Description
Head of Unit / Consultant - Child Protection Service
- Northern Adelaide Local Health Network – Lyell McEwin Hospital – Elizabeth Vale
- Total Indicative Remuneration*: $377,429 - $848,152 per annum – MD2
- Ongoing** Full-Time and Ongoing Part-time (multiple positions)
Lead change. Protect children. Build something that matters.
This is a rare opportunity to join – and help shape – one of South Australia’s most important and evolving clinical services.
Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN) is seeking exceptional paediatric clinicians for multiple Consultant roles, including a Head of Unit for our Child Protection Service (CPS).
Whether you are an experienced leader ready to step into a service-shaping role, or a passionate consultant wanting to deepen your impact in forensic and child protection medicine, this is your chance.
About the Child Protection Service
At Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN), we believe every child deserves safety, care, and a voice.
Our CPS team is a trauma-informed, specialist unit providing psychosocial and medical assessments, forensic examinations, and therapeutic interventions for children and young people aged 0–18.
The team comprises of Social Workers, Psychologists, Paediatricians and Aboriginal Wellbeing officers.
Why work in our Child Protection Service?
At NALHN, Child Protection is not a side service—it is a critical, visible, and growing priority.
You will work within a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary team delivering specialist forensic medical services to children and young people, with a real opportunity to build and shape medical services for vulnerable children.
Here, your work will:
- Directly protect vulnerable children and young people
- Inform legal and court processes through expert evidence
- Shape integrated responses with SA Police, child protection agencies and health partners
- Drive best-practice care, system improvement, and education across the network
- Contribute to training, research, and workforce development in a specialist field
You will be part of a service that is growing, investing, and ready for strong clinical leadership.
The Opportunities
Head of Unit / Consultant – Child Protection Services - Ongoing Full-time
As the Consultant and Head of Unit for the CPS, you will:
- Champion best-practice, evidence-based forensic medical services for children and families.
- Provide expert advice and consultation to NALHN staff on child protection matters, including suspicious injuries, sexual abuse concerns, neglect, and fabricated illness.
- Lead and support a multidisciplinary team, ensuring best practice standards and effective governance.
- Participate in after-hours on-call rosters for child protection and general paediatrics.
- Contribute to education, training, and research to advance child protection practices.
- Liaise with interagency partners and advocate for improved outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.
**Please note: the role of Head of Unit / Consultant is appointable on an ongoing basis, however appointment as Head of Unit is subject to a maximum term of 5 years in accordance with Clause 10 of the SA Health Salaried Medical Officers Enterprise Agreement 2025.
Consultant – Child Protection Service - Ongoing Part-time - 7.5 hours per week (0.2FTE)
As a Consultant within the CPS, you will:
- Provide expert forensic paediatric assessments and medical care (inpatient and outpatient)
- Deliver objective, high-quality medico-legal reports for court processes
- Participate in a multidisciplinary team environment, contributing to case management and service delivery
- Support education, supervision, and development of junior staff
- Contribute to continuous quality improvement and research initiatives
- Participate in on-call rosters within a supportive team structure
These roles offer the chance to build deep expertise in a highly meaningful subspecialty, while maintaining general paediatric scope.
*The Total Indicative Remuneration figure is calculated taking into account base salary, leave loading and superannuation as well as managerial allowances, professional development or any other allowances where appropriate.
About You:
You are a dedicated medical professional with a strong commitment to child safety and wellbeing. You bring:
- Specialist medical qualifications and registration with the Medical Board of Australia.
- Expertise in forensic paediatric medicine, including conducting examinations and preparing high-quality reports for court processes.
- Strong leadership skills to guide a multidisciplinary team of social workers, psychologists, paediatricians, and Aboriginal Wellbeing Officers.
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills to collaborate with internal teams and external agencies such as SA Police and Families SA.
- A passion for teaching, mentoring, and contributing to research and quality improvement initiatives.
- Resilience, adaptability, and a commitment to trauma-informed care.
You will be part of a growing Local Health Network (LHN) that provides an expanding suite of treatment modalities in contemporary, modern facilities.
This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to a passionate, highly driven, dedicated and progressive team.
About Adelaide:
Adelaide is consistently recognised as a city that artfully combines its compact charm and world-class cuisine with picturesque nature escapes. Ranked one of the worlds “Most Liveable Cities” and “Most Beautiful Cities”, Adelaide provides something for everyone combining a wonderful mix of nature with nearby beaches, rolling hills and wildlife and culinary delights with fine dining restaurants, award-winning cafes, bustling food markets and booming boutique bars. Events like the LIV Golf, SANTOS Tour Down Under, Adelaide Fringe and the Adelaide Cabaret Festival add extra appeal to living here.
In the northern suburbs, you’ll experience what many moving from interstate or overseas describe as a genuine reset: more affordable housing and lower cost of living than other Australian capitals, shorter commutes, less congestion, and more time for life outside of work. Many NALHN staff live just 10–20 minutes from their workplace, with the Adelaide CBD approximately 25 minutes by car, and even cross-city travel typically under an hour.
This is a place where you can practise meaningful medicine by day—and still have the time and space to enjoy everything outside of it.
About Us:
The Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN) is a leading provider of public healthcare services in South Australia, and one of the largest employers in northern Adelaide.
NALHN serves over 400,000 people in northern Adelaide with a comprehensive range of high-quality healthcare services, including emergency, surgical, obstetric, neonatal, paediatric, oncology, geriatric, palliative care and rehabilitation, and mental health care, as well as primary health care services with a focus on community health promotion and chronic disease management.
With a commitment for ongoing upgrades to our facilities and the introduction of new services, our priority is delivering exceptional health and wellbeing services that enhance the quality of life for our community.
With over 7,000 employees, NALHN emphasises quality care and a supportive work environment guided by respect, integrity, and accountability. Our core values foster excellence, innovation, and equitable health outcomes.
At NALHN Everyone Has a Story, Everyone Matters, Everyone Contributes and Everyone Grows.
Our Local Health Network Sites and Services:
NALHN provides a range of hospital (inpatient), outpatient, community and home-based services across multiple sites in Adelaide’s north and north-eastern suburbs, including Aboriginal health, mental health, and GP services.
Lyell McEwin Hospital – the major hospital in northern Adelaide for emergency care, complex and multi-day surgery, medicine, obstetric, paediatrics and outpatient services
Modbury Hospital – a general hospital with emergency care, elective surgery, medicine, outpatient and sub-acute services, rehabilitation, geriatric and palliative care.
Mental Health Services – adult and older persons mental health services and statewide forensic mental health services, across hospital and community settings
Watto Purrunna Aboriginal Primary Health Care Services – provides culturally responsive primary healthcare services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in-hospital and across four community sites
Primary Health Care Services – including GP Plus sites at Elizabeth, Modbury and Gilles Plains.
Benefits of working at NALHN:
- From salary packaging to flexible working arrangements, a large range of opportunities for movement and career progression, you’ll find there are lots of benefits of working with Northern Adelaide Local Health Network, including:
- Relocation assistance may be available for successful applicants, to support the financial impact of transitioning from interstate or overseas
- Strong commitment to continuing professional development, with dedicated professional development financial assistance and study leave to maintain and advance your specialist expertise
- Dedicated opportunities to teach, supervise and contribute to research and service development
- Generous leave entitlements to support work-life balance
- Salary packaging option for saving money by paying for some of your everyday expenses from your salary before it is taxed.
- Find out more by visiting the SA Health - Smart Salary website.
NALHN supports and fosters a culture in which employees feel they belong and feel safe at work. The culture aims to encourage all people to use their talents and to be valued and rewarded for their contributions.
SA Health is committed to providing an inclusive workplace that embraces diversity and inclusion for all employees. We strongly encourage applications from people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent, culturally diverse backgrounds, members of the LGBTIQA+SB community and people who live with disability and/or neurodivergence.
We are committed to making workplace adjustments to provide a positive and supportive work environment. You are encouraged to let us know if have any support or access requirements during the recruitment process and beyond to ensure you can perform at your best.
The South Australian public sector promotes diversity and flexible ways of working including part-time.
Applicants are encouraged to discuss the flexible working arrangements for this role.
Appointment will be subject to a satisfactory Criminal History Check.
Checks:
- DHS Working With Children Check (WWCC)
- National Police Check (National Police Certificate) for vulnerable person-related employment – apply to any of the accredited bodies approved to offer a service direct to the public. Accreditation is provided by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. See our National Police Certificate accredited bodies page for links to lodge screening requests.
Immunisation Risk for this position is – Category A (direct contact with blood or body substances)
SA Health Services are required to implement the Addressing vaccine preventable disease: Occupational assessment, screening and vaccination policy in the workplace.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants are encouraged to apply. Job Ref: 937039
Applications close: 19 June 2026 – 11:55pm
For further information and to apply visit www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/careers and search for Job Ref: 937039
Contact:
Adriana Rotaru
Medical Management Facilitator
Telephone: (08) 8182 9042 / International: +61 8 8182 9042
Email: [email protected]
