Community Children's Occupational Therapist

NHS; Peterborough; On-site; GBP 31,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare provider in Peterborough is seeking a Community Children's Occupational Therapist to join their team. The role involves providing support to children with neurodevelopmental difficulties within various settings. Ideal candidates will have an OT degree and experience with children. The position offers a supportive environment, developmental opportunities, and a salary range of £31,049 to £37,796 per annum pro rata.

Benefits

Development opportunities

Supportive team environment

Qualifications

• Broad range of core clinical experience, preferably within the NHS.
• Experience working with children and families adjusting to disabilities.
• Demonstrates an ability to problem solve in a clinical setting.

Responsibilities

• Provide responsive Occupational Therapy to children referred to the service.
• Collaborate with medical consultants and community pediatricians.
• Maintain a full clinical caseload with high professional standards.

Skills

Teamwork

Communication

Child-centered approach

Education

Diploma/degree in Occupational Therapy

Registered with the HCPC

Job description

Go back Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

Community Children's Occupational Therapist

The closing date is 15 October 2025

This post is a 12-month fixed term contract.

We are currently looking to recruit an enthusiastic and motivated Occupational Therapist to join our Community Children's Occupational Therapy Team. We are a small enthusiastic and hard-working team based at the Child Development Centre. We provide a service for children with neurodevelopmental difficulties or concerns around engagement within meaningful daily activities (from birth to 18 years). You will be part of a supportive multi-disciplinary team and the role will involve providing support to children, young people and their families across Peterborough.

The role will provide you with an opportunity to work within a sort after area of Paediatrics and experience wider inter-disciplinary team dynamics. You will also work closely with external agencies and our local authority to support the needs of our service users.

The ideal candidate will have a strong team work ethic and sense of accountability. In return we will provide the necessary support to ensure your development within your post. We are keen to support and develop our staff and encourage further opportunities within the Trust where possible.

Main duties of the job

• To provide responsive and accessible Occupational Therapy to children referred to the service, in the most appropriate environment, Child Development Centre, special school, mainstream school and other community settings for children aged 0-19.
• To work in close co-operation with designated Medical Consultants, Community Paediatricians, other health care professionals and staff from agencies such as Education & Social Care.
• To maintain a full clinical caseload. To have joint responsibility and clinical supervision with the team to determine priorities and caseload management to a high professional standard using specialist knowledge and experience.
• To ensure a high standard of care based on agreed prioritisation with all disciplines and agencies involved with the child, young person and their family.
• To communicate with these agencies, parents and children in an appropriate manner, often with sensitive information regarding diagnosis and outcomes.
• To teach parents skills and strategies as appropriate.
• To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own work, including the management of patients in your own care.

About us

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high-quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting andempowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high-calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

• To implement the Occupational Therapy Service in respect of treatment of all referred children and young people.
• To organise the caseload in such a way as to make optimum use of personal skills in the context of multi-disciplinary/multi-agency work.
• To assess, treat and evaluate children/young people referred to the service to include individual and other appropriate group work.
• To work in close co-operation with relatives and carers and to offer support as appropriate.
• To maintain close links and liaise with other agencies involved with the child.
• To attend clinics, school reviews and meetings as appropriate.
• To adhere and maintain professional standards and clinical guideline as set by heads of service and the specialist section of the College of Occupational Therapists Children and Young People and Families
• To develop specialist skills pertaining to the service, attending appropriate courses where funding is available. To be prepared to share these skills with the multi-disciplinary / multi-agency arena.
• To provide spontaneous and planned advice, teaching and instruction to relatives, carers and other professionals, to promote an understanding of the aims of occupational therapy and to ensure a consistent approach to the childs care including staff in an educational setting.
• To deliver training sessions to parents, carers and other people involved in the childs care on topics including sensory processing, fine motor skills and coordination difficulties.

Person Specification

Education/Qualifications

• Diploma/degree in Occupational Therapy.
• Registered as an Occupational Therapist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• Commitment to Lifelong learning
• BAOT membership
• Post graduate attendance on child specific study days

Experience

• Broad range of core clinical experience at pre-registration or, if applicable, post registration within the NHS or other UK health setting in a related OT clinical speciality e.g. learning disability, physical disability, social services etc, with the ability to transfer OT core skills to the OT process with children & young people
• Experience working in multi-disciplinary or multi agency teams, demonstrating an ability to be an effective member of the team, working flexibly to meet patient and service needs
• Demonstrates an ability to problem solve in a clinical setting
• Demonstrates experience of working with children (paid or voluntary role)
• Paediatric fieldwork experience at undergraduate level.
• Experience working with families who are adjusting to disability issues
• Experience of working in the community
• Experience leading/participating in workshops/lecturing

Knowledge & Skills

• Awareness of moving and handling legislation
• Awareness of health and safety legislation
• Demonstrates an understanding of safeguarding issues
• Ability to work with a child centred approach
• Good communication skills, written and verbal
• Good organisational skills, time management skills and prioritisation skills.
• Ability to work as a team and independently
• Seeks and uses professional support appropriately
• Understands the principle of confidentiality
• Has a range of mechanisms for dealing with stress, can recognise when to use them and does so
• A realistic knowledge of personal strengths and areas for development

Physical Requirements

• The physical ability to perform & cope with all aspects of manual handling as demanded by the job role

Other

• Access to a car & ability to use car for business purposes to travel between sites within the Trust or to patients residences, school settings, as demanded by the job role
• Ability to adapt to changes in work routine
• Recognise peoples right to privacy and dignity, treating every person with respect
• Willingness to embrace integrated model and new ways of working.
• Willingness to be flexible in approach and attitude

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

£31,049 to £37,796 a year per annum pro rata