Genetic Nurse Counsellor

Guys & St Thomas Hospital; London; On-site; GBP 44,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Specialist Nurse for Genetic Counselling to support antenatal and neonatal screening programs. The role involves working in an integrated care team, delivering important health advice for sickle cell and thalassaemia. Registered Nurse qualifications and experience in community settings are essential.

Qualifications

• Experience with haemoglobinopathies in a community setting.
• Evidence of professional development.
• Ability to deliver teaching and training packages.

Responsibilities

• Provide genetic counselling for sickle cell and thalassaemic conditions.
• Conduct health promotion, education, and audit processes.
• Deliver expert health advice and counselling in clinic sessions.

Skills

Ability to deal sensitively with patients, relatives and carers

Understanding National Standards for Sickle Cell & Thalassaemia

Clean, valid motor vehicle driving licence

Education

Registered General Nurse (RGN)

Certificate in Counselling

Phlebotomy certification or willingness to train

Job description

Employer Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site South East London Sickle Cell & Thalassaemia Town London Salary £44,806 - £53,134 p.a Inc HCA Salary period Yearly Closing 10/07/2025 23:59 Interview date 24/07/2025

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.

Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.

Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.

We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.

The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.

Job overview

The post holder will work as part of an integrated team, in partnership with carers and other providers of health and social care to develop and deliver genetic counselling for pregnant women and couples with sickle cell and thalassaemic conditions/carriers in Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham. The post-holder will provide genetic counselling to support the antenatal, neonatal and opportunistic screening programmes. The post will include clinical practice, teaching and training, health promotion, research and audit.

Closing Date: 10th July 2025

Interview Date: 24th July 2025

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will provide genetic counselling to support the antenatal, neonatal and opportunistic screening programmes. The post will include clinical practice, teaching and training, health promotion, research and audit.

Working for our organisation

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UK’s best known hospitals – Guy’s, St Thomas’, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield – as well as community services in Lambeth and Southwark, all with a long history of high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation.

We provide a comprehensive range of services for the 127,000 children and young people that live in Lambeth and Southwark. This includes
universal services – health visiting, family nurse partnership, school nursing, nutrition and dietetics, and a new-born hearing screening programme.
Our specialist services cover community paediatrics, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, complex needs nursing,
sickle cell and audiology. As well as part of statutory services including looked after children, child protection, safeguarding, and adoption and
fostering.
We have two main health centres, Mary Sheridan Centre in Lambeth and Sunshine House in Southwark but we have many more across Lambeth
and Southwark. We also provide services in schools, community buildings, in families’ homes, and occasionally in hospital. Through group
sessions and individual appointments, face-to-face and virtual, we hold over 145,000 appointments every year.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Receive referrals from individuals, clinicians laboratories and other professionals and agencies
• Deliver expert health advice and genetic counselling to individuals with or ‘at risk’ of having a haemoglobinopathy
• Provide nurse-led genetic counselling clinic sessions at the South East London Sickle Cell/Thalassaemia Centre, and other local Health Centres/GP Practices, giving easy access to users
• Promote integrated care pathways
• Enable individuals with sickle cell and thalassaemic conditions to improve their health and reduce inequalities
• Practice in a cost aware manner

Person specification

Qualifications/ Education

• Registered General Nurse (RGN) • Certificate in Counselling
• Evidence of professional development
• Understanding of other haemoglobinopathies so as to provide support and counselling
• Phlebotomy (or willingness to undertake relevant training)
• Certificate in Counselling
• Experience of caring for individuals with haemoglobinopathies in a community setting
• Experience of delivering teaching and training packages to different disciplines Experience of delivering teaching and training packages to different disciplines

Skills/Knowledge/ Ability

• Clean, valid motor vehicle driving licence
• Phlebotomy (or willingness to undertake relevant training)
• ENB No8 Care and Management of Individuals with Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia (or willingness to undergo relevant training)
• Certificate in Counselling
• Pegasus Training (or willingness to undergo training)
• Ability to deal sensitively with patients, relatives and carers
• Ability to convey contentious/complex information to patients, relatives and carers
• Understand the requirements of the National Ante Natal and Neonatal Screening Programme Standards and National Standards for Sickle Cell & Thalassaemia

Guy’s and St Thomas’celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.

Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.

As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.

We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personalcircumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.

Your e-mail address is important to us -We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.

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Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.

Name Olukemi Ajamufua Job title Specialist Nurse Team Leader Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 07880781545 Additional information

Sickle Cell & Thalassaemia Centre : 02030495993

Our dedicated and talented staff make it their mission to provide outstanding care for our patients.

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