Clinical Occupational Therapist | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 39,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organisation in Greater London seeks a Band 6 Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist. The role involves delivering client-centered assessments and interventions for service users with mental health needs in community settings. You will collaborate with a multidisciplinary team, manage a clinical caseload, and support evidence-based practice. The ideal candidate will have a degree in Occupational Therapy and a commitment to improving patient outcomes. This role offers a supportive environment for professional development.

Benefits

Supportive work environment

Professional development opportunities

Access to NHS benefits

Qualifications

• Registered Occupational Therapist with degree and relevant experience.
• Experience of working in mental health settings.
• Strong communication and teamwork skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide OT assessments and interventions to service users.
• Manage a clinical caseload of complex needs.
• Work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team.

Skills

Client-centered care

Occupational therapy assessment

Team collaboration

Time management

Communication skills

Education

Degree in Occupational Therapy

Registration with relevant professional body

Tools

OT assessment tools

Electronic health records systems

Job description

Overview

The Band 6 Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist (OT) post in the Forensic Community Service is split across Mariposa House, the Women’s Forensic Hostel and the wider Forensic Community Service. The OT works alongside the Band 7 OT and the MDT to deliver skilled, needs-led, client-centred, recovery-focused OT assessment and intervention, both in groups and individually. The post focuses on rehabilitating service users in the community, developing and maintaining their daily living skills, enabling them to reach their potential in self-care, leisure and work, while taking a client-centred, risk-managed approach.

Key Tasks and Responsibilities

• Provide OT-specific assessment & interventions via groups & individual work related to self-care, work and leisure
• Work as a member of the multi-professional team
• Manage a clinical caseload
• Support the development of evidence-based OT practice
• Contribute to service development
• Participate in research/audit activities
• Provide OT advice to the multi-professional team
• Work independently without direct supervision
• Supervise the work of junior staff including OT students on clinical placement
• Contribute to and carry out risk assessment and management plans
• Provide OT assessment and interventions for the service user group
• Contribute to the maintenance and development of the Trust-wide OT Service
• Work within the social inclusion and recovery agenda
• Actively lead on promoting co-production and peer mentor work opportunities within the forensic community service and wider community
• Contribute to and carry out risk assessment and management plans to support meaningful and risk-managed engagement in the community

About Oxleas

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 and 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.

Locations & Scope

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 and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our Purpose & Values

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our values: We’re Kind, We’re Fair, We Listen, We Care.

Leadership

• Exercise good personal time management, punctuality, and consistent reliable attendance
• Undertake effective support, guidance, supervision and appraisal of junior staff
• Contribute to the induction, training, and education of students (both OT & other professions) and other staff in clinical area
• Regularly supervise and provide written assessments of OT students on fieldwork within the Trust
• Ensure relevant national and local policies are implemented
• Review and reflect on own practice and performance through effective supervision and appraisal guided by KSF
• Maintain stock and advise on resources required to carry out the job

Clinical

• Manage a caseload of service users with complex mental health needs
• Work with service users to identify OT goals as part of the multidisciplinary care plan, using specialist mental health & OT assessment tools & treatment techniques
• Provide the most effective assessment & interventions in a variety of settings
• Plan and implement service-user-led individual and/or group interventions, using graded activity to achieve therapeutic goals
• Ensure service users’ health, social, cultural, and spiritual needs are always considered
• Actively lead on promoting co-production and peer mentor work opportunities within the forensic community service and wider community
• Assess for and provide equipment to enhance independence in daily living skills for offenders with a physical disability in addition to their mental health needs
• Monitor, evaluate and modify treatment to measure progress and identify outcomes
• Plan and deliver services within the Care Programme Approach framework
• Apply a high level of understanding of the effect of disability and provide training and advice on life skills to maximise functional ability
• Assess the occupational needs of service users and establish and evaluate appropriate treatment interventions
• Identify appropriate and inappropriate referrals and prioritise workload
• Manage effective discharge ensuring service users and all relevant agencies are given relevant information
• Contribute to risk assessment and risk management plans
• Work as part of the MDT and attend all relevant clinical meetings
• Maintain up-to-date electronic and written records in accordance with Professional and Trust standards
• Contribute to service & policy review and implementation
• Participate in operational planning, implementation, evaluation and audit of practice, clinical care pathways and protocols within own clinical area
• Raise awareness of the OT service within own clinical area
• Participate in the development of the OT service within own clinical area
• Apply increasingly complex skills to establish professional competence and fitness to practice as a Band 6 OT
• Attend all relevant mandatory training as directed by the Trust
• Contribute to CPD through participation in internal and external training and other development opportunities
• Maintain and update a CPD portfolio
• Contribute to the team’s clinical governance and quality agenda
• Ensure practice is evidence-based
• Demonstrate understanding and application of national guidelines and legislation relating to mental health & social care provision
• Observe and apply Health and Safety regulations
• Apply risk management procedures
• Promote and facilitate offender involvement in own clinical area

Research

• Demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate current research and apply it to practice
• Broaden research and development skills through participation in local audit and research projects

Communication

• Communicate appropriately with service users and carers, team members, OT colleagues and other agencies
• Demonstrate effective communication skills with those who have difficulty with communication for any reason
• Communicate effectively as required within the job role using appropriate methods of communication
• Promote awareness of the OT role within the team, negotiating priorities where appropriate

This advert closes on Thursday 18 Dec 2025