A Vacancy at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The Neonatal Psychological Service at Bedfordshire Hospitals works to support the emotional and psychological wellbeing of parents and families where their baby has been admitted to the neonatal unit, as well as the staff teams that support them. Psychological support and family-centred care is a valued part of our Trusts’s approach, and we work closely with multidisciplinary colleagues to support our infants and their families to thrive.
The service provides support for Meadowbank Ward at Bedford Hospital (a 12-cot Level 1 Special Care Baby Unit) and for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Luton and Dunstable Hospital (37 neonatal cots, comprising 11 intensive care (Level 3), 10 high dependency (Level 2), and 16 special care (Level 1) cots.Our unit at Luton and Dunstable Hospital achieved Gold accreditation with Bliss in 2021, and has been proud to pilot a programme of Family-Integrated Care (FICare) on both sites over the past two years. We are also excited that Meadowbank Ward at Bedford Hospital has recently been awarded Silver accreditation with Bliss.
You will be joining an experienced neonatal psychotherapist in providing support for babies and families on both hospital sites, and will be provided with appropriate clinical supervision. The service has good links with the paediatric psychology service and maternity midwives within the hospital trust, as well as community care providers.
Your role will involve providingassessment, formulation and specialist evidence-based individual, couple, and group-based intervention in relation to parent and infant wellbeing during the family’s time on the neonatal unit. The work will include infant and family support as well as working with the staff team and wider system to contribute to and develop a trauma-informed neonatal environment.
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology.
Our Values
We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.
Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job.
1. To provide specialist psychological assessments of clients referred to the psychological medicine service, based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of complex data from a variety of sources including clients, family members and others involved in the client’s care.
2. To develop psychological formulations of presenting problems or situations that integrate complex information from assessments within a coherent framework that draws upon psychological theory and evidence, and which incorporates interpersonal, societal, cultural and biological factors, as well as health needs and impact of health problems on the family.
3. To develop and implement plans for the formal psychological treatment and/or management of a family’s psychological difficulties, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of the presenting problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy.
4. To be responsible for implementing a range of psychological interventions for families and groups, within and across teams, adjusting and refining psychological formulations, drawing upon different explanatory models and maintaining a number of provisional hypotheses..
5. To exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment, psychological formulation, treatment and discharge of clients and manage and maintain a caseload in line with service guidelines.
6. To provide specialist psychological advice, guidance and consultation to other multidisciplinary professionals, both within hospital and community settings, contributing directly to clients’ formulation, diagnosis and treatment plan.
7. To contribute directly and indirectly to a psychologically based framework of understanding and care to the benefit of all clients of the service, across the designated area and agencies serving the client group. To promote excellent psychologically informed practice and a service consistent and compliant with the philosophy of person-centred and evidence-based practice.
8. To undertake risk assessment and risk management for individual clients and to provide advice to other professions on psychological aspects of risk assessment and risk management in line with Trust and inter-agency policies and procedures.
9. To communicate, in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, to patients / clients, family carers and others as appropriate, information that may be contentious or highly distressing concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of patients / clients under their care
10. To provide psychological support and supervision for staff working on the unit. This may be in the form of group sessions by providing a safe space for reflection and providing tools and/or sign posting for further support. This will also include either supporting, or leading small group debrief sessions following an emotionally traumatic clinical situation.
11. Use initiative and take responsibility for themselves and the quality of their work and the service they provide within the Neonatal service cross site. To plan and prioritise own caseload and coordinate clinical activities.
12. Collaboratively evaluate the appropriateness of referrals and requests for input from a number of sources; accepting these as resources permit.
13. To liaise with a wide range of agencies and services (community teams, nurseries, Education, Social Care, Child Protection, Housing and Benefits, G.Ps, medical Consultants, etc) for the purpose of providing ongoing case management and psychological advice within the region serviced by Bedfordshire Hospitals. To work in partnership with other disciplines and to maintain links with statutory and non-statutory and primary care agencies as appropriate.
14. To utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work and work with other team members.
15. To undertake appropriate audit of patients’ psychological needs as appropriate within national guidelines. To undertake research including, where appropriate, making ethics and/or funding applications.
16. Provide teaching and training to staff on NICU/SCBU both formally and informally.
17. To work in highly distressing or emotional circumstances on a daily basis, dealing with, for example, terminal illness, death and bereavement, refusal to comply with essential treatment, child abuse, marital conflict, family breakdown, frequent verbal and occasional physical aggression from carers. (Supervision and support is available)
18. To respond rapidly and flexibly to emergency or crisis situations
19. To participate in the development and preparation of clinical materials such as webinars, brochures, handouts, scripts, etc for use in the clinical services.
20. Adhere to appropriate confidentiality guidance from the Trust, the HCPC and the BPS with respect to considering issues of risk, supervision and safeguarding.
This advert closes on Sunday 26 Jan 2025