Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist in Cancer


Company:	NHS Jobs
Salary:	£66,274 to £73,496 a year
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	London, SE1 9RT
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	5 Oct 2026
Closing date:	18 Oct 2026

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Summary

Clinical: 1. To be a key senior member of the triage team, with responsibilities including a. Supporting assistant psychologist/students in triage work b. Attending triage meetings and contributing to key decisions regarding patient referral management, eligibility, assigning priority and allocation to clinicians/pathways. c. supporting triage delivery where there is biopsychosocial complexity, risk of suicide and vulnerability. This will include direct patient consultation/assessment and formulation, supporting decisions regarding who is best paced to meet clinical need and MDT liaison. d. Liaison with community services, palliative care, GPs, internal referrals including medical MDTS, CNSs, AHPs, and other GSTT psychology pathways e. Supporting our admin/support colleagues regarding wait list management, patient queries and operational pathways as needed. 2. To provide specialist psychological assessments of patients referred to the team based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including psychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with patients, family members and others involved as necessary. 3. To collaboratively formulate and implement plans for the psychological management of a patients psychological adjustment and mental health problems using a range of approaches, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of their problems, and employing methods based upon available current evidence of efficacy and effectiveness, across the full range of care settings. 4. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, within and across teams employed individually and in synthesis, adjusting and refining psychological formulations drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses. 5. To 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. 6. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of patients whose problems are managed by creative and flexible psychologically based care plans. 7. To provide specialist psychological advice guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to clients formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan. 8. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across all settings and agencies serving the client group. 9. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management. You will support triage practices that adopts the principles recommended by Staying Safe from Suicide: Best Practice Guidance for Safety Assessment, Formulation and Mangement (NHSE 2025). It acknowlegdes that suicidal thoughts and behaviours fluctuate and can change quickly. The intention is to keeple people safe from suicide through collaborative engagement with the person, using a trauma informed, personalised and holistic approach. 10. To act as care coordinator of a persons psychological care in cancer, and consulting with internal; and external professionals/agencies to help support a persons mental health needs 11. To communicate in a respectful, considered, timely, and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and plans of clients under their care and to monitor progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care. Teaching, training, and supervision 1. To deliver training packages when indicated. 2. To support MDT/ referrers through consultation regarding individual patients care and contribution to learning/training sessions for referrers regarding POST processes and work. 3. To receive regular clinical professional supervision from a senior applied psychologist. 4. To gain any additional highly specialist experience and skills relevant to applied psychology and/or the service (as agreed with the professional psychology manager). 5. To develop skills in the area of professional post-graduate teaching, training and supervision and to provide reflective practice or supervision to other members of the multidisciplinary team as appropriate. 6. To provide professional and clinical supervision of junior colleagues. 7. To contribute to the pre- and post-qualification teaching of clinical, health and/or counselling psychology, as appropriate. 8. To provide advice, consultation and training to staff working with the client group across a range of agencies and settings, where appropriate. Management, recruitment, policy and service development To support the early intervention part of our service: may include Develop and implement psychoeducation workshops for patients Support education and training for referrers Contribute to pathways that support referrers to complete Level 2 psychological assessment and make onward decisions around psychological support Contribute to resource development and co production of resources to support patients to navigate the challenges of a cancer diagnosis, treatment decisions and impacts of treatment/surgeries, 2. Support triage SOP/process development and implementation including risk and documentation processes. 3. To contribute to the development, evaluation and monitoring of the teams operational policies and services, through the deployment of professional skills in research, service evaluation and audit. 4. To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and developing the psychology service. Research and service evaluation 1. To contribute to the development of services, both locally and nationally, through initiating, undertaking and supervising complex service evaluation and audit. 2. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members. 3. To undertake project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the service to help develop service provision. 4. To ensure that comprehensive service evaluation is undertaken including ascertaining the views of service users and referrers to the service along with senior team. 5. To initiate, design and recruit to psychological research studies within the context of the Team and assist with writing up. 6. To disseminate research and service evaluation findings through publications in peer reviewed journals and oral presentations internally and at national and international conferences. 7. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members. General 1. To have established an area of specialist clinical or research skills relevant to work within the adult cancer setting through personal development plans agreed with the post-holders manager. 2. To contribute to the development and maintenance of the highest professional standards of practice, through active participation in internal and external CPD training and development programmes, in consultation with the post holders professional and service managers. 3. To have developed skills in clinical supervision, in selection and recruitment, and in other areas of service development appropriate to the post, through attending relevant courses and through collaboration with more senior colleagues. 4. To contribute to the development and articulation of best practice in psychology across the service, by continuing to develop the skills of a reflexive and reflective scientist practitioner, taking part in regular professional and clinical supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of applied psychology and related disciplines. 5. To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping including electronic data entry and recording, report writing and the responsible exercise of professional self-governance in accordance with professional codes of practice of the Health Care Professions Council, British Psychological Society, and Trust policies and procedures. 6. To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific client group and mental health.

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