Practitioner Psychologist - Tower Hamlets Persistent Pain Service
At a glance
- Band
- Band 7
- Contract
- Permanent
- Pattern
- Part-time
- Posted
- 04/09/2026
- Closes
- 04/10/2026
Sponsorship verdict
This contract type is not eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship.
NHS Trusts cannot issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for part-time, bank, locum, zero-hours, job-share or short fixed-term (under 12 months) contracts under current Home Office rules. This applies even when the wider Trust holds a Skilled Worker licence.
Role summary
This is a permanent Band 7 Practitioner Psychologist post within the Tower Hamlets Persistent Pain Management Service. The role involves providing specialist psychological assessment, formulation, and intervention for adults with persistent pain, working as part of a multidisciplinary team. The postholder will also deliver and develop pain management and psychological skills groups, and contribute to service improvement projects. The role requires autonomous practice within professional guidelines, with clinical supervision from the Lead Clinical Psychologist. On-site attendance is required three days per week at Mile End Hospital.
Key responsibilities
- Provide high quality, specialist clinical / counselling / health psychology input to the Tower Hamlets Persistent Pain Service.
- Deliver and develop pain management and psychological skills groups.
- Lead service improvement projects that enhance patient care and team effectiveness.
- Provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation, and intervention for individuals experiencing persistent pain.
- Work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team to promote holistic, evidence-based approaches to pain management.
- Contribute to ongoing service development, evaluation, and innovation to ensure high-quality, patient-centered care.
Essential criteria
- Post-graduate training in Clinical, Counselling or Health Psychology
- Registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council
- Experience of working in physical health settings
- Experience of psychological assessment, intervention and management working with a wide range of clinical presentations with complex, long-term co-morbid physical and mental health conditions including pain and maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems
- Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts
- Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialist psychological therapies (e.g. ACT, CBT, EMDR) with relevant client groups (e.g. people with long-term co-morbid physical and mental health problems, histories of trauma and abuse)
- Skilled in working with the above clients individually and within groups and managing group dynamics in the face of highly emotive and distressing difficulties
- Skilled in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management with individuals, couples, families and groups, frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
- Highly developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, highly technical, and clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS
- Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
- Skills in delivering and developing group therapy interventions.
- Ability to identify, and employ, as appropriate, clinical governance mechanisms for the support and maintenance of clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour
- Post-graduate level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of psychology
Desirable criteria
- Additional formal training or qualification relevant to Clinical Health Psychology and/or Trauma
- Membership of relevant professional group or society e.g. BPS, ACP, British Pain Soc, IASP
- Extensive experience over several years of working in clinical health psychology
- Experience of working in a pain management programme
- Experience of working with clients with trauma
- Experience of working with service user representatives
- Written and spoken proficiency in Bengali and/or Sylheti
- Published peer-reviewed research and/or conference presentations within the field of clinical health psychology
- Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group and mental health
- Knowledge of the wider landscape involved in the management of chronic pain
Useful to know
Agenda for Change 2024/25 pays Band 7 at £46,148 – £52,809 a year, across England.
This advert: £58,133 – £65,261 — outside the standard scale; check for HCAS/London weighting.
Posted 3d ago · Closes in 28d
Plenty of time to prepare a strong application.
Full advert · preview
Barts Health NHS Trust
Practitioner Psychologist - Tower Hamlets Persistent Pain Service
The closing date is 04 October 2026
Job summary
We are delighted to offer a permanent Band 7 Practitioner Psychologist post within theTower Hamlets Persistent Pain Management Service. This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled and motivated practitioner psychologist to contribute to a specialist service and to play a key role in the ongoing development of psychologically informed pain management pathways.
The postholder will provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation, and intervention for adults living with persistent pain, working as an integral member of the multidisciplinary Persistent Pain Management Service.
The successful candidate will work autonomously within professional guidelines and the policies of the service, while receiving clinical supervision from the Lead Clinical Psychologist. They will also provide consultation, joint working, and psychologically informed input to colleagues across the MDT.
Tower Hamlets is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse boroughs in London. While not essential, written and spoken proficiency in Bengali and/or Sylheti is considered a valuable asset to support many of our patients and their families, ensuring our service is as inclusive and accessible as possible.
The postholder is required to attend on
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