Director of Psychological Professions

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Joining #TeamNELFT means you'll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We're CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

NELFT is looking for a new Director of Psychological Professions following the appointment of the current post holder into a position on the Board of Directors, demonstrating our commitment to clinical leadership at the most senior level in the organisation. The successful candidate will be responsible for the professional standards of a cohort of 850 staff. Coproduction with staff, patients and carers will be at the centre of their work.

The successful candidate will lead and manage a talented, experienced and effective group of deputy directors of Psychological Professions who work across all 7 directorates in NELFT, in North East London, Essex and Kent. They will be able to bring the voice of Psychological Professions to a wide variety of stakeholders and will drive a vision created by the senior team of parity, equity, inclusion, trauma-informed practice, community and coproduction.

Main duties of the job

The main duties of the role include embedding an overall clinical strategic vision for Psychological Professions across NELFT; supporting the delivery of innovative and effective services and facilitate clinical and service improvements; further develop a recruitment and retention strategy; provide professional leadership to all Psychological Professional staff across NELFT; show a commitment and drive to address health inequalities in the delivery of psychological provision across our directorates.

Working for our organisation

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focussing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

High Cost Area Supplement

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,551 to a maximum of £5,735).

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should sufficient applications be received.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The successful candidate will be an inspirational leader with high energy and a passion to deliver best patient care. They will integrate psychological provision whilst maintaining Psychological Professional identity and evidence base. They will encourage quality through creativity and innovation to ensure that psychological provision is a key ingredient of a multidisciplinary package of care. They will understand the importance of working across a system and of the need to walk hand in hand with people who use our services in order to ensure best possible care.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application.

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role, can be discussed at the interview stage.

The successful candidate will provide professional supervision and guidance to professional leads. They will undertake some clinical practice and maintain HCPC registration. They will work closely with operational colleagues to promote governance and development of services, ensuring newest research innovations, national policy and efficient delivery. They will be competent at reviewing outcome data and acting to rectify issues highlighted through analyses of delivery. They will be visionary in their leadership style and ensure that Psychological Professions are kept up to date with Trust developments. They will be able to work in a multidisciplinary way to ensure best care is created for people who use our services and their carers. They will maintain the highest standards possible of professional practice throughout the cohort.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• D Clin Psy or equivalent

Desirable criteria

• leadership qualification

experience

Essential criteria

• Delivery of transformation

Desirable criteria

• considerable change in pathways

skills

Essential criteria

• strong leadership

Desirable criteria

• ability to manage difficulties within teams

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

• A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a 'Top 10 Family Friendly Employer' from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that's a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.

Supporting our Armed Forces

We recognise the valuable contribution that the Armed Forces community make to our organisation. We have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and achieved Gold Award under the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme. We have supportive policies, guaranteed interview schemes for veterans. reservists and military spouses and give additional leave to our Reservists so that they can attend their annual camp.

Equal opportunities employer

We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of any protected characteristic.

We are a Disability Confident employer and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with disabilities. If you require this application in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape please contact the recruitment team on 0300 300 1530 or email recruitment@nelft.nhs.uk.

Correspondence with us

You are advised to regularly check your emails (including any junk mail/spam folders) for correspondence related to this post.

In the event of a high number of responses to any advert, NELFT reserves the right to close the vacancy early. If you do not hear from us within three weeks of the closing date then please assume you have not been successful on this occasion.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• Director of Psychological Professions JD and PS (PDF, 512.4KB)
• NELFT Application - Hints and Tips (PDF, 38.4KB)