Occupational Therapist

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust; London Borough of Redbridge; Remote; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

High Cost Area Supplement (15%)

Job summary

North East London NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced Band 7 Senior Occupational Therapist to join our Acute Mental Health Occupational Therapy team in London. You will lead, supervise and develop junior OTs, shaping clinical governance and service development.

You will provide high-quality 1:1 and group assessments and interventions for people with complex mental health needs, while influencing MDT colleagues and the overall OT contribution within acute care.

Qualifications

• Experienced Occupational Therapist with a strong mental health background.
• Ability to work autonomously with complex presentations.
• Leadership and supervision of junior OTs and students.

Responsibilities

• Provide high-quality 1:1 and group OT assessment and intervention for people with complex mental health needs.
• Provide clinical leadership, supervision and support to Band 6 and Band 5 OTs.
• Support the development of students, apprentices and other OT staff.
• Lead areas of OT service development and contribute to audit and governance.
• Influence the MDT and promote OT contributions within acute mental health care.

Skills

Leadership

Mentorship

Clinical reasoning

MDT collaboration

Audit & QI

Compassionate care

Job description

We are looking for an experienced and motivated Band 7 Senior Occupational Therapist to join our Acute Mental Health Occupational Therapy team.

This is a role for an OT who wants to make a difference not only through their own clinical practice, but through the development of other OTs, the quality of the service and the experience of people using it.

You will have the opportunity to:

• Provide high-quality 1:1 and group Occupational Therapy assessment and intervention for people with complex mental health needs.
• Provide clinical leadership, supervision and support to Band 6 and Band 5 Occupational Therapists.
• Support the development of students, apprentices and other members of the OT workforce.
• Take a lead role in an area of Occupational Therapy service development, working under the direction of the Band 8a Lead OT. Contributing to audit, quality improvement, and clinical governance.
• Influence the wider MDT and promote the contribution of Occupational Therapy within acute mental health care.
• Deputise for the Band 8a Lead OT when required, providing an opportunity to develop your leadership experience further.

What we are looking for:

• You will be an experienced Occupational Therapist with a strong background in mental health and experience of working with people with complex needs.
• Clinical credibility – you are confident working autonomously with complex presentations and can demonstrate strong occupational therapy reasoning.
• Leadership – you are able to support, challenge and develop other OTs, creating a positive culture where people can grow and take responsibility for their practice.
• Influence – you can communicate effectively across professional boundaries and make the OT contribution visible within the MDT.
• A commitment to improvement – you want to use evidence, audit, service-user experience and quality improvement to make services better.
• Compassion and accountability – you can support colleagues while also maintaining high standards of clinical practice and professional responsibility.

Working for Us

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives, along with staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been recognised in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and hold a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Through our staff networks and training opportunities, we strive to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT.

Our Values 2025 - 2030

Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co‑produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.
They are:

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by
the best people.

Starting with NELFT (delete for internal only)

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being
properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters
will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will
undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which
will include mandatory training, systems training and the
allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will
have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior
managers, and attend a number of drop‑in sessions focusing on
engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The
induction will be held at our head office in Goodmayes Hospital.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period.

High Cost Area Supplement – Outer London (B&D, Redbridge, Havering and Waltham Forest, Goodmayes)

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,870 to a maximum of £6,137 p.a. pro rata for part time).

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable
to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility
under the UKVI points‑based system. When calculating the basic
salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High‑Cost Area Supplement) is not
included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Use of AI

We value applications that genuinely reflect each candidate’s own skills, experience and motivations. We therefore strongly discourage the use of AI‑generated content in applications.

Applications should be written in your own words and accurately represent your knowledge, skills and experience.

We reserve the right to reject an application where we reasonably believe AI has been used to generate or materially contribute to its content.

Please see the attached job description and person specification
for more information about this role and working at North East
London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this
when completing your application.