South Wales

Professional accreditation

• Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• British Psychological Society (BPS)
• British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) – level 1 CBT
• Association of Family Therapy (AFT) – Foundation level
• Neuropsychology training on our programme can be used to apply for accreditation of prior learning towards post-doctoral training in Clinical Neuropsychology  at Bristol University

Approach and theories

• Cognitive-Behavioural
• Systemic
• Neuropsychology

Placement locations

Whilst we welcome applications from throughout the UK, we would like to emphasise that we are commissioned by Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) to train a workforce for Wales. Consequently, the expectation is that applicants apply to our programme with the intention of seeking employment in Wales following completion.

The South Wales course provides trainees to six Health Boards covering a large part of the country. The six collaborating Health Boards providing placements are:

• Aneurin Bevan
• Cardiff and Vale
• Cwm Taf Morgannwg
• Hywel Dda
• Powys
• Swansea Bay

We have a regional placement model. Candidates are allocated to one of the six Health Boards for the first two years of training. They may request consideration to have a third-year placement   in a different Health Board where this is in-line with acquiring outstanding competencies or/and gaining additional experience.

Candidates are able to submit up to two Health Board preferences when they are short-listed for interview. These two Health Board choices will be seen as equal. Information about the various Health Boards will be sent to candidates to help inform their choice. Candidates do not need to submit a Health Board Preference form if they are happy to be placed anywhere within the South Wales region.

Candidates are able to state whether there are specific reasons why they should be given priority in any given Health Board. Reasons for requesting priority for a particular Health Board might be related to a health condition, a candidate owning a house within a Health Board region, having a child in school within that Health Board region, or having caring responsibilities for someone living within that Health Board region. We reserve the right to ask for proof of the circumstances under which the request for priority for a particular region is being made. Candidates must make us aware of all circumstances they would like us to take into account at the time they complete the Health Board Preference Form, however this information is not looked at until final decisions are made and does not have any bearing on our selection process. We are unable to take into account any information given to us after offers have been made.

Please note candidates’ circumstances and preferences are taken into account as much as is possible when allocating placements but unfortunately we are often unable to meet all requests.

Successful candidates will be informed which Health Board they have been allocated when they are offered a place on the programme. We are unable to negotiate about Health Board regions once offers are made.

In more rural areas of Wales, use of public transport may be difficult and time consuming so it may be helpful for trainees to have their own transport. We strongly advise that trainees live in the Health Board region where they are allocated placements to minimise long commutes. Mileage/travel will only be paid in line with NHS Wales mileage policy. Almost all of our teaching is face-to-face at Cardiff University so trainees will be expected to travel to Cardiff for teaching.