Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist; Critical Care

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust; Liverpool; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent children's hospital in Liverpool is seeking a Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist to manage complex caseloads of children in Critical Care. The role requires advanced clinical reasoning, teamwork within multi-disciplinary teams, and developing therapeutic interventions. Ideal candidates will possess relevant qualifications and experience in paediatric approaches. The hospital provides comprehensive training and a supportive environment for professional development, ensuring optimal care for patients.

Qualifications

• Must demonstrate high-level knowledge of various assessments and treatment modalities.
• Experience of working with orthopaedics and burns.
• Experience in supervising junior staff and students.

Responsibilities

• Manage a complex caseload of children with serious and terminal conditions.
• Evaluate demand and service needs for effective delivery.
• Provide expert advice to the multidisciplinary team regarding treatment.

Skills

Occupational Therapy assessment

Specialist intervention techniques

Clinical reasoning

Leadership

Communication with families

Education

Diploma or Degree in Occupational Therapy

HPC registration

Level 7 study or equivalent

Job description

Go back Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist; Critical Care

The closing date is 06 January 2026

We are delighted to offer this opportunity for an experienced Occupational Therapist to work within the Acute Integrated Therapy Team, managing a caseload of children and young people across Critical Care.

The post holder will carry a complex caseload across ICU, HDU and Cardiac wards, working in partnership with parents, carers, education and other service providers to ensure a child centred approach to therapy.

The post holder will have opportunity to develop the service across critical care, working closely with our specialist Physiotherapy team.

We are looking to recruit a Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist, to work as an autonomous clinician using specialist assessment skills to assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions in patients within this specialty who have acute and long term, serious and terminal conditions.

We are looking for a Occupational Therapist with highly developed analytical & judgment skills to be directly involved in the clinical decision‑making process as part of the MDT, using and interpreting the results of diagnostic tests to progress the management of the child's condition.

To be directly involved in the clinical decision‑making process as part of the critical care multidisciplinary team, providing appropriate advice and education to families and colleagues to promote optimal therapy management.

Main duties of the job

Please see job description for further details.

To work as an Advanced Occupational Therapist within the Critical Care setting, responsible for the delivery of Advanced Occupational Therapy to children within the Critical Care caseload at Alder Hey.

Working with a complex caseload, use advanced clinical reasoning as part of assessment and treatment delivery within the critical care environment. The post holder will be able to lead the specialist assessments of low awareness states, 24‑hour postural management programmes, sensory stimulation and early neurodevelopment, based on advanced clinical reasoning skills.

To evaluate demand and service need, to work with Therapy Managers to make recommendations for service growth and efficient delivery.

The post holder will work within the critical care team, to enable the rehabilitation journey to commence at the earliest opportunity, working with children with traumatic or acquired presentations.

The post holder will work with a caseload with diverse presentations and complex conditions, including neurological diagnosis, Intensive Care Unit Acquired Weakness and those with general rehabilitation needs within critical care and stepdown wards.

The post holder will work closely with Physiotherapists and will provide leadership for junior Therapists and Therapy assistants, support service development and quality improvement projects.

The post holder may be required to provide input to other areas of the service as required.

About us

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust is a major teaching hospital with 270 beds. It is a supra‑regional centre for cardiac surgery, neurosurgery and Paediatric major trauma. Alder Hey is one of Europe's busiest children's hospitals and we care for over 270,000 young people and their families every year.

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust is located in the vibrant city of Liverpool in the North West of England.

Job responsibilities

Please see attached job description and personal specification for further details.

1. To be professional and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own work including the management of caseload. To ensure a high standard of clinical care (for the patients under your management) to maximise function and independence and support more junior staff to do likewise.
2. To demonstrate the ability to carry out specialist occupational therapy assessment and interventions within specialist area of practice. To demonstrate the ability to carry out OT assessment and specialised interventions including manual therapy techniques and therapeutic handling and demonstrate highly developed dexterity, co‑ordination and palpatory sensory skills for assessment and manual treatment of patients.
3. Provide expert advice to the MDT team regarding neurodevelopmental assessment and treatment of children, including those with complex presentations; encompassing any musculoskeletal or Respiratory presentations that fall under scope of practice based on clinical evidence.
4. To hold an independent, complex, and highly specialist caseload, being able to highly demonstrate specialist assessment, diagnostic, treatment, and management plans with goals based on advanced clinical reasoning skills.
5. To use advanced clinical assessment and reasoning skills and evidence‑based knowledge to assess patients with highly complex conditions. To plan and implement highly individualised therapy programmes to be carried out by the therapist, Assistant, Educational Staff and Carers. To continually monitor, evaluate and modify the programmes to measure progress and ensure effectiveness of intervention for children with changing needs.

Person Specification

• Diploma or Degree in Occupational Therapy
• HPC registration
• Experience of working with orthopaedics and burns
• Evidence of CPD, post registration educational and training
• Level 7 study or equivalent
• High level knowledge of a variety of assessments and treatment modalities
• Experience of supervising Junior Staff and Students
• Knowledge of specialist paediatric approaches and high standard of performance in a range of general paediatric skills
• Experience of audit
• Evidence of relevant CPD

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.

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

£47,810 to £54,710 a year pro rata per annum