We are looking for an enthusiastic and innovative principal clinical psychologist/ neuropsychologist to provide a high-quality service to adults who have experienced stroke. The post covers ESD throughout the county of Derbyshire and so is envisaged as a part remote working, part ‘in person’ job. The intent is to develop a psychology service for the four ESD teams in Derbyshire, to offer consultation, pathway input and clinical work. This is an exciting post for the candidate to put their own stamp on how the service evolves based on the clinical and professional need that they encounter. You would be joining two very experienced QICN neuropsychologists from the inpatient ward and the community setting, who were recently finalists for DHCFTs “Clinical Team of the year”.
This senior post would also include leading the development and promotion of stroke psychology services within the wider healthcare system and integrated care boards, including those in physical healthcare settings, primary care and secondary mental health services.
Alongside unique clinical work there will be opportunity for research and conducting service pilots and evaluations. Our psychology department consists of circa 250 therapists, who will support you to develop and grow in Derbyshire. This includes our thriving neuropsychology diagnosis, QICN, compassion and dissociation groups.
The clinician would work closely with the consultant neuropsycholog ist , who offers community stroke psychology provision for North Derbyshire , and also the inpatient stroke psychologist . The intent is that we offer a seamless and integrated service from ward admission to community , through highly acute and early stroke discharge and then on to wider community support.
They would p rovi de specialist psychological assessment and consultation with ESD staff, service users and family member. Following this they would e valuat e, mak e decisions about treatment options and work with the ESD team. This would include c onsulting, advising, and/or supervising colleagues from other teams with regard to psychological formulation and management of people with cognitive and emotional issues.
The clinician would d irectly lead the ESD psychology provision and develop links with staff in services that refer to the stroke team. The 8b role is a development role and therefore the nature and proportion of remote contact, clinical work and travel will develop as the post does. This would include taking on management responsibility for parts of the stroke service and representing ESD, the stroke psychology team, or Derbyshire Healthcare NHS trust as appropriate .
Please see the attached Job description for full details.
Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Trust was an early adopter of mindfulness and compassion-focussed care due to the influence of one of our best known local psychologists Sir Paul Gilbert. His continued support of the division has meant that we have integrated mindfulness and CFT at the centre of a wide body of psychological approaches. This is also at the heart of our staff support system; we are proud that during covid we took care of our staff and even gave advice to other trusts about staff wellbeing. This has led to high retention rates amongst our psychological staff.
At present our new focus, alongside truly integrated care in stroke , is to instil trauma informed care at the heart of our work. Many staff are training in EMDR or are already experienced practitioners. Therefore we will support new staff to train and contribute to our growing division of compassionate evidence-driven professionals. A reas such as eating disorder are achieving national recognition for quality of care. Also f ellow psychologists are editing and publishing books on a variety of subjects such as forensic psychology and dissociation. Our particular physical health team were finalists for clinical team of the year 2025.
1 Clinical:
Responsible for:
Provision of specialist psychological assessments based upon the appropriate use , interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including self-report measures, rating scales, and semi-structured interviews with service users , family members and others involved in their care.
Implementing a range of psychological interventions for individuals, carers, families and groups, adjusting and refining psychological formulations as require d in person and remotely over Attend Anywhere, TEAMS or telephone as appropriate .
Evaluating and making 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.
Consulting, advising, and/or supervising colleagues from other teams and disciplines with regard to psychological formulation and management of people with cognitive and emotional issues.
Directly leading a psychologically-based framework of understanding and care for all patients in the service. This would include integration with the wider clinical psychology services in Derbyshire Mental Health NHS Trust and Chesterfield Royal Hospital.
Managing the requests for psychology from the four ESD team/s as required while being as equitable as possible.
2 Policy And Service Development:
Responsible for:
Devising and leading the implementation of policies and procedures relevant to the delivery of services within the agreed area of work.
Leading the ESD psychology provision and de veloping links with staff in services that refer to the stroke team. The 8b role is a development role that and therefore the nature and proportion of remote contact, clinical work and travel will develop as the post does. This would include taking on management responsibility for parts of the stroke service and representing ESD, the stroke psychology team, or Derbyshire Healthcare NHS trust as appropriate .
Leading the development, evaluation and monitoring of the ESD psychology service’s operational policies and ensuring the psychological liaison with the psychologist and staff of the inpatient ward/s.
Human Resources :
3.1 Clinical Supervision, Teaching and T raining.
Responsible for:
Receiving regular clinical supervision in accordance with Trust and professional good practice guidelines.
Offer training and provide supervision to other teams related to their psychological work, as appropriate .
Observing a personal duty of care in relation to equipment and resources used in the course of one’s own work.
Remotely a ttending service and business meetings within the Psychology and Psychological Therapies Service as required and agreed with the Lead for Psychology and Psychological Therapies and the Lead for Specialist Care Psychology.
Providing, as required , professional and clinical supervision of assistant psychologists and trainees including workload management.
3.2 Management and recruitment
T o manage the workloads of A ssistant P sychologists within the service following the framework of the team / service’s policies and procedures , as required and as appropriate .
To be involved, as appropriate , in the shortlisting and interviewing of Assistant Psychologists and Psychologists and Psychological Therapists as agreed with the Lead for Specialist Care Psychology and the Lead for Psychology and Psychological Therapies.
4 Research And Development :
Responsible for:
Conducting and supervising research, particularly in areas of clinical relevance if appropriate and agreed.
Utilising theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence-ba sed practice in individual work.
Undertaking clinical project management, including complex audit and service evaluation, within the service to help develop service provision.
5. Information Technology:
Collecting, recording, maintaining , and providing data and statistics, including clinical information, in accordance with Trust and National (SSNAP) requirements and policy, and comply with appropriate monitoring and review processes as required .
Processing text and constructing databases and spreadsheets for teaching and/or audit or research purposes .
6. Information Governance
The Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation NHS Trust requires its staff to comply with Information Governance related standards and policies at all times when dealing with confidential information, which includes any information relating to the business of the Trust and its service users and employees.
Post-holders must maintain high standards of quality in corporate and clinical record keeping ensuring information is always recorded accurately and kept up to date . The post-holder must only access information, whether paper, electronic or in other media, which is authorised to them as part of their duties.
7 . General
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 holder’s professional and service manager(s) .
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 supervision and appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current develo pments in the field of applied psychology and related disciplines.
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.
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 and/or learning disabilities.
To be noted:
This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities, and the 8b post holder may be required to undertake other management duties that fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with their manager.
