Occupational Health Specialist Practitioner

Transformation Unit; Ashington, North Tyneside; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 48,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Generous annual leave & pension

Lease car & home electronics scheme

Job summary

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an Occupational Health Specialist for a 12-month maternity cover. Based at Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington, you will support a multidisciplinary OH team and travel to other Trust sites as needed.

You will supervise staff, handle pre-placement health screening, surveillance, and sickness management while upholding SEQOHS accreditation and NHS Health at Work standards. The role offers flexible working and ample development opportunities.

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse with professional registration.
• Experience delivering OH services to external contracts.
• Experience mentoring and appraising OH staff.
• Venepuncture experience and competence in lung function/audiometry.
• NEBOSH certificate and management training where applicable.

Responsibilities

• Support senior team and supervise junior OH staff.
• Oversee pre-placement health screening, health surveillance and sickness absence management.
• Conduct risk assessments and provide signposting within OH.
• Travel to Trust sites as required and ensure compliance with SEQOHS.

Skills

Delivering OH services to external/con

Mentorship and appraisal

Managing service operations

Sickness absence policies

Driving licence

Education

Registered Nurse

Degree with diploma-level OH training

Supervision/teaching qualification (18-month target)

Lung function competence

Audiometry competence

NEBOSH Certificate

Management course

Job description

Main area Occupational Health & & Wellbeing Services Grade Band 6 Contract Fixed term: 12 months (David Patterson) Hours

• Part time
• Flexible working

30 hours per week Job ref 319-8364262LH

Employer Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Wansbeck General Hospital Town Ashington Salary £39,959 - £48,117 Pro rata, per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 29/11/2026 23:59

Band 6

Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022). Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare and, this is…the Northumbria Way!

What the Northumbria Way means for you

• Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
• Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
• A range of flexible working opportunities
• Generous annual leave and pension scheme
• Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
• Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
• Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank

We work closely with Kids First Nurseries that are based within our trust grounds at Wansbeck, North Tyneside and Hexham hospitals to care for our Trust family's children, they offer care for children from 6 weeks old up to 4 years. There are a number of funding options run by the government to help working parents, including Early Years Funding and Tax Free Childcare.

Flexible working offers choice in where, when, and how we work, ensuring patients remain at the heart of all we do. It’s open to everyone, and we aim to find solutions that work for both you and the organisation. All arrangements must be reasonable and balanced to maintain safe and effective patient care.

We are proud to be one of the country’s top performing NHS trusts – rated ‘outstanding’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England. Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people’s homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.

We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise – a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people’s lives, such as education, employment and the economy.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, we have a Gold award from the Defense Recognition Scheme, and we are delighted to support Apprenticeships, Age Posi+ive and are a mindful employer.

Job overview

The Occupational Health and Wellbeing Service (OHWS) is looking to appoint an Occupational Health Specialist with experience in Occupational Health for a 12 month post to cover maternity leave. The successful candidate will be based at Wansbeck General Hospital however will be required to travel to other Trust sites.

We are a close team of Specialist Nurses, OH Nurses, Occupational Health Physicians, Psychologists and Counsellors, Physiotherapists and Staff Wellbeing Service working together to promote health and successful work.

Please note we reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the closing date once the required number of suitable applications have been received.

Main duties of the job

The OHWS service provides quality advice and support for staff and employers, looking after Northumbria Healthcare and smaller employers in the Northumberland and North Tyneside region. We hold SEQOHS accreditation and are a member of the NHS Health at Work Network.

The successful candidate will support the senior team in supervising junior staff and the running of the department in all aspects of occupational health, which include pre-placement health screening, health surveillance, management of sickness absence, risk assessments and signposting.

Working for our organisation

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, covering one of the largest geographical areas of any NHS trust in the country. Leading in innovation and quality – opening a state of the art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main duties of the job:

The successful candidate will support the senior team in supervising junior staff and the running of the department in all aspects of occupational health, which include pre-placement health screening, health surveillance, management of sickness absence, risk assessments and signposting.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse
• Degree supplemented by diploma level specialist training, experience, short courses and/or equivalent experience/knowledge
• Evidence of qualification to undertake the supervision, teaching and assessing of students (essential requirement for post, expectation this will be completed within an 18 month period unless post is bank only).
• Certificates of competence in; o Lung function o Audiometry
• NEBSOH Certificate
• Management course
• Experience of venepuncture

Experience and Knowledge

• Substantial experience in Delivering an occupational health service to external contracts.
• Experience of managing the daily running of the service Trust wide in the absence of senior staff
• Experience of mentorship and appraisal for staff within the Occupational Health setting objectives and action plans.
• Knowledge of all sickness absence policies and ill health retirement procedures for such contracts.

Other Requirements

• It is an essential requirement of the role that the post holder has a valid driving licence and is either a car owner and able to use the car for work purposes, or has a Trust personal lease vehicle which may be used for the role. However, the Trust would consider making reasonable adjustments to the role, if necessary, to enable a disabled person to undertake the role

Applicants who are members of the Armed Forces, those who have a disability that requires support in the work place (two ticks pledge) and those who have been looked after by the care system as a child or young person (for example, in foster care, children's homes, kinship or local authority care) who meet the essential criteria will be interviewed under the Trust's interview guarantee scheme.

We recognise the positive value of diversity and inclusion and are committed to a workforce that is diverse, equal and inclusive. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME people are currently under-represented in our workforce as well as other under-represented groups such as LGBT+ and disabled candidates. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, we have a Gold award from the Defense Recognition Scheme, and we are delighted to support Apprenticeships, Age Posi+ive and are a mindful employer.

Applicants who meet the Fit and Proper Person Requirements (FPPR) will require additional pre-employment checks in line with CQC and NHS England statutory guidance.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust proudly hold a sponsor licence. In order to provide sponsorship you and the role you are applying for must meet UKVI eligibility requirements. Please check your eligibility prior to submitting an application. Skilled Worker visa: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Please note that it is a requirement of this Trust that all successful applicants pay for their own DBS certification if a DBS check is required for the post. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first monthly pay.

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 Laura McKenna Job title Clinical Lead Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 01670 529213