Band 8c Consultant Practitioner Psychologist

Job summary

A unique opportunity has arisen for a Consultant Practitioner Psychologist to lead the Cancer Psychology Service as part of University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust. The Cancer Psychology Service works with patients receiving cancer care across UHB offering an integrated service into a large specialty. You will lead a small team including practitioner psychology and assistant psychology colleagues.

You will work in partnership with the Lead for Clinical Health Psychology and Director of Psychological Services as part of the departmental leadership to shape and deliver a high-quality, patient-centred psychological service across one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country. You will also work closely with cancer leadership within UHB and system partners at the ICB to support delivery of their and our strategic priorities. Support will also be available from large regional and national networks of psychologists working in cancer care and the wider Department of Psychological Services.

This role is an exciting opportunity to spearhead an innovative service that is also pushing for required investment to advance necessary service growth. The applicant will ideally have experience of working in cancer care and physical health settings (particularly acute medical settings) and service development in this space, but our principal aim is to recruit a psychologist with the right passion and skills to support gold-standard care.

Main duties of the job

The role is a full-time (1.0WTE) position but we are open to discussion re: part-time or flexible working’

You will be responsible for the development, systematic provision, evaluation and governance of psychological services for people experiencing psychological distress and adjustment difficulties related to their cancer, along with consideration of interactions with pre-existing vulnerabilities and mental health and how these impact cancer care. In additional to patient-facing work (across a range of modalities/settings), you will be working closely with doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to provide high quality care, and you will need strong skills in consultation, supervision and teaching as part of our multidisciplinary teamwork. You will also contribute to and be responsible for aspects of department-wide leadership and specific strategic clinical objectives therein, including both management and supervisory responsibilities and regular collaborative working alongside senior clinical leads and operational management.

Our mission is to provide excellent psychological care and support for patients and staff, which is compassionate, inclusive and committed. If you thrive on challenge, creativity and a dynamic and supportive work environment, in which psychological thinking is highly valued in the wider multi-disciplinary teams, along with the opportunity to shape the future of the service, this is the job for you.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• *The Graduate Basis for Registration (further to completion of an honours degree in psychology accredited by the British Psychological Society, or, in the case of courses that are not accredited or where the first degree is not in psychology, by completion of the Society’s Qualifying examination, or completion of a Society accredited Conversion Course).
• *Satisfactory completion of a British Psychological Society accredited Doctoral Level postgraduate professional training course in clinical/counselling/health psychology (or equivalent for those trained prior to doctorate introduction), the completion of which includes the study of models of psychopathology, psychometric and neuropsychological assessment, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
• *Registration with the HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist

Desirable

• *Post-doctoral training in one or more highly specialist areas of psychological practice relevant to the clinical service area.
• *Formal post qualification training in relevant management or healthcare leadership skills.

Experience

Essential

• *Assessed considerable experience of working as a qualified practitioner psychologist including in the designated function with which this post is concerned.
• *Experience of very highly specialist psychological assessment and individual and group-based treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including primary and secondary/ specialist care and inpatient/residential, outpatient and community team settings.
• *Experience of the professional management of qualified and pre-qualified practitioner psychologists, psychology assistants, graduate and undergraduate students and other grades of staff within a psychology service.
• *Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, with clients of all ages across the lifespan and of wide-ranging presenting problems that reflect the full spectrum of clinical complexity and severity.
• *Experience of teaching, training and/or supervision.
• *Relevant post-qualification experience, and formal training in supervision, enabling the post holder to independently supervise clinical psychology trainees in accordance with relevant criteria adopted by local university practitioner psychology training course criteria (e.g. clinical/counselling/health psychology doctorate courses).
• *Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for the psychological care and treatment of referred clients, and of working within a multidisciplinary context wherein carries responsibility for the psychological aspects of a multidisciplinary care plan.
• *Experience of representing psychology within a multidisciplinary context.

Desirable

• *Experience of the multi-professional management of teams or services within the designated speciality.
• *Formal post qualification training in relevant management skills.
• *Experience of representing the profession in local policy forums.
• *Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts.
• *Experience of working within a multicultural framework.
• *Experience of working therapeutically with ‘difficult to treat’ clients.
• *Highly developed and advanced knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific ‘difficult to treat’ groups (e.g. personality disorder, challenging behaviour, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
• *Advanced level knowledge of the theory and practice of highly specialised psychological therapies and assessment methodologies.
• *Evidence of leadership and management skills

Additional Criteria

Essential

• *Is a ‘team player’ and has demonstrated ability to work and deliver to team and organisational objectives

Desirable

• *Personal experience of mental health problems.

Closing Date: 5 August 2026