NHS Borders
Principal Clinical or Counselling Psychologist

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Please note, we can accommodate a degree of remote working, especially during current times and would be open to discussions with applicants interested in all or some of these sessions.
NHS Borders Psychology Service
NHS Borders Psychology Service is delighted to be inviting applicants for a 0.9WTE 8b Senior Clinical Psychologist to join our Older Adults psychology service.
This post provides a great opportunity to be part of an expanding psychology service. The post-holder will join the NHS Borders Older Adults Psychology service, a small team of clinical psychologists and trainees, in providing evidence-based psychological interventions and neuropsychological assessments to older people across a range of clinical settings. This is a 0.9WTE permanent post however we are open to applications from individuals interested in some or all of these sessions.
This post (0.9wte) offers opportunities to work alongside the head of service in a range of roles including service development work, staff training and supervision, according to service demand, in addition to carrying a small clinical caseload. Part of this post will involve coordinating the delivery of training to care homes and community hospitals.
To fill this important post we are looking for a suitably qualified Psychologist who is innovative and has a passion for continuing service improvement. We are looking for someone with extensive experience of working in older adult mental health services including the delivering teaching and training, multidisciplinary working, working with people with psychological distress in the context of dementia, complex therapy and neuropsychological assessments. It is essential that the postholder has considerable experience of providing clinical supervision to trainee and qualified Psychologists as well as professionals from other disciplines.
NHS Borders Psychology Service is a dynamic and supportive service that aims to offer delivery, training and supervision in psychological therapies to the NHS Borders, a rural population of 115,000 people.
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We are in easy reach of Edinburgh with the majority of our staff based in the capital, often car-sharing. The recent addition of the Tweedbank rail service from Edinburgh has made travel to Tweedbank (45 minutes from Edinburgh and a 20-minute walk to the Borders General Hospital) an attractive commute.
The Scottish Borders is a lovely area to live in, with excellent schools, abundant local amenities and easy access to Edinburgh and transport links. Superb leisure facilities including many golf courses, mountain bike trails, fishing and other rural pursuits locally, plus good quality affordable housing, provide ideal opportunities for a high quality of life in this scenic part of the country.
This is an exciting time for the NHS Borders psychology service, and we are looking for motivated and innovative professionals who can make a contribution to the service. In return we offer a supportive team, with good opportunities for growth and career development.
For further information on what is included in the role and what skills/experience are being looked for, click on the link at the bottom of the screen to the job description. If after reading this information you have any questions, please contact either: Dr Louise Keir, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Acting Director of Psychology, on louise.keir@nhs.scot, or call: 07824 475446.
Please note: the salary quoted is for full-time hours (36 hrs per week). For appointments to part-time hours, the salary will be pro-rata.
Whether you’re early in your career or looking to take the next step into a more senior role, NHS Borders offers a supportive environment where you can grow, influence change, and make a real impact.
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As part of the pre-employment checks for a preferred candidate, NHS Scotland Boards will check your entitlement to work in the UK. It can be evidenced through a number of routes including specific types of visa as well as EU settled and pre-settled status. To find out more about these routes of permission, please refer to the GOV.UK website.
For specific types of post, if you do not have the necessary eligibility to work in the UK, it might be possible (though not guaranteed) to secure sponsorship via a UK Skilled Worker/Health & Care Worker Visa. However, this is only possible if the employer is a licenced Sponsor, and if the post does not fall below the current minimum salary threshold or ‘going rate’. Further information on these criteria can be found.
It is ESSENTIAL that you have checked that you either already have an appropriate right to work in the UK or that the post would be eligible to be sponsored BEFORE submitting your application form.
PLEASE NOTE: We cannot accept late applications so please ensure your application is submitted early.
NHS Scotland is committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. To this end, NHS Scotland welcomes applications from all sections of society.
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