The post-holder will be responsible for delivering psychological support in the Neonatal Unit at UHCW. They will ensure optimum quality of care to parents and families of babies, offering psychological support where appropriate. Providing support to individuals, couples and families who are dealing with issues that affect their mental health and well-being or who are at risk of developing mental health issues in the perinatal period.
The post holder will work collaboratively with families in a holistic way, offering the most appropriate support, signposting and referral to additional support services as required. Working closely with antenatal, complex care, post-natal and outreach services to provide an inclusive service for all families.
The post holder will work with people with different cultural backgrounds and ages, using interpreters when necessary and should be committed to equal opportunities. The role will also work very closely across a multi-agency partnership.
The post holder will also provide confidential professional support to staff as required. In addition, the postholder will offer advice and consultation on patient’s psychological care to colleagues from other disciplines to patients’ families and carers. The post holder will also supervise and support the Neonatal Counsellor involved with these services.
Please note that interviews are provisionally scheduled for week commencing 3rd March 2025.
This is an opportunity to join an enthusiastic team who are committed to providing a high-quality service. This post and provides opportunities for service development work, which will be guided by best practice standards and frameworks, as well as an external clinical supervisor and internal line manager.
This service sits within a developing neonatal and paediatric psychology service, with opportunities for support from a wider health psychology provision across different departments in the Trust. All psychologists regularly link up and are proactive in having this contact and supporting each other. There are also links with the regional universities for academic and research purposes. In addition, there are close links with community and third sector services, as well as regional and national specialty specific meetings.
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, rated as good by the Care Quality Commission, is one of the largest teaching Trusts in the UK.
We are extremely proud of our employees across our hospital sites, with high quality patient care at the heart of everything we do.
Boasting some of the most modern facilities in Western Europe, the Trust is renowned for being at the forefront of research and innovation as part of its blossoming reputation as a worldwide leader in healthcare.
We are proud to be recognised as a Pathway to Excellence®designated organisation – please click the link for further details about this prestigious award.Pathway To Excellence ® - University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire (uhcw.nhs.uk)
By joining our exciting journey, you will form part of a passionate, talented team and will be able to access a wide range of learning and development opportunities. There has never been a better time to join our team.
The Trust is committed to building an organisation that makes full use of the talents, skills, experience, and different perspectives available in our diverse society. We want everyone to feel they are respected, valued, can achieve their potential and receive the most appropriate and relevant care. We will create an environment where the equality and human rights principles of fairness, respect, equality, dignity and autonomy are promoted and are part of the organisation's core values.
The Neonatal Unit located in University Hospital Coventry, provides a range of tertiary care services to premature and sick babies in Coventry, Warwickshire and beyond from 22 weeks gestation.
The unit is a designated level 3 unit, and as part of the West Midlands Neonatal Operational Delivery Network, we have close links to Birmingham, Worcestershire, Hereford, Nuneaton and Warwickshire Hospitals.
We take pride in the services we provide for babies and their families, and in 2019 this dedication was rewarded as we became the first unit in the Midlands to achieve full Neonatal UNICEF Baby Friendly accreditation.The Neonatal service was also rated as good in the 2018 CQC inspection of UHCW.
We strongly believe in parents being our partners in care when it comes to the needs and decision making processes, the unit is open for parents to be with their baby any time day or night and we are working towards completing our Bliss Baby Charter.
As part of our progressive vision, UHCW Neonatal Unit is committed to research and has an active research program.
Our neonatal unit looks after up to 8 Intensive care cots, 8 High dependency cots, 14 Special care cots and 4 Transitional care cots. We are the hub for the new Outreach service for the Coventry, Warwickshire and Nuneaton area.
The Psychological Services in this area is expanding. We have recently been chosen to pilot a hub and spoke model for psychological services across the LMNS. This means that you will have the opportunity to work with other psychologists to develop this model of care and evaluate it locally. It is an exciting time to join a truly multidisciplinary team, working closely with a team of allied health professionals to meet the psychosocial needs of infants, parents, carers and to support all staff in being able to do this safely and effectively, whilst ensuring staff well-being.
• To provide highly specialist psychological assessments and therapy for parents or infants in the neonatal unit using highly complex psychological data gained from a wide variety of sources.
• To be responsible for evidence based psychological interventions with families and carers of babies accessing the service and specifically to promote adaptation and adjustment. To ensure the systematic provision of psychological services, including the responsibility to prioritise work appropriately.
• To use psychological and neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct and indirect structured observations and semi-structured interviews with parents and family members and others involved in the care of the babies on the unit. To follow up and to re-assess when considered appropriate, using approved statistical methods to make valid comparisons. To communicate both orally, and in written reports, the content of these investigations and resulting formulations to support the work of multidisciplinary colleagues.
• To work as an independent and autonomous professional within BPS and HCPC guidelines and the policies and procedures of the service, taking full responsibility for own work.
• To contribute to the effective working of the multi-disciplinary health team to deliver comprehensive clinical care to families and infants, ensuring that psychological wellbeing is central to the planning and delivery of health care.
• To provide highly specialist psychological advice, guidance, consultation and supervision to other professionals contributing directly to patient’s formulation, diagnosis, treatment plans and management of clients. This includes provision of advice and support to facilitate the effective use of psychological treatment by other members of staff where appropriate.
• To ensure that members of staff within UHCW have access to psychologically based framework for understanding through the provision of advice, supervision, consultation and the dissemination of psychological research and theory. This will include attendance at MDT’s, psychosocial meetings and service development meetings as appropriate.
• To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual patients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management.
• To contribute to the development of services in the locality, reviewing service outcomes, designing and participating in audit, research and clinical governance initiatives and working cooperatively with colleagues to achieve service goals and maximise service effectiveness. This will involve communication with a wide range of clinical and managerial colleagues, within and outside of the Trust.
• To provide supervision to the Neonatal Counsellor in post, trainee clinical/counselling psychologists on placement, assistant psychologists, psychology Masters students, volunteers and other colleagues, including professional and doctoral research supervision as required.
For further details please see the attached job description.
This advert closes on Wednesday 19 Feb 2025