Paediatric Practitioner Psychologist in Critical Care in London

We are looking for a psychological practitioner to join our thriving Paediatric Psychological Therapies service at St Georges Hospital. This exciting post will sit as part of our critical care cluster. Psychological professionals within the critical care cluster work with our intensive care and neonatal units, our major trauma team and the child death service. This role involves working with families affected by serious injury and illness as well as working as part of end of life care for babies and children. It includes offering advice and consultation on psychological aspects of care to other health professionals and supporting clinical team members.

Psychology plays a key role within children's services; embedded within MDTs to deliver high quality evidence based and family integrated care. The Paediatric Psychological Therapies Team is a large, friendly and expanding service. We consist of clinical and counselling psychologists, family therapists, mental health practitioners, assistant psychologists, trainees and administrators. Our service provides psychological support to both inpatient and outpatients, covering a wide range of specialties. The team is committed to professional development and delivering innovative, high quality care. There are many opportunities for CPD and a chance to develop your clinical and leadership skills.

This is an exciting time to join a friendly and supportive service, with opportunities to influence paediatric psychological care and contribute to teaching, training, and research within a dynamic hospital environment. The post holder will provide specialist assessment, formulation, and evidence-based interventions for children and families with a range of physical health presentations and support bereaved parents and siblings.

• Support inpatients with issues such as procedural anxiety, adjustment to diagnosis, and emotional wellbeing.
• Complete risk assessments and implement appropriate management plans for children presenting with psychological or emotional difficulties alongside physical health needs.
• Contribute to accessible, tiered care by developing and delivering group interventions in collaboration with colleagues.
• Work as part of the multidisciplinary team, offering consultation, joint working, and staff support to integrate psychological perspectives into medical pathways.
• Supervise non-qualified staff such as assistant psychologists and master's students.
• Support service evaluation, audit, and quality improvement projects, helping to shape effective and sustainable models of psychological care.

Ongoing professional development is encouraged, with supervision and opportunities to build specialist skills in paediatric psychology, group work, and service leadership.

St Georges Hospital is one of London's largest children's hospitals, with one of only four paediatric trauma units in London. It also hosts the only paediatric intensive care unit in South West London. We are one of the top three centres for specialist paediatric surgery in London, and a centre of excellence in foetal medicine.

The postholder is expected to have a clear understanding of how this post contributes to the achievement of the trust vision of: We are a thriving Foundation Trust at the heart of an integrated healthcare system. One that delivers improved patient care at a community, hospital and specialist setting, supported by a unique and nationally recognised programme of research, education and employee engagement. We expect all our staff to share the values that are important to the Trust, being Excellent, Kind, Responsible & Respectful, and behave in a way that reflects these.

Please see main job description and person specification for more details. Please contact Dr Laura Kollinsky- Clinical Psychologist (0208 725 2214) for an informal discussion.

Qualifications:

• Doctoral level training in clinical psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology, as accredited by the BPS and HCPC.
• Current registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Desirable:

• Pre-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology or child health specialisms.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• EMDR training.

Knowledge:

• Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies for children with chronic physical health conditions and the impact of their treatment on quality of life.

Desirable:

• High level knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological approaches for specific problems (e.g. adherence difficulties, preparation for medical treatment).
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to the client group (e.g. with regard to child protection and consent to treatment).

Skills:

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Well developed skills in the ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, complex, highly technical and/or clinically sensitive information to clients, their families, carers and other professional colleagues both within and outside the NHS.
• Ability to provide supervision and support to non-qualified psychology staff.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.

Desirable:

• Ability to contribute to service development and innovation.

Experience:

• Experience of specialist psychological assessment, formulation, and intervention with children, young people and families.
• Experience of working within a multidisciplinary team, preferably in a paediatric or health setting, and representing psychology.
• Experience of conducting and managing risk assessments and implementing appropriate risk management plans in the context of psychological and/or emotional difficulties.
• Experience of working with other agencies, e.g. social care.
• Experience in delivering psychological therapies that are culturally sensitive, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of children, young people, and families from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
• Experience of teaching or training others, using a variety of complex multi-media materials suitable for presentations within public, professional and academic settings.
• Experience of providing cognitive assessments.
• Experience of working with people with medical/chronic physical health conditions across a range of severity and presentations.
• Experience of working with bereaved families / end of life care.

Desirable:

• Experience of developing and implementing group-based interventions.
• Experience of working in an acute hospital with patients with medical/chronic health conditions across inpatient and outpatient settings.

Other:

• Ability to prioritise workload, manage time effectively and work autonomously within professional guidelines.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.

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.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration.