Lead Occupational Therapist

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust; Tees Valley; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization in Tees Valley is seeking a Lead Occupational Therapist to provide clinical leadership and manage a complex caseload. The ideal candidate should have significant experience in mental health services for older people and a commitment to delivering high-quality care. Responsibilities include leading the occupational therapy service and collaborating within a multidisciplinary team. This full-time permanent position offers a chance to make a real difference in the community and develop innovative approaches in occupational therapy.

Qualifications

• Significant experience of supporting people with mental health issues.
• Understanding of the needs of service users with mental health conditions.
• Substantial clinical experience of complex occupational therapy delivery.

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical and professional leadership for occupational therapy.
• Manage a small caseload of highly complex occupational therapy.
• Deliver specialist occupational intervention to meet care standards.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Communication skills

Client-centred approaches

Team collaboration

Education

Pre-registration qualification in occupational therapy

Registration with HCPC

Evidence of post-registration master's level learning

Job description

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

Lead Occupational Therapist

The closing date is 04 January 2026

As a lead occupational therapist in TEWV you will provide clinical and professional leadership and management for occupational therapy in the designated service area. This will also include managing your own small highly complex occupational therapy caseload, assessing occupational performance and delivering specialist occupational intervention. You will ensure the professional standards of care are maintained in your own occupational therapy caseload and that of those you lead, demonstrating adherence to the Trust Values at all times, and operating as a leader in the team, service and organisation.

Main duties of the job

• To be responsible for the delivery of occupational therapy services across the designated service area.
• To provide specialist advice to occupational therapy staff and other members of the multidisciplinary team and wider.
• To be responsible for receiving complex requests for occupational therapy, triaging and prioritising these, completing evidence-based assessments and interventions to address key occupational areas of self-care, productivity and leisure.
• To use client-centred approaches to co-producing negotiated occupational goals and evaluate these with service users collaboratively.
• To participate in and provide clinical/professional and management supervision
• To contribute to multi-disciplinary team working
• To contribute to and lead on service improvement and quality initiatives
• To use the Trust electronic patient record system
• To abide by all Trust policies and procedures
• To be able to respond flexibly and creatively to challenges

About us

We are the Mental Health & Learning Disability NHS Trust for County Durham and Darlington, Teesside, North Yorkshire, York and Selby.

From education and prevention, to crisis and specialist care — our talented and compassionate teams work in partnership with our patients, communities and partners to help the people of our region feel safe, understood, believed in and cared for.

We nurture the recovery journey of anyone in need of our help. In Our Trust, everyone has a say in how they are supported and treated because we listen to every person in our care until they feel understood. Our patients, their families and carers work together with us towards better mental health.

We're committed to new thinking that improves the wellbeing of our region. We connect with our communities and partners to get mental health care right, in areas that really need it.

An opportunity has arisen for a competent, confident, and enthusiastic full-time band 7 lead occupational therapist to lead the occupational therapy service in mental health services for older people (MHSOP). The post covers in-patient organic and functional wards, older people's crisis services, care homes liaison, and intensive community services, across Durham and the Tees Valley.

The post is a full-time permanent post, and the work base could be at any of our MHSOP sites in the area of leadership.

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for further detailed information to ensure that you meet the role criteria before applying.

We are looking for an OT who can work flexibly to meet service need and has the vision, energy and inspiration to develop creative, imaginative solutions to delivering occupational therapy.

The post holder will provide and lead the delivery of evidence-based occupational therapy assessment and interventions as part of the OT pathway in their area of clinical responsibility.

Applicants must be committed to providing the best possible care for the people we work with and their families/carers.

The ability to engage and communicate with older people with mental health issues, as well as the family/carers and system around them is essential. Applicants must be able to demonstrate significant experience in the delivery of occupational therapy, keenness to continually develop themselves and others, and a particular interest in this clinical area of occupational therapy delivery.

We are able to support the use of transferrable occupational therapy skills and experience from a range of clinical settings.

Clinical/professional supervision is provided by the Trust professional head of occupational therapy, and the postholder will be a core member of the Trust wide occupational therapy leadership group.

The postholder organises and leads an occupational therapy learning and governance networks for the staff they lead to ensure fidelity to core occupational therapy delivery, enhance CPD and contribute to wider OT service developments.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Pre-registration qualification in occupational therapy (relevant professional field) as recognised by HCPC
• Registration with HCPC.
• Evidence of post-registration master's level learning
• Or in the absence of master's level learning - equivalent experience in relevant area. E.g., relevant level 7 courses, researcher role, quality improvement activity, leading service development, project management, strategic leadership, NICE involvement, service evaluation.
• International English Language Testing System (IELTS) level 7 (SLT =8) for international recruit

Knowledge

• Significant experience of supporting people with mental health issues, learning disability or autism
• Significant understanding of the needs of service users with mental health conditions or learning disabilities or autism

Experience

• Substantial clinical experience of complex occupational therapy delivery in relevant specialist area in collaboration with service users, families, and relevant others.
• Experience of working in Multidisciplinary Team (SW essential criteria)

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.

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Any MHSOP site across teams/services the role covers