ABSTRACT

Clinical psychology in Britain is a post-war development. It has depended upon the farsightedness of a number of psychologists who were at work during and before the war. In essentials the development of clinical psychology has therefore been that of a new field of application rather than the expansion of one which was already well established on a smaller scale. Two other factors have been influential. Its development has occurred in a time of increasing demand for applied psychologists of all kinds; and almost entirely within the context of the National Health Service, brought into being on July 5, 1948 by the National Health Service Acts of 1946 and 1947. The Psychologist Grade is the grade to which basic qualifications and training and conditions of entry relate directly. A psychologist so qualified but lacking experience in clinical psychology could be appointed in the entry grade.