Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist

Transformation Unit; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 58,000 - 65,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Collaborative environment

Career development

Continuous growth

Meaningful impact

Supportive leadership

Job summary

GSTT @home is an innovative hospital-at-home service within Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, delivering rapid assessment and acute care in patients’ homes across Lambeth and Southwark. This 0.8 WTE fixed-term post is part-time 30 hours a week, with a 9-month maternity cover, requiring weekend rotation.

We are seeking an experienced Band 7 Occupational Therapist or Physiotherapist with urgent response, admission avoidance, or emergency care experience.

Qualifications

• Recognised OT/PT degree and HCPC registration.
• Post-graduate qualification in specialist area preferred.
• Membership in RCOT or CSP is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Provide OT/PT assessment, intervention and care planning in the community.
• Work autonomously and with health and social care colleagues.
• Demonstrate clinical judgement in triaging referrals and prioritising care.
• Undertake Therapist in Charge role and supervise junior staff.
• Contribute to service development, audit and quality improvement.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Autonomous decision-making

Clinical judgment

Team collaboration

Education

Occupational Therapy degree

HCPC registration

Post-graduate qualification

RCOT/CSP membership

Job description

Main area Urgent Community Response Grade NHS AfC: Band 7 Contract Fixed term: 9 months (Maternity Leave cover. 9 month contract from start date of employment.) Hours Part time - 30 hours per week (Shifts over a 7 day working week. Minimum 1 weekend per 4 week rota period.) Job ref 196-LIS10860M

Employer Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Elmcourt Health Centre/Walworth Road Sexual Health Clinic Town London Salary £58,133 - £65,261 p.a. inc HCA (pro rata) Salary period Yearly Closing 28/10/2026 23:59

Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist

NHS AfC: Band 7

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.

Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.

Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.

We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.

The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.

Job overview

0.8 WTE | Fixed-Term 9-Month Contract (Maternity Leave Cover)

Are you an experienced Band 7 Occupational Therapist or Physiotherapist with a background in urgent response, admission avoidance, acute medicine, or emergency care? Do you enjoy autonomous decision-making, managing clinical complexity, and demonstrating leadership within dynamic multidisciplinary team?

The@home Service is at the forefront of community healthcare transformation, delivering rapid assessment and intervention to support people with complex and urgent health and social needs to remain safely at home. Working in line with the NHS vision for integrated community care, we provide responsive, high-quality care that reduces unnecessary hospital admissions.

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated clinician with advanced assessment, clinical reasoning, and risk management skills.

As a senior member of the team, you will demonstrate advanced assessment and clinical reasoning, provide clinical leadership, contribute to service development, and support colleagues through shared learning and professional expertise.

This role is ideally suited to an ambitious clinician who is passionate about innovative community practice and thrives in a fast-paced environment. If you are looking for an opportunity to make a real impact and utilise your clinical and leadership skills within a forward-thinking urgent community response service, we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

Provide Occupational Therapy/Physiotherapy assessment, intervention, and care planning for patients in the community, delivering high-quality, person-centred care within professional scope.

Work both autonomously and collaboratively with colleagues acrosshealth and social care to ensure seamless, coordinated care and positive patient experiences in patients’ homes.

Demonstrate strong clinical judgement in triaging referrals, prioritising resources, and ensuring timely allocation of care based on clinical need.

Undertake the Therapist in Charge role, providing clinical leadership, oversight of the therapy caseload, and supporting safe, effective service delivery.

Supervise and line manage junior therapists and support workers, offering professional support, clinical guidance, and student mentorship.

Act as a senior therapy resource, supporting complex case management, shared learning, and workforce development.

Contribute to service improvement, audit, research, and evidence-based practice initiatives to enhance quality and outcomes.

Maintain ongoing professional development across the four pillars of practice through supervision, reflection, and multidisciplinary working.

Working for our organisation

GSTT @home is an innovative hospital-at-home service, bringing together health and social care professionals to deliver responsive, multidisciplinary care in patients' homes, reducing the need for hospital admission while supporting people to remain independent.

The service operates seven days a week, with therapists participating in a four-week rota that includes weekend working. This 0.8 WTE fixed-term role would be expected to work predominantly between 08:00 and 18:30 as a guide. We recognise the importance of work-life balance and are happy to discuss flexible working arrangements to support individual needs where possible.

What we offer:

• Collaborative Environment: Work alongside passionate health and social care professionals, committed to patient-centred care
• Continuous Growth: Contribute to expanding and improving urgent community response services within Lambeth and Southwark
• Career development: Access opportunities for professional and personal development within a supportive team
• Meaningful impact: Make a real difference to people with urgent and complex needs
• Supportive Leadership: Benefit from the guidance and mentorship of experienced therapy leads

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the full job description for a comprehensive summary of the essential and desirable criteria for this role. Main headings include:

• Professional and clinical responsibilities
• Communication
• Service Development - Research / Audit / Quality
• Staff management and Leadership
• Education and Training

Personal and professional development key relationships include Deputy Head of Nursing, Deputy Chief AHP, Therapy Lead Practitioners, Service Lead and Deputy Service Leads and Matrons, Clinical Nurse Specialists and Practitioners, Allied Health Professionals, @home GPs, Consultants and Junior Medical Staff, Social Workers and Social Services, Nursing and Rehabilitation Support Workes, Practice Development Nurses, and various community and acute therapy and nursing teams.

General points to note:
This job may involve frequent exposure to unpleasant working conditions, e.g. bodily fluids, unpleasant smells, exposure to variant weather conditions, and within a fast-paced environment.

Being community-based, you will visit patients in their own homes across Lambeth and Southwark. Travel within the boroughs can be achieved by public transport and/or trust-provided or your personal vehicle for those holding a valid UK driving licence.

Person specification

Experience

• Experience of working with adults and older people with chronic conditions and complex co-morbidities
• Post-graduate/rehabilitation experience at minimum Band 6 in all core areas: neurology, orthopedics, respiratory, and care of the elderly
• Experience in devising, delivering and evaluating training both within the service and to other agencies
• Extensive experience in the application of manual handling techniques in line with Manual Handling Guidelines.
• Demonstrated experience in line management, supervision, mentoring and education of junior therapists and AHP students
• Previous experience in urgent/rapid response, A&E, acute medicine or similar

Skills

• Demonstrated ability to manage a complex and constantly changing workload of clinical and non-clinical duties demonstrating excellent time management, prioritisation and organisational skills
• Ability to manage risk appropriately, applying clinical reasoning and critical analysis to support decision making
• Able to develop effective therapeutic and working relationships, demonstrating empathy, active listening and motivational skills
• Ability to use an evidence-based approach including clinical outcome measures to evaluate outcomes
• Ability to adopt innovative and flexible working practices and lead and implement successful change management
• Knowledge and application of a wide range of approaches to manage patient complexity, demonstrated by advanced clinical reasoning
• Understanding of Clinical Governance and the implications for services including experience in quality improvement and audit
• Demonstrated advanced clinical reasoning and assessment, including complex patients
• Knowledge of current national policies and directives relevant to intermediate care and UCR

Qualifications/Knowledge

• Recognised Occupational Therapy/Physiotherapy degree qualification or equivalent
• Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registration
• Recognised post-graduate qualification in specialist clinical area
• Member of relevant Clinical Interest Group e.g. RCOT, CSP, other related to specialist clinical area

Guy’s and St Thomas’celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.

Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.

As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.

We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personalcircumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.

Due to recent changes inthe UK immigration rules which affect Skilled Worker Visas, Global Business Mobility, Higher Skill Level and Increased Salary Thresholds, please ensure that you are able to meet the requirements to live and work in the UK before applying. Further informationabout eligibilityis available on the UK Government website.

Your e-mail address is important to us -We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.

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 Jessica Henry Job title Therapy Lead / Physiotherapist Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 0203 049 5751 Additional information

Have any questions about this role or working with GSTT?

Contact Jessica via phone or email to ensure you have all the necessary information for a successful application!