Interviews and placements for Psychological Therapy in Primary Care MSc

This course is both a University course and full-time employment in NHS Scotland where you work on placement. This guide provides information on how interviews and placements will operate.

Interview and course start dates

Interview dates and format

Interviews to be held from Monday 30 September 2024 to Friday 4 October 2024. Interviews will be held online using Microsoft Teams.

Applicants should though make sure that they are available for interview during this period.

Start dates for successful candidates

There is a three-week induction period:

• Monday 13 January 2025 - placement with your employing health board
• Monday 20 January 2025 - University of Dundee (Ninewells Hospital) intensive academic training period
• Monday 27 January 2025 - University of Stirling intensive academic training period

University attendance

What dates do I attend university classes?

Attendance at university is usually on the last week of the month.

• In January-March teaching is Monday-Friday.
• Teaching on other months is Tuesday-Friday
• In July university attendance is not required.

University attendance is compulsory

You have to attend (in person or online) all teaching sessions, this is non-negotiable. The course has strict attendance requirements and failure to meet these may mean that you will not be allowed to graduate.

What happens during weeks when I do not attend university?

You work on placement, under the supervision of an experienced clinician. In the early stages of training you will observe clinicians assessing patients, formulating patients’ difficulties and delivering Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). You will very probably be involved in a variety of other activities aimed at giving you a broad experience of working in a busy NHS environment.

Does the programme teach other approaches to therapy or just CBT?

The focus of this programme is the application of psychological knowledge and theory to assessment and formulation in the delivery of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). 

This is an evidence-based training programme intended to equip you with knowledge of how common mental health disorders are acquired, maintained and treated. 

We do this by reference to the current CBT models, incorporating the latest peer-reviewed evidence so that you have a structured, theoretical understanding of the challenges and approaches to treating these conditions. 

Other approaches and models are often referred to but the focus remains very much CBT.

Travel expenses and overnight accommodation

Your placement location will be your base and you are expected to be able to travel to placement as required. 

The cost of your travel to and from the universities for teaching will be reimbursed following NHS expenses policy. This uses NHS placement location as the basis for assessing travel requirements.  

This means that if you live in a location that is away from your base your travel may be more or less than the distance that is reimbursed.

Subject to certain conditions and limits, you may be entitled to reimbursement by your employing health board of reasonable accommodation costs incurred when attending the university teaching weeks. 

Overnight accommodation is only reimbursed if your NHS base is further away than ninety minutes travel. 

Placements with health boards

Do I have to be on placement full-time?

When you apply for this programme you are applying both for entry to the universities and employment with the NHS. You will be required to sign a contract of employment that will require you to work full time for the NHS.

This means in practice that during the weeks when you are not required to attend the universities for academic training, you will be required to work on placement, at locations required by your employer, for 3 days of each week.

The other two days are reserved as study days when you undertake self-directed study of academic material. As training progresses this will involve researching for a dissertation.

What supervision is provided?

Whilst on placement, clinical supervision is provided by an experienced clinician allocated to you at the start of training. Wherever possible this person will be your supervisor for the duration of your training and they will provide you with weekly, formal supervision.

There are usually opportunities for informal supervision from other departmental staff. Your experience on placement is supported by a Clinical Tutor who is a member of the MSc programme team and will meet with you at time points throughout the year.

You will also attend group supervision on the Friday of teaching weeks. You will be allocated to a group that will be led by an experienced clinician who is also a member of the university-based training team, for the duration of the training year.

In addition, you will be allocated a course team member to supervise and guide you when you are conducting your research for your dissertation.

Do I have to attend my placement every day?

Your employment terms and conditions are covered by an employment contract which states that you are a full-time employee and so outside of statutory and annual leave you must either attend university or be at work on placement. Some employers allow you to spend study days at home and if that happens you have to be contactable by the course team and have access to the internet that will enable you to attend virtual meetings to discuss training matters.

If I was to be successful in applying, can I decide where my placement will be?

No but you do have the opportunity to express your preferences for the NHS health boards that you would be willing to work in. 

As part of your application you are asked to rank order the health boards that are offering training posts according to your preference for location.

The health board(s) that you have ranked highest will consider your application. If you are invited for interview and are successful, we try as far as possible to offer you a place in your preferred board. 

However, demand for particular boards sometimes means that we are unable to offer everyone their most preferred board and under those circumstances we may offer a place in another health board that you have indicated you are willing to be employed by.

When indicating your preferences please be sure that you have thought this through properly. There is little opportunity to change these preferences once you have indicated them. 

What if I have no preference for a health board? 

Applicants who have no preference and who would be prepared to take up a training place anywhere, are given the opportunity to make this clear during application.

Some of the remote and more rural boards e.g. Dumfries and Galloway, Highland, Orkney typically have fewer applicants than other boards and so if you have few ties and can take up such a post, these places can be attractive to rank highly as there is less competition for those posts.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Lothian and NHS Lanarkshire usually have the greatest number of applicants.

Working a second job while studying this course

You will not be able to work in another job while undertaking this training. It is a highly demanding programme of academic and professional training that will require you to be flexible, very-well organised and self-motivated. Trainees should complete the programme within the scheduled 12 months.

You will have a role in mental health services that will require you to work and think like a health professional. You will need to be resourceful, determined and prepared to work and prepare for your clinical duties while managing the academic demands of training.

The minimum training standards of our accrediting bodies are high and you should be sure that your circumstances will allow you to make the commitments that will be necessary to undertake this training.