Specialist Occupational Therapist

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust; London; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 51,000

Job description

Search the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust website

Main area: Adult Community Physical Health Services
Grade: Band 6
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Mixed shift pattern 8-4, 12-8, Long days at the weekend 8-8)
Job ref: 277-6926788-CPH-A

Site: Community - Based
Town: Woolwich
Salary: £42,939 - £50,697 pa inc
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 24/04/2025 23:59

Job overview

Specialist Occupational Therapist, Band 6

We are looking to appoint a committed, highly motivated, enthusiastic and skilled Band 6 Specialist Occupational Therapist to our dynamic, integrated multi-disciplinary Rapid Response Team (RRT)/Urgent Community Response Service (UCR).

This is an exciting opportunity to join and develop our integrated collaborative working between Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and Bexley Adult Social Services. Would you like to help us continue to improve our provision of health, social care and community support to the residents of Bexley?

The RRT has been operational since 2013 and has grown and developed. RRT was one of the 7 accelerator sites involved in the introduction and successful roll out of the NHSE Urgent Community Response (UCR) initiative. RRT/UCR is a multi-professional team consisting of Nurses, PTs, OTs, and Social Workers. The team aims to respond to crisis referrals within 2 hours and avoid unnecessary presentations to hospital and residential care.

The team provides holistic health and social care assessments for people over the age of 18 years, who are registered with a Bexley GP and live in the Borough of Bexley. The team is based at QEH Woolwich and operates 7 days a week, on an 8am-8pm basis, providing urgent community response to vulnerable people in the community.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will support in the leadership of the Rapid Response Team, deputising in the absence of the Band 7 lead Therapist/Nurses for the clinical management of the care of patients referred to the team. The post holder will assist with and directly triage urgent patient referrals with varied and complex needs in acute hospital and community settings, acting as an expert physiotherapy clinical resource to RRT members by facilitating high-quality evidence-based practice.

The post holder may be required to work across hospital sites on a planned basis and in the community when responding to urgent community referrals. The post holder will undertake delegated line management of junior staff, both informal and formal basis.

The Rapid Response Team aims to prevent inappropriate admissions to acute hospital wards, unnecessary Emergency Department attendances from the community and facilitate early discharges from hospital by acting as the gateway to Community Services within the Borough of Bexley. The post holder will conduct specialist Occupational Therapy assessments for patients in the community with some in-reach into Secondary care as required. The team provides an integrated multi-professional assessment of health and social care needs.

Working for our organisation

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities, and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing, and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils, and the voluntary sector through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools, and people’s homes.

We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London, we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup, and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Kent, and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We Listen
• We Care

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1. Demonstrate specialist theoretical knowledge of complex acute and long-term pathologies and impairments in the assessment of clients.
2. Work closely with other health professionals and social services and provide specialist Occupational Therapy advice in meeting the needs of the clients.
3. Conduct a thorough holistic specialist Occupational Therapy assessment of clients, obtaining consent in accordance with professional guidelines and local team procedures.
4. Recommend appropriate interventions to promote functional independence and safety, utilising effective clinical reasoning skills and evidence-based practice.
5. Complete individual plans of care for clients who require input from integrated community services bed-based or home-based rehabilitation input.
6. Maintain effective multidisciplinary communication with other members of the team and the wider clinical network to ensure that client’s needs are met.
7. Provide specialist Occupational Therapy advice and support to clients, carers, and relatives based on clinical evidence and reasoning.
8. Ensure safe, appropriate and effective provision, installation, education, and demonstration of equipment.
9. Participate in and lead MDT meetings and complex family conferences.
10. Ensure management of clinical risk with complex patients.
11. Identify when and how to terminate involvement or refer onwards to appropriate teams/services and complete input in a timely, seamless manner.
12. Seek guidance from more experienced colleagues when required.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Recognised Occupational Therapy Degree Qualification or equivalent
• Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) Registration
• Registered Member of British Association of Occupational Therapists

Experience

• Evidence of post-registration experience as a band 5 sufficient to meet B6 requirements
• Evidence of working as an OT in a specialist Rapid Response Team
• Evidence of recent CPD and course attendance with rehabilitation / A&E
• Evidence of working in an MDT setting
• Experience of using standardised assessments

Knowledge / Skill / abilities

• Evidence of excellent professional and clinical knowledge and skills as an OT
• Basic computer skills and good patient record management
• Good presentation and communication skills - written
• Competent therapeutic manual handling skills
• Evidence of working as an autonomous practitioner as well as in an MDT
• UK Driving Licence
• Access to car to use for work
• Evidence of using outcome measures

Personal / Other

• Evidence of self-reflection and self-appraisal

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that welcomes and supports individuals of all abilities. Remember, if you meet the minimum criteria for this role and you have a disability, you can be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme - Please ensure you select this on your application form. We encourage you to be open about your needs so we can work with you to design a comfortable and accessible interview experience. Any information you provide regarding a disability or a need for adjustments will be treated in confidence and will only be shared with colleagues who are supporting this request.

If you require any adjustments to participate fully in the interview process, please let us know by adding the relevant details when scheduling your preferred interview date and time. Please feel free to contact the appointing manager to discuss your needs.

Please note that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is prohibited during the interview process. We also discourage overuse of AI during the application process because this can negatively impact the quality of your application and may hinder your chances of being shortlisted. Thank you.

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: Yousef Damanhuri
Job title: Highly Specialist Physiotherapist Therapy Lead
Email address: [e-mail]
Telephone number: 0203 889 0980
Additional information

For further information or to arrange an informal visit (highly recommended), please contact Cherie Trew, Team Lead, Youssef Damanhuri Therapy Lead 0203 889 0980