Senior Fitness for Work Team Specialist Practitioner

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust; Manchester; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 53,000

Job description

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Senior Fitness for Work Team Specialist Practitioner

NHS AfC: Band 7

Main area Occupational Health Grade NHS AfC: Band 7 Contract 12 months (Fixed Term) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 349-COR-7099993C*

Site Cobbett House Town Manchester Salary £46,148 - £52,809 per annum, pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 06/04/2025 23:59

Job overview

Staff are the most important asset within the NHS. Join our amazing team as we support their health and wellbeing.

We are seeking an experienced, dedicated and compassionate Occupational Health Senior Practitioner with a strong background in either Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Mental Health or Occupational Health Nursing to join our team within one of the largest NHS Trusts in the UK. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team within our Employee Health and Wellbeing (EHW) Service, you will play a key role in supporting the wellbeing of our staff by providing specialist advice to help maximise employee health, wellbeing and productivity.

In this role you will assess and advise on employees’ fitness to work, helping to identify any adjustments or support required to ensure a healthy, productive workforce. Your expertise in providing detailed assessments will be critical in advising on complex cases, including stress, anxiety, and other psychological issues, enabling staff to return to or remain in work safely.

You will work closely with an EHW/OH multidisciplinary team, as well as HR and line managers, to deliver comprehensive occupational health services. The successful candidate will have strong communication skills, be compassionate, and have a proactive approach to problem-solving.

Main duties of the job

You will conduct assessments, helping employees access both in-house and external support services. After training, you will provide expert case management on fitness for work and attendance.

As part of the Fitness for Work team, you’ll help shape specialist pathways and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), working closely with stakeholders to deliver tailored support. You will also support education initiatives, delivering courses, and training sessions to promote well-being across the Trust.

This role involves leadership, as you will support junior team members and oversee complex cases, providing clear, specialised advice on fitness for work assessments to non-clinical colleagues. You’ll also drive innovative health programmes, ensuring the Trust's Wellbeing Strategy is at the forefront of employee support.

In addition, you’ll complete clinical audits, evaluate service effectiveness, and support in policy development, ensuring we provide the highest standards of care and support.

This is an autonomous role where your expertise in Occupational Health will directly influence the well-being of our workforce.

Working for our organisation

MFT is one of the largest NHS Trusts in England with a turnover of £2.8bn and is on a different scale than most other NHS Trusts. We’re creating an exceptional integrated health and social care system for the 1 million patients who rely on our services every year.

Bringing together 10 hospitals and community services from across Manchester, Trafford and beyond, we champion collaborative working and transformation, encouraging our 30,000 workforce to pursue their most ambitious goals. We set standards that other Trusts seek to emulate so you’ll benefit from a scale of opportunity that is nothing short of extraordinary.

We’ve also created a digitally enabled organisation to improve clinical quality, patient and staff experience, operational effectiveness and driving research, and innovation through the introduction of Hive; our Electronic Patient Record system which launched in September 2022.

We’re proud to be a major academic Research Centre and Education provider, providing you with a robust infrastructure to encourage and facilitate high-quality research programmes. What’s more, we’re excited to be embarking on our Green Plan which sets out how MFT continues to play its part in making healthcare more sustainable.

At MFT, we create and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, provide equal opportunities for career development that are fair, open, and transparent, protecting your health and wellbeing and shaping the future of our organisation together.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience you’ll need, take a look at the Job Description and Person Specification attachments under the ‘Supporting Documents’ heading. So that you’re even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, you’ll need to take time to read the ‘Candidate Essentials Guide’ that sits with the Job Description and Person Specification. This document provides you with details about the Trust, our benefits and outlines how ‘we care for you as you care for others’. Most importantly, it also contains critical information you’ll need to be aware of before you submit an application form.

Diversity Matters

MFT is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating and valuing diversity and eliminating any form of unlawful discrimination across our workforce, ensuring our people are truly representative of the communities we serve. All individuals regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation are encouraged to apply for this post. As an inclusive employer, we are here to support you. If you have any special requirements to help you with your application, email our team at [e-mail].

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Person specification

Qualifications

• Current Registration with NMC as Registered General Nurse (Adult) or Registered Mental Health Nurse, or current registration with the HCPC as a Chartered Physiotherapist, or an Occupational Therapist.
• Specialist Occupational Health qualification or relevant equivalent experience of working in the specialty of Occupational Health at a senior level up to masters equivalent level, supplemented by relevant short courses.
• Report writing training.

Knowledge

• Professional and legal knowledge in relation to fitness for work assessments and the writing of management feedback reports.
• Policy, process and protocol development.
• Health and lifestyle initiatives.

Training and Experience

• Case Management/Fitness for work assessments.
• Working within an Occupational Health or case management setting.
• Proven report writing skills.
• Audit and evaluation of professional practice.
• Experience of working in a multidisciplinary team.
• Case Conferences / Multi-Disciplinary Team discussions.
• Health and wellbeing lifestyle screening.
• Working with IT database systems or specific OH systems e.g. Empactis.
• Delivering training and education programmes.
• Networking.

Skills and Abilities

• Proficient in complex fitness for work assessments (face to face, video or telephonic).
• Proficient in report writing.
• Ability to prioritise workload.
• Effective time management.
• Ability to work on own initiative, unsupervised and independently whilst working as part of a wider multi-disciplinary team.
• Good written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience of managing junior team members whilst supporting their professional development.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to engage with key stakeholders.
• Management information collating and reporting.

Attributes

• Commitment to achieving personal, departmental and organisational objectives.
• Innovative and creative when looking for solutions.
• Persistent and resourceful.
• Team player.
• Able to adapt approach and style to meet needs of audience.

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 Vicky Gloudon Job title FFW team manager Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 0161 276 4289 Additional information

Emma McGinn Head of Fitness For Work: [e-mail]

0161 276 4289