultation, which in turn helped me support the development of psychological thinking within the team, across trust-wide discussions, and broader clinical decision-making forums.

This is an excellent opportunity to join a thriving and expanding service that places high value on innovation, professional development, staff wellbeing, inclusion, and compassionate multidisciplinary care.

Person Specification
Education/ Qualifications
Essential

• Post-graduate doctoral level training in applied Psychology (or its equivalent) as accredited by the BPS including models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• HCPC registration as an Applied Psychologist with Chartered Status
• Trained in clinical supervision and the supervision of doctoral trainees

Experience
Essential

• Working as a qualified applied psychologist within the designated service including a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and a range of clinical severity across a range of care settings.

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).