Job summary
Principal Clinical Psychologist - Pre-Hospital Critical Care/London's Air Ambulance

London's Air Ambulance is seeking a Principal Clinical Psychologist to lead the development of a pioneering psychological support service for our doctors, paramedics and operational teams working on the frontline of pre-hospital critical care.

This unique role will provide expert psychological support to staff exposed to traumatic incidents, while shaping a culture of resilience, psychological safety and high performance. You will deliver individual and team interventions, advise senior leaders, develop staff wellbeing initiatives, and lead research into the psychological impact of working in emergency trauma care.

You will have:

• A Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and HCPC registration.
• Experience working with trauma-exposed populations.
• Expertise in trauma-focused interventions, including EMDR.
• Experience delivering team-based psychological support and working within multidisciplinary healthcare settings.
• Strong leadership, communication and research skills.

This is an opportunity to help create what is believed to be the first embedded psychological support programme within a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service internationally, positioning London's Air Ambulance as a global leader in workforce wellbeing.

Join us and help protect the wellbeing of those who save lives every day.

Main duties of the job
To develop and deliver a specialist psychological support service for staff working within London's Air Ambulance, one of the world's leading pre-hospital trauma services.

The role will focus on supporting clinicians and operational staff exposed to traumatic incidents and high-pressure decision-making environments. The post holder will provide psychological interventions at individual, team and organisational levels, while developing research and evaluation to improve understanding of psychological sustainability within pre-hospital critical care.

About us
Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as they are underrepresented within Barts Health at this band.

Details
Date posted: 15 September 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8b
Salary: £75,328 to £86,114 a year per annum inc
Contract: Fixed term
Duration: 36 months
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 259-8225647RLH-A
Job locations: Royal London Hospital, London, E1 1FR, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below.

Person Specification
Experience
Essential

• Clinical experience of assessing and treating trauma, including the delivery of evidence-based trauma-focused psychological therapy
• Experience delivering team-based psychological interventions for staff who interact regularly with risk, death, dying and trauma
• Experience working with multidisciplinary teams in healthcare

Skills
Essential

• Ability to deliver EMDR independently from the point of appointment, alongside other evidence-based trauma-focused psychological interventions

Knowledge
Essential

• Knowledge and experience of traumatic injury, including experience of working clinically with trauma both in staff teams and with individuals

Qualifications
Essential

• Post graduate doctorate in Clinical Psychology (or equivalent) as accredited by the British Psychological Society, or British Psychological Society Statement of Equivalence.
• Completion of further post-qualification specialist relevant training, including training in supervision of trainee clinical psychologists and evidence based trauma model
• Registration with HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist
• Completion of the full standard (adult) post-graduate training in Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), with all parts of the training completed at the point of appointment, together with evidence of having applied that training to treat cases independently in clinical practice

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details
Employer name: Barts Health NHS Trust
Address: Royal London Hospital, London, E1 1FR, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.bartshealth.nhs.uk

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Associate General Manager
Sam Atkinson
sam.atkinson2@nhs.net

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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications.
Applicants must have current UK professional registration.