We have an exciting opportunity for a part-time (0.5 WTE) art psychotherapist to join our Psychological Service for adults who receive treatment at the Barts Heart and Thorax Centre (BHTC) at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, part of Barts Health NHS Trust.

This is a 12-month fixed-term contract to cover maternity leave.

About the service
The BHTC Psychological Service works with adult patients and their families who are living with acute or chronic cardiac and respiratory conditions, including those requiring critical care admission (predominantly cardiothoracic and cancer-related). The service also provides a range of support structures for staff caring for these patients.

Patients are under the care of specialist multidisciplinary teams within BHTC, including:

Adult Congenital Heart Service (GUCH)

Heart Attack Centre (HAC) Adult Critical Care Unit (ACCU)Heart Failure

Electrophysiology

Inherited Cardiovascular Conditions

Cystic Fibrosis*

Difficult Asthma*

*The postholder will not be working with patients from these teams

This post will cover areas of the BHTC related to cardiac conditions and critical care. The post holder will work with adults who have life-limiting and life-threatening conditions.

The post holder will receive referrals from cardiac and critical care teams across BHTC and will work closely with the psychological services lead clinical psychologists, offering a good balance of autonomy and support. This is a varied role providing art therapy assessment and intervention to both inpatients and outpatients. The BHTC teams are very welcoming, value psychological input for patients and staff, and will appreciate the post holder maintaining the range of therapies available.

Supervision and line management
The service is managed by a consultant clinical psychologist, who leads and develops the psychological provision for BHTC patients and coordinates support for staff. The service also includes senior clinical psychologists, each coordinating psychological provision for their area of BHTC

Line management will be provided by the principal clinical psychologist for the service. Clinical supervision will be provided by a senior art psychotherapist based at the St Bartholomew’s Hospital site.

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

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.

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.

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

Service background
The BHTC psychological services began as a 12-month project for congenital heart patients in 2017 and has since been extended and developed into an established service, with structures in place for appropriate supervision, line management and leadership.


This advert closes on Friday 20 Feb 2026