Occupational Therapist

Countess Of Chester Hospital; Chester; On-site; GBP 33,000 - 43,000; Full time

Job summary

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is inviting applications for a Band 6 Occupational Therapist to join a dynamic team. You will work as an autonomous practitioner, shaping patient journeys and driving service innovation within a supportive, forward-thinking environment.

The role offers flexible working options, opportunities for leadership development, and collaboration with a multidisciplinary team, including surgeons, nurses and physiotherapists.

Qualifications

• HCPC registered Occupational Therapist.
• Broad Band 5 NHS experience.
• Strong organisational skills, time management, and resilience under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Work as an autonomous practitioner to perform specialist OT assessments and develop treatment plans.
• Monitor and evaluate treatment to measure progress and outcomes.
• Be professionally accountable for your own work and supervise others as required.
• Provide clinical cover during staff absence with senior support as needed.
• Participate in 7-day working, evening and weekend duties as required.
• Identify Home Visits and assess discharge suitability, supervising staff when appropriate.

Skills

HCPC registered Occupational Therapist

Autonomous practitioner

Clinical reasoning

Leadership

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Job description

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, staff pride themselves on not only leading through clinical excellence, but also by creating an environment where all staff are valued and appreciated. To achieve this, the Trust has embarked on an exciting new strategy focused on continuous improvement.

Our vision is to improve the lives of our community and provide excellence in healthcare, through partnership and innovation

Our High Performance Culture will support everyone to be the best version of themselves by being true to our Trust vision, values and behaviours.
We welcome applications from colleagues from our local and neighbouring communities of all backgrounds and identities, who are currently under-represented within our region such as Black, Asian, Minority ethnic and those with disabilities.

As a region we are reviewing the way we work, and exploring how new working practices that support flexible working can create a positive work-life balance. As part of our recruitment process we will explore how our inclusive employment policies, flexible working, staff engagement forums, Trust facilities and services can be of mutual benefit.

Job overview

Working Full time: 37.5 hours per week

As a Band 6 Occupational Therapist, you'll step into a dynamic, forward-thinking team where your expertise will shape patient journeys and drive service innovation. If you're motivated, enthusiastic, and ready to grow, this is the perfect environment to thrive. This is a static post but would consider rotational, and flexible working with different hours would be considered.

Opportunities You'll Experience

• Innovation in Practice: Contribute to service development projects, introducing new treatment approaches, digital tools, and patient-centred innovations.
• Leadership Development: Take on mentoring responsibilities for Band 5 OTs, Therapy Assistants, and students, building your leadership profile.
• Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Work closely with surgeons, nurses, physiotherapists, and other specialists, becoming a key voice in multidisciplinary team decisions.
• Research & Governance: Engage in clinical audits, service evaluations, and governance activities that influence trust-wide practice.
• Acute & Community Balance: Experience the fast-paced acute hospital environment while also occasionally supporting patients in community and home settings, ensuring safe discharges and continuity of care.
• Career Progression: Build the skills and portfolio needed to move into advanced practice, specialist Band 7 roles, or leadership positions.

Main duties of the job

• To work as an autonomous practitioner to perform a specialist occupational therapy assessment of patients with diverse presentations. To use clinical reasoning to provide a diagnosis and develop, deliver and adapt individualised treatment programmes.
• To implement monitoring and evaluation of treatment in order to measure progress and outcomes to ensure effectiveness of interventions and service delivery.
• To be professionally and legally accountable for all aspects of own work and that of supervised physiotherapists and assistants and hold responsibility for own caseload for a specialist area of the service, working without direct supervision.
• To provide clinical cover, as appropriate during staff absence with guidance and support of a senior member of staff if required.
• To participate in 7 day working as per service requirements, in evening and/or weekend duty rotas and/or emergency/on call rotas. To provide treatment to patients and to provide advice to medical and nursing staff and other members of the multidisciplinary team without direct supervision.
• To identify and carry out Home Visits in accordance with Trust and Professional standards and to assess patient condition and suitability for discharge and where appropriate supervise physiotherapists and assistants in these tasks.
• What We're Looking For HCPC registered Occupational Therapist Broad Band 5 NHS experience Strong organisational skills, time management, and resilience under pressure.

Working for our organisation

The Trust's services are provided from three locations: