Job Summary
The University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group is delighted to be working in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support and the East Midlands Cancer Alliance to increase the psychological support for people living with cancer. We are looking to recruit a committed, compassionate, and enthusiastic clinical/counselling or health psychologist to join the psycho-oncology service. This post will be based at Kettering General Hospital.
The Macmillan clinical psychology services provide a specialist (level IV) clinical psychology service to adult (18 +) patients who have been diagnosed with cancer and who are experiencing complex psychological difficulties relating to any aspect of their diagnosis or treatment. Our services take a compassionate, holistic and patient-centred approach, and are committed to offering a flexible and responsive service to cancer patients at all stages of the cancer pathway.
The successful candidate will ideally have some relevant post-qualification experience. However,we would welcome applications from newly qualified psychologists who would be appointed on a band 7 preceptorship basis, with a development plan in place to support them to working towards an 8a role.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will work as part of the cancer multidisciplinary team, providing Level 3/4 psychological assessments and therapeutic interventions, in line with the service model recommended by NICE (2004) and the EMCA Psychosocial Care Model (2020) for the provision of psychological care to people living with cancer.
The post holder will also support the delivery of supervision, consultation and teaching to the hospital-based Level 2 Practitioners such as Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialists, as well as providing support to other staff within oncology services and the wider hospital cancer team as appropriate.
The post holder will work closely with the service lead to develop and implement the service across the County and will have opportunities to contribute to the future development of the service.
Person Specification
Skills
Essential
- Understanding of systemic factors and ability to apply these in formulations in the context of a complex healthcare system
- Ability to undertake assessments and formulation in a time limited manner, often with incomplete information
- Confidence delivering both individual and group psychological interventions
- Experience and ability to teach and train others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings
- Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate
- IT literate with ability to use electronic systems, spreadsheets/databases and produce reports and statistics
- Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to utilise them to communicate effectively within a multi-disciplinary team-based environment as well as with patients/carers
- Excellent time management and organisational skills to allow the ability to manage a demanding and constantly changing workload.
- Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration
Education, Training & Qualifications
Essential
- Post graduate doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS
- Eligibility for registration with HCPC as a practitioner psychologist
- Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS/HCPC
Desirable
- Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological practice
- Formal training in supervision of other psychologists
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- High level knowledge of the theory and practice of a least two specialised psychological therapies
- Experience of specialist psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings
- Experience of teaching, training and providing clinical supervision
- Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
- Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and with presenting problems that reflect the full range of clinical severity
- Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for client’s psychological care and treatment within the context of a multidisciplinary care plan
- Experience of the application of clinical psychology in different cultural contexts
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
- Experience of multidisciplinary team working
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapies in specific difficult to treat groups
Desirable
- Experience of working within oncology or a health psychology setting
- Specialist knowledge of psychological models relevant to understanding the psychological impact of cancer, coping and models of intervention
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Closing Date: 18 June 2026
