Principal Clinical Psychologist Paediatrics

Job overview

We are seeking an experienced Paediatric Psychologist to join us for short term support for the clinical services we provide at Worthing and St Richards’ Hospitals for children with long term health conditions, pain problems and functional symptoms. Support and supervision for this post will be provided by the Consultant Clinical Psychologist within Paediatrics.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will support the Consultant Psychologist for Paediatrics to co-ordinate, lead and provide the systematic provision of clinical psychology services to children, young people and their families / carers who are users of the Paediatric Department in the western part of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (UHSussex) receiving their care from Worthing and St Richard’s Hospitals. The post holder will become an integral member of our established multidisciplinary paediatric teams supporting children and young people with a variety of long-term health conditions including cancer, chronic pain, diabetes, epilepsy and those who present with disabling functional symptoms. They will provide highly specialist psychological assessments and interventions as part of the specialist Paediatric Psychology Team and will be responsible for a clinical caseload of children in both St Richard’s Hospital (SRH) in Chichester and Worthing Hospital (WH), travelling between sites in accordance with the needs of the service.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please note: This role does not meet the minimum criteria for visa sponsorship under the current UK immigration rules, which set specific salary and skill thresholds. As such, we are unable to provide sponsorship for this post. Applicants will therefore need to already have the right to work in the UK to be considered. We include this information at the outset to provide clarity and avoid unnecessary inconvenience for applicants.

If you do not meet the sponsorship requirements, and you are applying using a Graduate visa as your right to work, you must have a minimum of 18 months remaining on your visa at time of application.

The post holder will have the following responsibilities:

• Offer consultation to other professionals to improve the quality of care delivered to children and young people with physical health problems and long-term health conditions.
• Provide education, training and supervision to psychologists and other professionals to enhance skills and expertise in the area of long-term health conditions, pain problems and functional symptoms in accordance with the demands of the service.

• Work in collaboration with paediatric colleagues to assess and meet the treatment needs of children and young people with a range of long-term health conditions, pain problems and functional symptoms within a multidisciplinary model of care.
• Contribute to team decisions about treatment options considering highly complex biopsychosocial factors which impact the children / young people with long-term health conditions, pain problems and functional symptoms and their families.
• Provide highly specialist psychological assessment and intervention to children and young people with a range of long-term health conditions, pain problems and functional symptoms on an individual and, when appropriate, group basis. This will include the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of highly complex data from a variety of sources including formal psychological and psychometric test batteries, specialist diagnostic assessments, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with patients, family members and others involved in the child’s / patient’s care.
• Evaluate, design and advise on the implementation of evidence based psychological interventions, therapies, treatments and management strategies to address assessed children’s / patient’s difficulties taking into account theoretical and therapeutic models and the highly complex developmental processes and systemic / relationship patterns that pertain to the individual child / patient and their family.
• Offer advice and consultation on the psychological challenges experienced by children with diabetes and a range of other long term health conditions to other professionals within the Paediatric Department and the wider health care network.
• Facilitate understanding across teams about the nature of the psychological challenges faced by children and young people with physical health problems and long-term health conditions through teaching, training and supervision.