Occupational Therapist

Tewv; North East; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust in County Durham and Darlington is seeking an Occupational Therapist at Band 5 to join the Durham & Darlington Occupational Therapy Hub. The post targets graduates or those progressing to competencies in adult mental health (acute setting) and offers a tailored learning, development and support package.

This role involves managing a complex caseload and delivering evidence-based OT assessments and interventions across inpatient and community

Qualifications

• Appropriate professional qualification in occupational therapy (or pending).
• Current HCPC registration or ability to meet registration criteria within 3 months.
• Postgraduate training in relevant specialist area.

Responsibilities

• Provide evidence-based occupational therapy assessments and interventions as part of the OT Pathway across Durham & Darlington.
• Deliver 1:1 and group interventions that are occupationally focused.
• Triage requests, prioritise caseload and address key areas of self-care, productivity and leisure.
• Engage service users, families and carers using client-centred, co-produced goal setting.
• Participate in supervision, MDT interface, and contribute to service improvement and quality initiatives.

Skills

Record keeping

Co-production

Observation skills

Team collaboration

Delegation

Evidence-based practice

Clinical risk assessment

Prioritisation

Education

HCPC registration

Professional qualification in occupational therapy

Postgraduate training in relevant specialist area

Job description

Go back Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

Occupational Therapist

The closing date is 01 October 2026

This post is only open to current employees of TEWV. Any applications received from non-TEWV employees will not be considered.

The B5 post is designed to attract a graduate or someone interested in progressing to competencies in adult mental health (acute setting).

You will manage an increasingly complex caseload independently, assessing occupational performance and delivering specialist occupational interventions, demonstrating adherence to the Trust Values at all times and operating as a leader in the team, service and organisation.

You will operate as part of the 'Durham & Darlington Occupational Therapy Hub'. The clinical area is Adult Mental Health and the team work across both inpatient and community settings.

This vacancy is part of a comprehensive recruitment drive to re-build our occupational therapy service within Durham and Darlington. A personally tailored learning, development and support package is also available.

This role may be eligible for sponsorship under the UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker route. However, sponsorship can only be provided where applicants meet the specific requirements, therefore, we recommend that you assess your eligibility before applying for this position. Visit https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa

Main duties of the job

Occupationally focused assessments and interventions will be delivered as part of a dynamic service delivery model that has a strong commitment to collaborative working at its core whilst recognising the unique skills of all professional groups represented in the team.

Additional focus is on delivering high-quality evidence-based services that support recovery, occupational formulation and occupational engagement. The delivery of 1:1 and group interventions that are occupationally focused is required.

You will be be responsible for receiving 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.

You will use client-centred approaches to co-producing negotiated occupational goals and evaluate these with service users collaboratively, participate in clinical/professional and management supervision, contribute to multi-disciplinary team working, contribute to and lead on service improvement and quality initiatives, use the Trust electronic patient record system, abide by all Trust policies and procedures and 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.

We won't rest until everyone in our region has the mental health care they need, to lead their best possible life.

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.

The post holder will provide evidence-based occupational therapy assessment and interventions as part of the OT Pathway linked to Adult Mental Health across Durham and Darlington, and offer input to individuals, their families and carers.

All team members 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 service users as well as the parents/family/carers and system around them is essential.

Clinical/Professional supervision is provided by the supervising Occupational Therapist as identified by the relevant Lead OT. The post holders will attend OT Learning and Governance Networks to ensure fidelity to core occupational therapy delivery, enhance CPD and contribute to the wider OT service developments.

You must be able to demonstrate experience of delivery of occupational therapy, keenness to continually develop themselves and others, and a particular interest in this field of OT. We will support use of transferrable skills from a range of clinical settings.

There are varied opportunities for training and development, with CPD needs being identified and monitored through appraisal.

The B5 post in the D&D OT Hub are supported by B6 Supervision with OT assistants in place to ensure that role fidelity is maintained and that each member of the team is working to their optimum. Successful candidates will be responsible for their own caseloads and will fully interface with the team via formal and informal supervision, team huddles & interface with the MDT via all clinical forums available.

The D&D OT Hub is a centralised service split across the 2 sites. The primary pick-up points for the team are the acute wards at Lanchester Road Hospital in Durham and West Park Hospital in Darlington. Our Team works across inpatient and community adult mental health settings with a primary focus on the delivery of recovery focused occupational therapy. The successful candidate will be based at Lanchester Road Hospital in Durham.

A commitment to occupational formulation, and the delivery of 1:1 and group interventions that are occupationally focused is required.Overall, the team covers 90 acute beds with the option of post-discharge support for residents of Durham & Darlington. The team works as an effective part of the MDT and delivers clinical supervision to activity coordinators who work into both sites.

Professional leadership is in place to provide additional support and clinical assurance. To work best in the team we are looking for candidates who are highly patient focused, confident in their emerging skills set, dynamic and resilient.

The post will offer varied opportunities for training and development, with CPD needs being identified and monitored through appraisal. Well defined supervision systems are in place.

Paul Meylan, Lead Occupational Therapist, [e-mail]

Please note that shortlisted candidates will be expected to provide a presentation at interview, title to be confirmed.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Appropriate professional qualification in occupational therapy role (or pending)
• Current relevant registration with HCPC or ability to meet the criteria for registration within next 3 months
• Post graduate training in relevant specialist area

Experience

• experience of working in a variety of practice areas whilst on student placements (or postgraduate)
• Experience of supporting people with mental health issues, learning disability or autism
• Experience of working in Multidisciplinary Team

Knowledge

• Awareness of professional standards and their application to practice
• Understanding of the needs of service users with mental health conditions and/or learning disabilities
• Knowledge of evidence- based practice in designated specialist area
• Clinical risk assessment and application in practice

Skills

• Record keeping and report writing
• Collaborating with service users and carers/ families in accordance with principles of co-production
• Good observational skills and ability to describe such observations verbally and in writing
• Able to work flexibly and co operatively as part of a team
• Delegates tasks appropriately
• Apply latest research evidence and evaluative thinking in practice
• Ability to adapt treatment using own initiative
• Compassionate in meeting the needs of vulnerable people and their families and carers
• Ability to work on own in a variety of settings using initiative appropriately
• Ability to work under pressure
• Ability to prioritize own workload
• Completion of Preceptorship programme and competency framework within 1 year of starting post (or pending)
• Experience of providing effective teaching, training
• Experience of providing Clinical supervision
• Experience of leading group sessions

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