Clinical Psychologist, Psycho-Oncology Service with certificate of sponsorship to the UK
Visa Note
While this position offers a certificate of sponsorship, applicants must verify their visa eligibility directly with the employer. The certificate of sponsorship does not guarantee visa approval, and applicants should confirm all requirements with the UK Visas and Immigration service before applying.
Job Overview
A rare opportunity has arisen for a clinical psychologist to play a pivotal role in the development of a new adult psycho-oncology service for people affected by cancer in County Durham and Darlington (CDDFT). This position involves building pathways and supporting patients, with an initial focus on lung cancer patients who are at particular risk in the area.
This is a 12-month fixed term contract that will begin with a focus on supporting lung cancer patients and sharing learnings regionally. At the heart of CDDFT’s psychological approach is the critical nature of proximity, listening, involvement in systemic issues, and how service design can either entrench or challenge inequality.
The ideal candidate will be motivated to offer a service that addresses social inequalities and will develop effective working relationships across populations, organisations, and boundaries. The successful applicant will be supported by the consultant psychologist and head of service.
Key Responsibilities
The primary responsibility of this role will be to scope and develop psychological support with a focus on lung cancer population needs. This will involve speaking with patients, multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs), charities, and external stakeholders to help develop ways to provide specialist psychological assessment and evidence-based interventions appropriate for the diverse population.
You will work closely with the CDDFT lung multi-disciplinary team to ensure the needs of people affected by lung cancer are supported and to develop ways that psychology can integrate with existing approaches. A key aspect of the role will be to share learnings across the wider lung cancer region to support dissemination of best practice.
The successful candidate will hold an active caseload, delivering specialist assessments and interventions for people affected by lung cancer. Additionally, you will contribute to research, training, and service development to enhance psycho-oncology delivery and care within the organisation.
To excel in this position, you will need to be creative and innovative, as well as being a completer finisher with an eye for detail and evaluation. The role requires someone who can work flexibly according to clinical demand and manage competing priorities while delivering reliable outcomes.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential qualifications include post-graduate doctorate level training in Clinical Psychology as accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), specifically covering models of psychopathology and psychological therapies. Applicants must be HCPC registered Clinical Psychologists with post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialised areas of clinical practice.
Essential also is evidence of continuous professional development including relevant specialist courses, training and experience. Desirable qualifications include post-qualification training in staff supervision.
Special Skills & Knowledge
Essential skills include the ability to provide consultation to other professional and non-professional groups, and to deliver a culturally sensitive service. Applicants should demonstrate a flexible and dynamic approach to working, capable of collaborating independently as required.
The successful candidate will need to work flexibly using a range of therapeutic approaches in response to individual client needs. You should be able to work flexibly within the service according to clinical demand, manage competing priorities, and deliver reliable outcomes.
Emotional resilience is essential, as you will need to contain and work with organisational stress, hospital triggers, and have resilience in holding the stress of others. Well-developed communication skills are required for effectively communicating complex, technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients, families, carers, and professional colleagues.
Desirable skills include experience in the design and delivery of group work, experience of applying psychology in different cultural contexts, and experience of working with couples and families.
Experience
Essential experience includes working in the NHS and in health psychology settings. Applicants should have experience working with patients in hospital or cancer care settings, and with multidisciplinary teams while liaising with external stakeholders.
Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups is required, along with experience of undertaking research or service evaluation within the NHS and verbally and written disseminating findings. Experience of providing assessment, therapy, supervision, teaching, and training is also essential.
Desirable experience includes working with pathway development, experience working with hard to engage populations, experience running groups, experience of consultation work to health professionals and MDTs, and experience of teaching and training other health professionals.
Special Requirements
Knowledge of working in a cancer service or other health setting is essential. The successful candidate will be a finisher-completer with an eye for detail and strong organisational and planning skills. An interest in addressing social inequalities is important, as is the ability to use complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention, and management.
Applicants should be able to transport equipment and travel to multiple hospitals across the Trust and regionally. Emotional resilience is required to maintain a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems and hospital environments.
Desirable special requirements include evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS. Statutory registration with HCPC is essential, while membership of BPS or ACP is desirable.
Employer Information
County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services from two acute sites – Darlington Memorial Hospital and University Hospital of North Durham. The Trust also has a centre for planned care in Bishop Auckland and provides care from community hospitals in Chester-le-Street, Shotley Bridge, Barnard Castle, Sedgefield, and Weardale.
The Trust operates from over 80 community-based settings and provides care in patients’ homes. They particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as these groups are currently under-represented in the workforce.
Full job descriptions can be found in the supporting documents. Over reliance on AI-generated content is discouraged and may diminish the applicant’s chances of success. For the most up-to-date information on visa requirements and eligibility, applicants should check online to determine whether they can apply.
Additional Information
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975, and 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, applicants should visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants applying for entry clearance into the UK must 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.
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information, please see the NHS Careers website. From April 9th 2025, Healthcare assistants must have been employed for a minimum of two years as a HCA Band 3 within the NHS for the Trust to consider sponsorship.
How to Apply
Apply for this position via the NHS Jobs website using reference number C9439-2526-1489. The closing date is 30 March 2026. Before applying, ensure you verify your visa eligibility with the employer, as the certificate of sponsorship does not guarantee visa approval.
When applying, you will need to provide all certificates stated as essential in the person specification to complete pre-employment checks. If you are invited for an interview, you must accept an interview slot in the system to continue, even if you have arranged with the manager.
For questions about the job, contact Nancy Vanderpuye (Consultant Psychologist and Head of Psych-oncology) at Nancy.vanderpuye1@nhs.net or by phone at 07388714860. Supporting documents including the job description, recruitment brochure, and ID checks can be downloaded from the application portal.
The employer offers several benefits including a pension scheme, credit union membership, cycle to work scheme, and library knowledge and learning centre services. More information about these benefits and the employer can be found on their website at https://www.cddft.nhs.uk/.
Please note that while the employer is open to international applications, all applicants must meet the professional registration requirements for clinical psychologists in the UK. For overseas applicants, further information about working in the UK healthcare system can be found on the NHS Careers website.