Practitioner Psychologist, Psychotherapist & Psychological Therapist

This post forms part of an expansion and development of mental health liaison services across Trusts. This expansion is referred to as CORE 24. The primary aims to address the integration of mental and physical healthcare.

There is clear recognition in the service of the benefits that integrated psychology can bring, including expertise in constructing formulations encompassing patients' medical, psychological and social needs, and their health-related beliefs. Such formulations can then be used to inform direct psychological intervention, such as treating anxiety related to medical procedures, cultivating the development of coping skills, and supporting emotional processing of illness and medical care. They can also be used to guide clinical teams to work more effectively with patients who have complex physical and mental health needs. The need for such input has been demonstrated by recent audits, which identified issues such as poor adherence to treatment regimens, worries about going home, and difficulty trusting healthcare professionals., With support from senior colleagues in liaison services, the post-holder will develop a psychology service integrated with acute medical care, thus supporting rapid access to direct psychological intervention, and to training, consultation and case discussion, and will evaluate the impact of the service and disseminate what is learned from it.

Each post is supported by a growing 'ageless' multidisciplinary liaison psychiatry team, with specialisms in general adult and older adult liaison psychiatry. More broadly, they would also have support from a team of psychological staff, working across the acute, crisis and complex care pathway. This includes opportunities to support the development of psychological provision across the pathway.

The postholder will take the lead on developing services to support the Emergency Department to manage the needs of frequent attenders more effectively. They would work alongside other frequent attenders services, within SlaM and in Croydon University Hospital

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM) is committed to innovation, effective interventions and improved service user outcomes. The Trust has a broad range of staff in all disciplines with the widest range of skills and interests that provides many opportunities to thrive and develop. It provides mental health services to the people of Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Croydon, and specialist services to people from across the UK.

The Trust has 4,500 staff and operates from a total of 181 sites. It has close links in education and research with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) and King's College London School of Medicine, both of which are part of King's College London. This close collaboration involves working to ensure that developments and research feed directly into clinical practice. Its academic links with King's College London, which also include the Nightingale Institute and South Bank University, enables us to ensure that our health care staff receive high quality clinical training at both pre-qualification (or registration) stage and in specialist skills (post qualification).

Croydon University Hospital is the main CHS hospital site, based just north of Croydon town centre.