Occupational Therapist - Neurosciences

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Oxford

GBP 10,000 - 40,000

Job description

We are offering you an exciting opportunity to join our diverse and well-established Acute Neuroscience Occupational Therapy Service. This service has two teams serving a 16-bedded Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and a 75-bedded acute neurosciences ward. We are looking to recruit an Occupational Therapist (OT) for the 75-bedded acute neuroscience ward.

This is an ideal opportunity for those with Band 5 level experience in several clinical areas looking to progress working in the speciality of neurological rehabilitation or those who are already working as a Band 6 seeking to gain more experience in this speciality.

We support every Band 6 to protect a proportion of their time to development, both individually and as a service. This includes CPD and leading on quality improvement projects, clinical audit and service development projects. This role therefore provides a great opportunity to develop both clinical and leadership skills. You will develop leadership skills through supporting juniors, students, and unregistered staff.

We are seeking Occupational Therapists who are enthusiastic, passionate, and great communicators. In return we will provide learning and development opportunities and support you with regular supervision, peer support and great teamwork. A yearly Values Based Appraisal will encourage you to grow, learn and develop in your role.

Main duties of the job

JOB PURPOSE

To act as an autonomous practitioner, providing physiotherapeutic interventions of the highest standard, in alignment with national and professional guidelines, working across a range of disciplines and settings, including (but not limited to):

To provide specialist Occupational Therapy (OT) assessment, treatment and discharge planning to patients with highly complex neurological conditions as an autonomous practitioner.

To work effectively with the wider interdisciplinary team (IDT).

To clinically supervise junior OT's, assistants, and students.

To assist the Team Lead OT in the provision, monitoring and ongoing development of the service to ensure it continues to meet the needs of the service users and responds to government and trust initiatives.

To actively participate in quality improvement, clinical audit and research projects.

About us

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the country. It provides a wide range of general and specialist clinical services and is a base for medical education, training and research. The Trust comprises four hospitals - the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.

Our values, standards and behaviours define the quality of clinical care we offer and the professional relationships we make with our patients, colleagues and the wider community.

We call this Delivering Compassionate Excellence and its focus is on our values of compassion, respect, learning, delivery, improvement and excellence.

These values put patients at the heart of what we do and underpin the quality healthcare we would like for ourselves or a member of our family. Watch how we set out to deliver compassionate excellence via the OUH YouTube channel.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical

To undertake specialist assessment and treatment of adults with complex and diverse neurological conditions.
To carry out complex standardised and non-standardised assessments of functional ability, cognition, home situation and psychological issues liaising with senior staff as required for highly complex patients.
To respect patients' dignity, privacy, culture and wishes during treatment with a commitment to equal access to occupational therapy.
To analyse and interpret clinical information to formulate OT treatment with appropriate outcome measures, to use specialist clinical reasoning skills and knowledge of evidence-based practice to form an accurate clinical presentation with guidance from the Team Lead OT.
To provide specialist evidenced based OT interventions using a wide range of skills and options relevant to neurological rehabilitation.
To provide advanced recommendations/advice/instruction/teaching regarding OT management of each patient, according to the individual needs of each patient, to the IDT team, other relevant health and social care professionals, carers/relatives and other relevant non-healthcare professionals.
To monitor, review and modify treatment plans/goals to measure progress and to ensure effective outcomes.
Prioritise and organise own patient caseload and develop individualised interventions under the supervision of the Team Lead OT.
To work as part of the IDT providing specialist neurological rehabilitation individually and in groups.
To manage a complex caseload as an autonomous practitioner evidencing appropriate clinical reasoning and problem-solving skills.
To be able to identify own professional limitations and seek senior advice when appropriate.
To carry out discharge access and home visits in liaison with health and social care agencies to identify equipment and care needs for discharge and identify and refer to appropriate onward services.
To risk assess and undertake complex manual handling techniques involving patients and or equipment following appropriate training in line with organisational manual handling policies.
To demonstrate the physical ability to carry out assessment and interventions including manual handling and therapeutic techniques.
Plan and allocate work to assistant and technical staff, ensuring appropriate review of the work is completed.
To continuously evaluate OT intervention and to maintain and develop a high standard of clinical and professional practice at all times.
To work flexibly across Neurosciences and the wider therapy team without prior warning, as the need arises to ensure service delivery is maximised.

Communication

To liaise with all members of the IDT, patients, carers, Health and Community Services, relevant external agencies and OUH staff to ensure a coordinated, consistent approach to service delivery.
To communicate with individual patients and those involved in the patients care to gain consent and understanding of treatment programmes to ensure OT intervention is effective. This will frequently be with patients who have complex emotional, physical and psychological conditions e.g. aphasia and cognitive problems and will need expert use of verbal and non-verbal communication tools, or with patients from different cultural/ethnic backgrounds where English is not their primary language.
To be able to provide and receive complex, sensitive, and contentious information such as discussing limitations associated with diagnosis/procedures/prognosis, managing complex discharges and providing appropriate emotional support where persuasion motivation and reassurance skills are required.
To be able to assess a patient's understanding of treatment proposals, gain valid informed consent and have capacity to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment.
To keep accurate written records of assessment and treatment in accordance with the trust, NHS and professional OT standards including comprehensive discharge/home and progress reports to medical and therapy referrers.
To attend and contribute to relevant service-related meetings.
To promote understanding of the aims of OT intervention within the IDT team and with external agencies involved in the patients care.
To assist the Team Lead OT in communicating relevant information efficiently and effectively to staff within each rotational service area and the wider therapy team.

Management

To assist the OT team in the coordination and management of the neurological OT service.
To be actively involved in the development of new models of service delivery and care within the Therapy department under the direction and supervision of the highly specialists OTs.
To achieve and maintain a level of skill in use of information technology relevant to the post.
To be responsible for ensuring that all equipment used in the OT department is stored safely and maintained in safe working order and engaged in auditing of equipment in the department.
To assist the OT Team Lead in the management of change and to ensure cost-effective use of available resources.
To be responsible for the recording and collation of departmental statistics and other information as required by the Head of Therapy Services both written and on the IT system.
To be aware of and assist the occupational therapy team to adhere to all OUH and NHS health and safety and personnel policies and procedures, including carrying out risk assessments.
To be actively involved in the development of clinical audit and quality assurance strategies to ensure that a clinically effective occupational therapy service is delivered.
To be involved in the supervision and appraisal of junior occupational therapy staff and or assistant/technical instructor staff.
To assist the Team Lead Occupational Therapist in the recruitment and retention process.

Education, Training and Research

To have an awareness of current trends in treatment techniques and professional issues and to participate in active learning, including participating in research or study in relevant areas.
To be responsible for acquiring the clinical and professional skills, with the support of the senior therapists, required for the clinical area i.e fabrication of specialised hand splints administering standardised cognitive assessments, implementation of specialised postural management programmes.
To be involved in the orientation and induction programmes of new Occupational Therapy staff and students.
To participate in regular supervision, the staff review process, in-service/IDT training, action learning and maintain a professional portfolio to ensure professional registration is maintained.
To assist in providing fieldwork placements for undergraduate Occupational Therapy students, including the maintenance of standards expected of an accredited fieldwork placement.
To contribute and participate in educational programmes and courses organised within the occupational therapy service.
To keep up to date with relevant research and issues relevant to the clinical area to provide evidence-based care.

Research and development

To actively participate in the departments quality improvement and clinical audit programme through the completion of authorised projects.
To implement and maintain evidenced-based Occupational Therapy practice through continuing professional development.
To ensure good working knowledge and application of national and local clinical standards.

Effort

To be able to undertake episodes of moderate physical effort for several short periods during a shift.
To be able to effectively maintain concentration at work despite frequent interruptions and, at times, an unpredictable working pattern.
To tolerate and manage frequent exposure to distressing or emotional circumstances and maintain a high level of professionalism.
To tolerate and professionally manage frequent exposure to unpleasant working conditions, such as exposure to bodily fluids and offensive odours.

Working Conditions

Physical Highly developed physical skills and high degree of precision for assessment of patients. Requires dexterity, co-ordination and sensory skills for the assessment and manual treatment of patients. Frequent moderate effort for short periods daily. Frequent involvement with manual handling techniques and equipment usage.

Emotional Occasional distressing and emotive situations can arise, including delivering news regarding patient progress which may not meet the expectations of patient/carers or relatives.

Working Conditions Shared office Busy ward environment with multiple disciplines working alongside one another. Occasional exposure to unpleasant conditions, including body fluids and odours.

Mental Frequent concentration required with an unpredictable work pattern at times.

Person Specification

Education / Qualifications

Essential

Degree in Occupational Therapy
Registered with the Health & Care Professions Council
Evidence of continuing professional development - post graduate level

Experience

Essential

Broad range of experience at band 5 level including core areas, such as respiratory, orthopaedics, neurology, older adults
Experience of working in physical disability
Experience of discharge planning and liaison with other health/social care professionals and outside agencies
Experience of equipment provision for discharge
Experience of contributing to discharge meetings /case conferences
Experience of working autonomously and managing own caseload
Experience of contributing to service developments/clinical audit
Experience of working in a multidisciplinary team

Knowledge and skills

Essential

Understands the legal responsibilities of professional practice
Knowledge of neurological conditions/illnesses
Knowledge of the skills required in the assessment and treatment of neurological patients
Knowledge of the range of therapeutic approaches/interventions available to OTs working in neurology
Knowledge of the evidence base for OT treatments used in neurology
Able to present information, written and verbal, in a clear and logical manner
Able to communicate complex and sensitive information, e.g. where there are barriers to communication
Able to organise, prioritise and delegate to others
Able to effectively deliver and participate in staff training.
Broad understanding and application of clinical governance in Occupational Therapy practice
Ability to comprehend and work within the Trust's policies of data protection, equal opportunities and Health and Safety to meet the differing needs of patients and staff.
Competent in Microsoft office and presentation skills.