Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist

Integrated Care System; Chertsey; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 57,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading care system provides an opportunity for a Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist to lead a dynamic team in an acute hospital setting. The role involves advanced clinical support, service development, and collaboration with multidisciplinary teams to ensure high-quality, patient-centred therapy services.

Benefits

Excellent pension scheme

Annual leave entitlement

On-site Nurseries

On-site staff cafes

On-site parking

Salary Sacrifice schemes

Qualifications

• Experience in managing and prioritising own and team workload.
• Supervising staff and junior Occupational Therapists.
• Strong understanding of the role of OT in ICU.

Responsibilities

• Lead advanced assessment and clinical management of patients.
• Ensure operational delivery of Occupational Therapy services.
• Supervise junior staff and contribute to quality improvement.

Skills

Advanced clinical reasoning

Effective communication skills

Evidence-based practice

Education

HCPC registration in Occupational Therapy

Leadership/management courses

Experience as a senior OT in surgery/cardiorespiratory/neuro

Job description

Go back Ashford & St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist

The closing date is 10 July 2025

We are looking for an experienced occupational therapist who has the passion and drive to lead occupational therapists within the surgical, cardiorespiratory and critical care teams in our acute hospital setting.

This is requiring a person who is motivated and willing to contribute to facilitate, design and lead service development. You will join a friendly and dynamic team, working alongside band 7 physiotherapists in supporting and developing the team's work across critical care, cardiorespiratory and surgical wards, including amputee patients. Ensuring a high-quality therapy service that is patient-centred and evidenced based practice is embedded in its provision. The successful applicant will provide advanced clinical support, advice and training to both the OT team and the wider therapy/multidisciplinary service. They will have their own clinical caseload and supervise band 6 and band 5 OTs plus support staff.

The post holder should have expertise in advanced clinical reasoning and assessment skills of complex cases and discharge planning working in a busy multi-disciplinary hospital environment, including general experience in surgical, respiratory, amputee and neurology. They should also have advanced interpersonal and communication skills.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will

Take a leading role in the advanced assessment, clinical diagnosis, treatment and management of patients with critical illness, post-operative problems and long term respiratory conditions.

Work autonomously as an expert clinician, liaising effectively with other health professionals to ensure evidence based delivery of service within professional scope of practice.

Be responsible for the day-to-day operational delivery of Occupational Therapy services in critical care, cardiorespiratory and surgical wards.

Provide leadership in specialist field and be a key contributor to quality improvement, research and audit.

Work in partnership with the band 7 specialist physiotherapists within critical care, surgery and respiratory.

Support staff development and training across professional and organisational boundaries.

Be involved in developing the service in line with national and local strategic plans.

Ashford and St Peter's offer a seven day service across some specialities and you will be expected to support this on a rota system.

About us

Ashford and St. Peters Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust serves a population of more than 410,000 people living in North-West Surrey, parts of Hounslow and beyond.

Over 3,700 highly trained doctors, nurses, midwives, therapists, healthcare scientists and other support staff make up our workforce, providing a wide range of services across our two hospital sites, Ashford, Surrey and St Peter's, Chertsey, Surrey.

We also run many specialist clinics in the community and local community hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

Our vision is to be one of the best healthcare Trusts in the country. There has never been a better time to join us in the NHS at ASPH. We are committed to providing continuous professional development and flexibility to shape our workforce around our patient care.

We are expanding our theatres at Ashford Hospital and moving towards this becoming our dedicated elective centre. We want to create a state-of-the-art centre for excellence for planned surgical procedures.

We can offer you the full range of NHS benefits/discounts and in addition:

• Excellent pension scheme and annual leave entitlement
• On-site Nurseries
• On-site staff cafes
• On-site parking
• Salary Sacrifice schemes including wage stream, lease cars, Cycle to Work schemes and home electronics

Adverts may close early, so applicants are encouraged to submit an application as soon as possible.

For more information about a career at ASPH please visit:www.asph-careers.org

Job responsibilities

Please refer to JD/PS for full list of responsibilities

Clinical or technical

To assess patients with complex conditions using highly skilled assessments and making onward referrals to other disciplines and agencies as appropriate

To support other less experienced staff with their clinical caseload

To be responsible as an autonomous practitioner to undertake a significant specialist clinical caseload and use excellent clinical reasoning skills to utilise a wide range of treatment options and skills to formulate an individualised programme of care

To achieve and maintain a high standard of clinical care using evidence based practice, keeping up to date with clinical developments, analysing current research, discussing and implementing changes in clinical practice and encouraging this throughout the team

To be responsible for setting and monitoring of standards and policies of clinical practice in the team and evaluate outcomes

To take responsibility for the writing, reviewing and updating evidence based clinical guidelines and protocols appropriate to the speciality

To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of professional activities working within codes of practice and professional guidelines

To use ongoing investigative and analytical skills, assessment techniques and diagnostic procedures to assess complex patients

To formulate accurate prognoses and recommend best course of intervention, developing comprehensive discharge plans

To be aware of risks involved as part of delivering clinical care and manage this within own patient caseload

To demonstrate physical ability to carry out assessments and interventions including manual and therapeutic handling techniques. This post involves frequent light to moderate physical effort

To maintain accurate records in line with the Royal College of Occupational Therapy standards and Trust and service standards and policies

To attend relevant board rounds and meetings to ensure appropriate management and effective and timely discharge of patients

Leadership or managerial

Work in close conjunction with Clinical Lead for Cardiorespiratory services and other Band 7 Team Leads

Act as a role model and resource, providing information and promoting high standards of patient care, whilst working closely with other professionals

Supervise junior and senior staff where appropriate, and specifically B6 Occupational Therapists and Rehabilitation Assistants

Effectively plan the daily management of a caseload of patients by prioritising clinical work, responding to urgent referrals and frequently unpredictable work patterns

Maintain the high standards of the service by contributing to the individual team and service objectives

Ensure team working within Ashford and St Peters Hospitals, assisting other members to effectively prioritise, plan and manage their caseloads

Demonstrate ability to manage potentially stressful and upsetting or emotional situations in an empathetic manner

Demonstrate ability to prioritise clinical and managerial work and balance other patient related and professional activities as the department requires

Participate in the appraisal scheme as an appraiser and to be appraised

Contribute to the overall strategic view of the inpatient cardiorespiratory services at ASPH, by monitoring and evaluating activity

Demonstrate a high level of understanding of clinical governance and clinical risk

Initiate and lead projects to develop services in line with recent NHS initiatives and guidance and in response to local demand

Communication

Demonstrate ability to communicate complex and sensitive information to patients, carers and other staff including imparting unwelcome news relating to their rehabilitation potential and gaining consent for treatment

Assess patients understanding of treatment proposals, gain valid consent and have the capacity to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment

Demonstrate ability to motivate patients to comply with extended periods of treatment

Maintain accurate records in line with RCOT, Trust and service standards and policies

Ensure that records of directly managed staff also comply with these standards

Use a range of verbal and non-verbal communication tools to communicate effectively and sensitively with patients in order to progress treatment programmes. This may include patients who may have difficulties in understanding or communicating

Communicate any changes in care plan or treatment approach to other Occupational Therapists / MDT colleagues as necessary

Attend staff meetings and actively participate ensuring understanding of information imparted

Take responsibility for leading/supporting local team meetings to ensure accurate and timely information giving and receiving

Initiate and maintain good contact with local service both internally and externally

Provide advice to other disciplines both internally and externally to ensure a multidisciplinary approach to care

Ensure timely and effective communication with the Therapy Manager and Clinical Leads on all operational or professional matters

Communicate effectively with all disciplines involved in a patients care, both those from within the organisation and those outside, to ensure efficient multidisciplinary working

Education

Supervise and lead on the professional development and training of Occupational Therapists and other members of the team in the specialist field

Undertake regular supervision with individuals to support clinical reasoning and to undertake joint problem patient sessions as facilitator and participant

Participate in any training sessions as a recipient and facilitator

Disseminate any training received to other staff and healthcare professionals

Be actively involved in special interest groups in order to share and disseminate knowledge to colleagues

Information and reporting

Ensure all Trust IT systems are used effectively, particularly the use of Evolve is implemented and used to record patient notes and activity

Collect & record data accurately in accordance with professional guidelines and ASPH Values

. Research and Development

Demonstrate the use of relevant information and research findings to support and promote evidence-based practice within the clinical area

Promote clinical excellence through initiating & participating in setting, maintaining and monitoring standards of care within a clinical governance framework

Participate in both clinical and organisational audit to continually evaluate the effectiveness of the service

Feedback to appropriate stakeholders on the results, trends of audits and research undertaken

Person Specification

Qualifications and Experience

• HCPC registration in Occupational Therapy
• Experience as a senior OT in surgery/cardiorespiratory/neuro
• Manage and be accountable for own and team workload prioritisation
• Experience in supervising staff
• Leadership/management courses
• Special-interest group
• ICU experience as an Occupational Therapist

Knowledge

• Strong understanding in role of OT in ICU
• Evidence of involvement in audits/PDSA/service or quality improvement
• Awareness of relevant national and clinical guidelines
• Specialty-specific OT interventions (cardioresp, surgical, critical care)
• Awareness of Trust vision, values and strategic objectives

Skills

• Advanced clinical reasoning skills that guide interventions (i.e. rehab, risk assessments, discharge planning, management of complex cases)
• Good understanding of their communication, physical & emotional needs; can identify their individual needs and preferences, their changing needs and recognise and promote their independence.
• Teaching to staff, MDT, patients, carers
• Effective communication skills with MDT and service users
• Use of evidence-based practice

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.

Ashford & St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

£50,008 to £56,908 a yearper annum inc. HCAS