Occupational Therapy Technician

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust; Worthing; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 32,000; Part time

Job summary

A health organization in Worthing is seeking an Occupational Therapy Support Worker. This role involves supporting individuals with dementia in their daily activities and assisting occupational therapists in delivering interventions. Applicants should have relevant experience and qualifications in health/social care. This role is fixed-term for 30 hours per week until May 2026, with opportunities for training and development.

Benefits

Training opportunities

Supportive work environment

Experience in clinical settings

Qualifications

• Significant work experience in health/social care settings.
• Experience working with individuals with mental health difficulties.
• Familiarity with group activities and supervision.

Responsibilities

• Manage a defined caseload of service users with OT support.
• Support service users to establish and maintain routines.
• Coordinate occupationally-focused interventions within the unit.

Skills

Experience with dementia patients

Teamwork

Communication

Education

NVQ level 3 or equivalent

Tools

OT specific assessment tools

Job description

The Forget-Me-Not unit is an inpatient unit in Worthing supporting people with dementia who are experiencing an acute episode in their symptoms. The unit has two male wards and one female ward, each of which has 10 beds. Our Occupational Therapy team use a range of assessments, interventions and approaches to maximise functional ability, independence and safety, enabling people to do the things that are important to them and which enhance their quality of life and wellbeing. This work helps identify the support needs of the patients in the long-term, helping prepare for what they will need when they are discharged, and also helps to maintain or improve their abilities to undertake tasks and engage in roles and routines.

Main duties of the job

We are looking to recruit an occupational therapy support worker to assist the Occupational Therapists in the delivery of interventions with our client group. The OT support worker role primarily involves undertaking some appropriate aspects of the treatment or intervention, as outlined by the occupational therapist, helping the client work towards their functional goals. This will include supporting people whose dementia is impacting their ability to use their skills and abilities to undertake their normal daily activities, which can involve helping people to practice tasks, increase their confidence, and work with families to help them understand how best to support their loved one within tasks and activities.

This post is offered as 30 hours per week for a fixed term up until the end of May 2026. It may be suitable for someone who is looking for experience working in a clinical setting, or someone who is considering applying for OT training and would like some direct experience of the role.

The successful applicant will work across all three wards with robust support from the occupational therapy team.This is a pilot to see how this role can benefit our care pathways. We will be seeking the persons feedback about the role.You will also have the opportunity to undertake some training to help increase your skills and will receive regular formal supervision as well as informal support from the wider team.

About us

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Job responsibilities

• Manage a defined caseload of service users on with support from OT team.
• Support service users to establish helpful routines, maintain and develop roles, grow motivation and confidence and develop and improve skills across the domains of occupation (self-care, productivity and leisure).
• With support from OT become familiar with OT specific assessment tools (from the Model of Human Occupation; MoHO, and dementia specific assessments), in order to facilitate interventions which focus on meaningful goals and areas of focus for individuals, informing treatment and care plans.
• Co-ordinate and deliver a programme of occupationally-focussed interventions within the unit (both individual and group sessions), according to the need of the service users and evaluate the effectiveness of these using outcome measures.
• Work alongside and provide supervision to Activity Co-ordinators.
• Support OT students on placement with the service
• Support the development of the OT service informed by evidence based practise.

Please refer to job description for more information.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Health care or relevant NVQ level 3 or equivalent skills acquired through experience plus Formal teaching qualification to diploma level equivalent. A City and Guilds Final Certificate or equivalent in a relevant subject

Knowledge/Experience

• Significant work experience in health/social care/teaching setting
• Experience of working with people with mental health difficulties
• Experience of working with groups/activities
• Experience of training others in technical/leisure/creative skills
• Experience of working as part of a team

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.