Neonatal Clinical Psychologist

Job summary
Fixed Term 12 Months - Maternity Leave Cover

Clinical Psychologists and other accredited psychological professionals, with specialist expertise in neonatology, are key providers of evidence-based psychological assessment and interventions for parents, infants and staff on neonatal units. They work as part of an MDT, provide consultation to medical teams on complex cases and supervise other professionals delivering psychological interventions for parents and providing staff support. They can provide assessment and intervention in four important areas within neonatal units:

• Parental and family mental health
• Infant Mental Health
• Staff Support and Training

Main duties of the job
Neonatal Clinical Psychologist

• To provide highly specialist psychological support to babies, their families and staff on the Neonatal Care Unit at CUH.
• To liaise closely with the multi-disciplinary team to provide specialised advice and consultation on babies and families psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues.
• To work systemically, supporting the neonatal MDT to deliver psychologically informed care to babies and their families.
• To contribute to the delivery of teaching, training and supervision for both psychology and non-psychologist colleagues in order to enable them to identify early families who will benefit from specialist input. For example, developing and promoting screening tools for bedside staff to use.

About us
Croydon Health Services NHS Trust provides hospital and community services across Croydon through a range of clinics and specialist centres. Formed in August 2010 from the integration of Croydon Community Health Services and Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust, we employ around 4,100 staff serving a diverse population of over 360,000 people.

Our main site, Croydon University Hospital, is one of the busiest in London. We are also leading the way in delivering more healthcare in community settings and people's homes. Our district nursing teams, Allied Health Professionals and community matrons care for people of all ages across the borough.

Like the wider NHS, we are working hard to meet increasing demand. With the right people on board, we continue to innovate and transform our services to provide the highest quality care for local residents. We place strong emphasis on education, training and career development for all staff.

If you want to make a real difference, challenge yourself and be part of a Trust that's shaping local healthcare, Croydon Health Services could be the place for you.

At Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, we are committed to supporting flexible working arrangements. Applicants are encouraged to discuss any flexibility they may need during the recruitment process.

Job responsibilities
***Please see the attached supporting document which contains more information about the role in the job description and person specification***

Person Specification
Education, Training and Qualifications
Essential

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

Desirable

• Further training in psychological approaches to trauma, parent-infant relationship work or systemic family therapy.
• Pre- or post-qualification training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training and/or other fields of applied psychology.

Key Competencies, Personal Qualities and Attributes
Essential

• Able to work autonomously and as part of a team.
• Able to contain and work with high levels of distress from clients and with organisational stress.

Knowledge and Experience
Essential

• Experience delivering highly skilled psychological assessments, interventions, follow-up and data monitoring utilising at least 2 therapeutic models.
• Experience of supervising pre-qualified/qualified psychologists and/or professionals from other disciplines.
• Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups and across the full range of clinical severity.
• Experience of liaising with carers and families and external organisations that support these groups.
• Ability to show autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, treatment and discharge of clients, liaising with other professionals as necessary.
• High-level knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.

Desirable

• Experience of working in a neonatal, perinatal or critical care environment.
• Formal training in supervision.
• Formal quality improvement (QI) training.

Skills
Essential

• Skills in self-management, including time-management.
• Skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team.
• Ability to cope with a fast-paced work environment, maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems.

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. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).