WHHT - Psychological Services

Background: Organizations have a duty of care to support the physical and psychological health of their workforce. Mental health is a key part of improving personal health and wellbeing for our workforce. Data from the Trust’s 2023 annual staff survey indicated that 41.1% of our staff had felt unwell due to work-related stress and over a third reported being ‘burnt out’ because of their work. 32.6% said they often or always found their work emotionally exhausting.

Service Requirements: WHTH requires a service that will deliver the following: a) A responsive, accessible psychological support service for both individuals and teams. b) Improvement and maintenance of psychological wellbeing and a reduction of distress through group/team-based interventions and staff training initiatives c) Support with the prevention of distress through consultation to the wider organisation and key stakeholders such as wellbeing leads, organisational development and HR teams. d) A service based within proximity to our hospital sites that has in-depth knowledge of local mental health services, including referral pathways, community resources and support networks within the region. e) Face-to-face support provided across all three hospital sites at short notice when needed.

Resourcing: The dedicated clinician outlined above will provide a service on two days per week, allowing for approximately 1 day per week allocated to Watford General (on or off-site) and half a day a week rotating through the other smaller sites (Hemel and St Albans), plus some off site time for clinical administration, record keeping and preparation. Some time is also factored in for reporting, clinical supervision and professional development / training. Some administration support (0.1 wte) will also be required to manage emails, requests and bookings, and support with data quality, reporting and clinical record system. Appropriate clinical supervision will be required, (preferably delivered by a Consultant Psychologist) to be provided for the Senior Psychologist within this service.