Job summary
- Main area
- Safeguarding
- Grade
- NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time - 6 sessions per week
- Job ref
- 411-COM-24-6887549
- Employer
- Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Alder Hey Children's Hospital
- Town
- Liverpool
- Salary
- £105,504 - £139,882 pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 19/06/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Named Doctor for Children in Care
NHS Medical & Dental: Consultant
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is a provider of specialist health care and has a presence in community outreach sites and, in collaboration with other providers, our clinicians help deliver care closer to patients’ homes by holding local clinics at locations from Cumbria to Shropshire, in Wales and the Isle of Man. The Trust also provides inpatient care for children with complex mental health needs at our Sunflower House building newly relocated, and opened on the hospital site.
We currently have more than 4,000 staff working across our community and hospital sites. We’re also a teaching and training hospital providing education and training to around 540 medical and over 500 nursing and allied health professional students each year.
As black and minority ethnic (BME) employees are currently under-represented in this area, we particularly welcome applications from members of our BME communities. All appointments will be made on merit.
You can expect a warm welcome at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, our staff are friendly and welcoming. We listen to each other and work together to embed our Trusts values and behaviours. At Alder Hey we appreciate our staff and reward them with an outstanding benefits package including:
- Great flexible working opportunities
- Lease car scheme and Home Electronics Scheme
- Generous annual leave and pension scheme
- Extensive staff health and well-being programmes
Job overview
This postholder will hold the statutory role of Named Doctor for Children in Care (Looked After Children) on behalf of Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.
Named Doctors have a key role in promoting good professional practice within their organisation, providing advice and expertise for fellow professionals, and ensuring robust arrangements are in place.
The role of Named Doctor for Children in Care moves beyond generic care to a higher level of operational expertise achievable through extensive experience and a higher level of education.
Main duties of the job
The Named Doctor works in partnership with the Named Nurse for Safeguarding and Associate Director Safeguarding & Statutory Services to:
- Develop strong internal Children in Care policies, guidelines, and protocols.
- Ensure that Children in Care are reflected and considered across the organisation.
- Support the management and quality assurance of statutory health assessments.
- Improve the health outcomes for Children in Care and Care Leavers by working with the individual, their carers, the corporate family, and the wider community to affect change via innovative practice and collaborative working.
- Stimulate the awareness of the health needs of this client group, influencing policies that affect health and the facilitation of health enhancing activities.
- Effectively communicate Children in Care knowledge, research and findings from audits, challenge poor practice and address areas where there is an identified training/development opportunity.
- Facilitate and contribute to internal and multi-agency audits, and statutory inspections.
- Conduct Children in Care training needs analysis, and to commission, plan, design, deliver and evaluate single and inter-agency training and teaching for staff within the Trust.
- Support the delivery of Initial Health Assessment (IHA) clinics and work with the Named Nurse to ensure continuous quality improvement. Provide specialist advice and supervision to staff who have direct contact with Children in Care and Care Leavers.
Working for our organisation
As one of Europe’s biggest and busiest children’s hospitals, at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, we treat everything from common illnesses to highly complex and specialist conditions. In addition to our main hospital site, we offer paediatric services at a number of community sites and hold local clinics across Merseyside, Cumbria, Shropshire, Wales and the Isle of Man. We also provide specialist inpatient care for children with complex mental health needs in our recently relocated and newly opened state of the art facility.
Alder Hey has a thriving research portfolio and leads research into children’s medicines, infection, inflammation and oncology. We are becoming recognised as one of the world’s leaders in children’s healthcare and research. We contribute to public health, lead cutting-edge research and teach the next generation of children’s specialists. Alongside this is our Innovation Hub, a dedicated space where clinicians and industries can come together to create new products and technologies.
We know that a children’s hospital is different and that our job is more than just treating an illness. To us, every child is an individual. As well as giving them the very best care, we set out to make them feel happy, safe and confident as they play, learn and grow. At Alder Hey we are here to look after a child and their family and that includes mums, dads, brothers and sisters.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Duties
- Support all activities necessary to ensure that the organisation meets its responsibilities for Children in Care and Care Leavers.
- Be responsible to and accountable within the managerial framework of the employing organisation.
- At all times and in relation to the roles and responsibilities listed, work as a member of the Statutory Services Team.
Leadership and Advisory Role
- Advise local police, children’s social care and other statutory and voluntary agencies on health matters with regard to Children in Care.
- Liaise closely with other specialist services such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), sexual health, and services for disabled children.
- Support the Associate Director for Safeguarding and Statutory Services to advise the Trust Board on matters pertaining to Children in Care.
- Contribute to the planning and strategic organisation of Safeguarding and Statutory Services in respect of Children in Care.
- Work with other Named, Specialist and Designated Professionals to plan and develop the healthcare organisations strategy for services for Children in Care.
- Ensure advice is available to other professionals and services across the organisation on day to-day issues about Children in Care and their families, including involvement in Fostering and Adoption Panels where required.
Clinical Role
- When required undertake health assessments for Children in Care and provide written reports on the health of prospective carers as appropriate.
- Support and advise colleagues in the clinical assessment and care of children and young people, whilst being clear about others personal clinical professional accountability.
- Provide advice and signposting to other professionals about legal processes, key research, and policy documents.
- Lead and support the development of clinical pathways such as Blood Borne Virus and provide management and oversight where appropriate.
- In line with the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 15189 all employees who work within a forensic setting are required to provide a DNA sample as part of the Staff Elimination Database (SED) for the purpose of eliminating their DNA from any forensic samples taken at the SARC. The Named Doctor for Children in Care would be required to provide a DNA sample.
Co-ordination and Communication
- Work closely with other Named and Designated Professionals for Children in Care locally, regionally, and national; attending Clinical Support Networks on behalf of the Trust.
- Work in partnership with the Named Nurse for Children in Care.
- Work closely with the Associate Director for Safeguarding and Statutory Services and Named Professionals for Safeguarding.
- Liaise with professional leads from other agencies, such as education and Children’s Social Care.
Named Doctor Specific Competencies
- Engage in effective strategic planning of services for Children in Care with commissioners and the Designated Professionals for Children in Care.
- Identify and take responsibility for developing, implementing, and reviewing policies, procedures and quality standards that reflect statutory requirements and recommendations of national guidance for Children in Care.
- Monitor trends, quality and appropriateness of referrals and identify gaps, duplications, and blockages to systems and take appropriate action.
- Attend appropriate strategy meetings and planning meetings to provide an expert assessment of health risk for Children in Care and ensure effective multi-agency working.
- Work effectively on an inter-professional and interagency basis.
- Identify unmet health needs/gaps in service provision and promote innovative service solutions.
- Ensure legal processes and requirements for Children in Care including after care are appropriately taken.
- Advise other agencies about the health management of Children in Care.
- Lead on investigations and significant incidents, including After Action Reviews, and support with statutory reviews e.g., Rapid Reviews, Local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews, Safeguarding Adult Reviews, and Domestic Homicide Reviews.
- Apply lessons learnt from incidents, reviews and audits to improve practice.
- Participate in and chair multi-disciplinary meetings as requiredSee attached for a full Job Description
Person specification
Education and Training
Essential criteria
- Full GMC registration
- On the GMC’s Specialist Register OR within six months of CCT at time of scheduled interview.
- Valid Level 3 Safeguarding and Children in Care Training
- Valid BLS Training
- Membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
- Hold consultant status or a senior post with equivalent training and experience.
- Evidence of continuous personal / professional training relating to Children in Care
Desirable criteria
- MBA
- Leadership qualification
- Valid APLS and NLS (this may be mandatory for some posts).
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Application numbers
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Nichola Osborne
- Job title
- Associate Director Safeguarding/Statutory Services
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0151 252 5609
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