Clinical Research Practitioner in Mood Disorders

Go back Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

Clinical Research Practitioner in Mood Disorders

The closing date is 12 October 2025

This post is Fixed Term for 12 months. Secondment considered.

The Clinical Research Practitioner in Mood Disorders will be a key member of the new CPFT Mood Disorders Research Clinic, led by Dr Hatfield and Dr Osimo. This full-time, fixed-term Band 7 role supports the clinic's establishment and daily operations across Cambridge and Peterborough.

Applicants must be a Registered Nurse or hold a degree in psychology or a related health and social care field, with registration from NMC, AHCS, HCPC, or an equivalent body. Postgraduate training and experience to Master's level are essential, while prior clinical research experience is desirable.

The role involves coordinating and delivering research with adult patients, and occasionally older adults and adolescents. Responsibilities include conducting assessments, physical examinations, and phlebotomy, as well as supervising junior staff and resident doctors.

The post holder will contribute to the clinic's academic and scientific output, supporting the NIHR Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration (MH-TRC) Mission. Upholding the Trust's values--professionalism, respect, innovation, dignity, and empowerment--is essential, alongside maintaining high standards of clinical governance, patient safety, and research integrity.

This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated individual to advance research in mood disorders and influence the future of mental health care.

Main duties of the job

The Clinical Research Practitioner will undertake diverse clinical and research responsibilities within the Mood Disorders Research Clinic. Key duties include identifying and screening participants, obtaining informed consent, and conducting clinical assessments such as psychiatric evaluations, tests, and phlebotomy. The role also involves coordinating follow-up visits, maintaining accurate records, and ensuring adherence to study protocols and ethical standards.

Beyond clinical tasks, the practitioner will lead patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) initiatives, supervise junior staff, and help shape clinic policies and procedures. They will manage clinical equipment and organise logistics for study participants.

On the research side, the post holder will support clinical trial delivery, uphold data quality and governance, and assist in developing research protocols and ethics submissions. They will critically appraise methodologies, contribute to grant applications, and support academic outputs including publications and presentations.

Governance responsibilities include developing clinical and research policies, managing referral screening systems, and supporting triage. The practitioner will also engage in ongoing training, stay informed on relevant legislation and best practices, and ensure compliance with Trust policies on equality, diversity, and information governance.

About us

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high-quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting andempowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high-calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities

1. To identify potential participants from primary care, self-referrals, CPFT and wider NHS clinical services, community services, university and NHS databases, specialist clinics, third sector organisations, schools and other access routes, for suitability for the Mood disorder clinic.

2. To be able to independently screen participants through notes/questionnaire reviews, and through phone/video consultations.

3. To be able to independently undertake all aspects of the clinical research pathway, including greeting participants, obtaining informed consent, performing assessments and testing and aspects of physical examination, phlebotomy, and arranging and undertaking follow-ups if needed.

4. To undertake psychiatric risk assessments and to discuss with/report to the supervising Consultants.

5. To lead in setting up and running patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) activities including setting up meetings, contracting and recruiting participants, running sessions, summarising results with support from the Leads.

6. To help supervise and coordinate activities by Resident Doctors andResearch/Healthcare Assistant(s).

7. To work with the clinical teams to map the patient pathway for specific trials, performing assessments, including psychological assessments, ECGs, physical examination and phlebotomy and associated processing.

8. To take and process blood samples required and ensure safe and appropriate storage of specimens.

9. To maintain accurate patient records and ensure all relevant information is documented within the patients medical notes and study source documentation.

10. To support carers through the study process, ensuring those involved are wellinformed.

Person Specification

Qualifications

- Registered Nurse or Degree in psychology/health and social care field
- Post graduate level training plus experience to master's level
- Hold NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council), AHCS (Academy for Healthcare Science), or HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) registration or equivalent

Experience

- Experience of working in a healthcare setting.
- Experience of recruiting to research studies including clinical trials in a healthcare setting

Skills & Abilities

- Skilled in performing holistic clinical assessments.
- Methodical in approach and able to work under pressure.
- Good leadership and interpersonal skills.
- Effective decision-making and problem-solving ability
- Ability to meet tight deadlines.
- Ability to work under own initiative.
- Ability to work well within a multi-disciplinary team environment
- Good organisational and time management skills
- Basic IT skills including MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- ECG recording
- Ability to engage and recruit patients into clinical trials.
- Experience in performing cognitive assessments
- Able to format reports and presentations
- Experience of performing Mental Capacity assessments
- Experience in conducting supervision and appraisals

Other

- Ability to travel independently (many research visits will take place in patients' homes or off site) and attend conferences / training away from home.

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.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

Address

£47,810 to £54,710 a yearper annum, pro rata

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

12 months

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

310-ASMH-7459744

Job locations

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