Occupational therapist / Lead professional

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust; London; On-site; GBP 31,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading NHS Trust as a Band 6 Occupational Therapist in London. You will manage a caseload of older clients with complex mental health needs, providing assessments and recovery-focused interventions while being part of a supportive multidisciplinary team.

Benefits

Professional development and training programs

Supportive team environment

Qualifications

• HCPC Registration required.
• Experience working in mental health settings.
• Ability to manage a caseload of clients.

Responsibilities

• Provide holistic mental health assessments and therapeutic interventions.
• Support clients with health and wellbeing goals.
• Participate in team meetings and training.

Skills

Communication

Teamwork

Flexibility

Motivation

Education

Degree or diploma in Occupational Therapy

Job description

Social network you want to login/join with:

Occupational therapist / Lead professional, London

col-narrow-left

Client:

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Location:

London, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

-

EU work permit required:

Yes

col-narrow-right

Job Reference:

ec84664e639b

Job Views:

3

Posted:

02.07.2025

Expiry Date:

16.08.2025

col-wide

Job Description:

Job overview

The Westminster Older Adult Community Mental Health Team is a dynamic service that supports people with functional mental health needs and/or a primary diagnosis of dementia to manage their mental and physical health, reside in the least restrictive setting and promote recovery. The service is co-located and works closely with the Westminster City Council mental health service to provide a holistic service to service users and carers. Additionally, we are part of the CNWL project in the implementation of Open Dialogue, an innovative person centred and recovery orientated model of crisis and continuing mental healthcare.

We believe in making a real difference to the lives of older adults by providing a service that is non-hierarchical, multi-functional and multi-disciplinary, drawing on the expertise of all team members to deliver person-centred assessments, care and support. We work continuously to instil a caring and compassionate culture.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

Main duties of the job

We are currently recruiting Band 6 Occupational Therapist / lead professional to join the service. We are seeking enthusiastic, flexible and motivated team player with a degree or diploma in Occupational Therapy, HCPC Registration and experience working in mental health settings. You will be joining the teams at an exciting time of transformation with the opportunity to develop your role.

The Occupational Therapists in the team provide a variety of assessments to assess a range of activities of daily living, as well as holistic mental health needs assessments and interventions. The postholder will support clients with their health and wellbeing goals, and provide recovery focused interventions. which may include recommendations for environmental adaptations, equipment/aids and support packages to maximise independence.

As part of our current community transformation programme, Occupational Therapists in the teams play a key role in supporting services users to benefit from the wide range of community opportunities in the borough and have a valuable role in facilitating discharges and transfers. There will be opportunity to work creatively in establishing your role and you should have excellent communication skills and effective team working to establish good relationships with other services and to build partnerships with the many organisations in the borough.

Working for our organisation

Come and join us and be one of the friendly and supportive 300 Occupational Therapists (OTs) in CNWL. We work in many different teams in both physical and mental health, as well as a number of specialist areas.

OT in CNWL is very fortunate in having a long-established professional structure and this includes an AHP director, Trust wide Professional Head of OT, borough and specialist Head OTs. This has the huge benefit of ensuring representation of our profession at all levels - both strategically and operationally. Personal and professional development is a high priority and is underpinned by our OT R&D strategy, R& D specialist groups and OT clinical networks. This enables us to invest in the development of our staff by providing excellent internal training as well as commissioning specialised external training and providing quality supervision. This ensures all our OTs reach their full potential at every stage of their career. Our commitment to research, audit and evidence- based -practice is made possible by our strong links with local universities.

We actively support the next generation of OTs through apprenticeships, student placements and the promotion of the profession as a career in schools. We are proud of the diversity in our workforce but have invested time in supporting and developing this further through our BAME OT group.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will manage a defined caseload of older clients with complex, severe and enduring mental health needs (including functional and dementia) living in the community. They will provide a specialist assessment service to meet the needs of individuals referred to the Older Adults Community Mental Health Team, taking into account levels of risk and clients strengths, in order to protect their rights and promote their inclusion, independence and interests.

The service is co-located and working closely with the Westminster City Council mental health team to provide a holistic service to our client group. Additionally, we are part of the CNWL project in the implementation of Open Dialogue, an innovative person centred and recovery orientated model of crisis and continuing mental healthcare.

The caseload is split of 0.6 wte OT and 0.4 wte care coordination approximately, depending on service demands. The post holder will use evidence based and recovery principles to assess, plan, implement and evaluate treatment offering a variety of therapeutic interventions.

The post holder will participate in the duty system for the team along with other members of the MDT, carry out initial assessments and attend all relevant clinical reviews. They will provide support and advice to clients, carers and other professionals on mental health issues relating to older people and work closely with primary care and statutory agencies.

They will provide supervision to students on placement with the team and to junior staff as appropriate. They will contribute to the learning and development of themselves and others.

MAIN DUTIES:

• To act as lead professional for individuals in line with mental health transformation agenda as appropriate to CNWL Trust policy, managing a defined clinical caseload of service users with complex mental health problems living in the community.
• To carry out holistic mental health assessments, assessing needs and risks of services users, carers and their families following referral to the service.
• To conduct holistic and specialist occupational therapy assessments using relevant tools, treating each person as an individual and respecting their views and wishes.
• Plan and implement a range of therapeutic interventions and measure the outcome of these.
• To work in partnership with the primary care team, local authority, statutory and voluntary agencies to maintain the health and well being of older people with complex mental health problems.
• Together with service users and carers plan appropriate interventions and support plans to meet their needs, maintaining independence and making the most of their living environment.
• To participate in the duty service of the Older Adults CMHT.
• To supervise band 5 occupational therapist in the OA CMHT if required.
• To act as practice placement educator for OT students and to participate in the training of students from other disciplines and support staff.
• To maintain own continuing professional development in accordance with HCPC guidelines and CNWL policies and procedures.

COMMUNICATION:

• To maintain effective communication links with CMHT team members and relevant external agencies ensuring that service users receive high quality and coordinated service.
• To maintain up-to-date clinical records and documentation in line with the CNWL policy and professional guidelines. Producing detailed occupational therapy reports as required.
• To have a high level of interpersonal and communication skills to deal with a range of highly sensitive and emotive situations e.g. dealing with crisis situations or high expressed emotions from service users and their carers.
• To develop and promote effective communication and liaison with GPs, other primary care professionals, Social Services and voluntary organisations.

CLINICAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• To undertake holistic assessments of service users utilising risk assessment tools and mental state examination in order to provide a high standard of care to service users in the community.
• To clinically manage a defined caseload of service users with complex mental health problems in a community setting including service users and in line with the Mental Health transformation agenda.
• To formulate individualised Care Plans that include recovery goals, with service users and their carers which aims to address their psychological, physical, spiritual & social needs.
• To deliver appropriate therapeutic interventions to service users utilising a range of evidence-based therapies e.g. graded activity, anxiety management, and problem solving techniques.
• To respond to urgent and unplanned clinical events involving service users known to the CMHT and on own clinical caseload, utilising analytical and problem solving skills to ensure the situation is managed effectively.
• To have an in-depth understanding of mental health pathology to manage service users with complex mental health problems.
• To monitor service users who are being treated with psychotropic medications, observing efficacy and monitoring any adverse reactions. To report and act on any adverse reaction observed in conjunction with the General Practitioner or Consultant Psychiatrist, as appropriate.
• To alert the line manager to any increase in risks to individual service users on a regular basis or immediately as required and seek advice on appropriate action.
• To be aware of and sensitiveto the safeguarding needs of the client and those associated with them. To have an understanding of potential indicators of abuse or neglect and about what to do if they had concerns.
• To regularly attend and participate in CMHT clinical reviews.
• To have a sound understanding and knowledge of current legislation and its application to service users with mental health problems e.g. Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act, Care Act, Human Rights Act, Freedom of Information Act, and Data Protection Act.

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.