Senior Occupational Therapist

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 62,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Training and development opportunities

Flexible working

Staff wellbeing schemes

Job summary

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a senior Occupational Therapist to join our Mental Health Inpatient Service in a male PICU Ward. You will deliver OT assessment and treatment using MOHO and recovery principles.

You'll work with a supportive MDT, opportunities for training, supervision, and development within a flexible hours framework to support staff wellbeing.

Qualifications

• Degree or Diploma in Occupational Therapy and HCPC registration.
• Post-qualification experience in mental health OT.
• Experience leading groups and writing OT reports.
• Commitment to evidence-based practice and recovery-focused care.

Responsibilities

• Provide individual and group OT interventions in inpatient mental health.
• Perform functional assessments using MOHO and relevant tools.
• Work within recovery principles to support service users’ goals.
• Receive supervision from the Acute Lead OT and collaborate with the MDT.

Skills

MOHO

Evidence-based practice

Recovery principles

MDT collaboration

Education

Degree/Diploma in Occupational Therapy

HCPC registration

Tools

MOHO assessment tools

Trauma-informed care training

Job description

Job Overview

An exciting opportunity has opened up for a senior Occupational Therapist to join our Mental Health Inpatient Service in our male PICU (psychiatric intensive care unit) Ward.

Job Overview

We will provide you with the opportunities to develop your skills, depending on your needs and goals. We are keen for people to develop in their area of interest to motivate and enrich our team. There is also the support of a broad and experienced senior MDT.

We are looking for people who are passionate about occupational therapy and want the opportunity to focus on their clinical OT skills, and who have ideas to grow and develop the occupational therapy provision within inpatient services. Once in post you will be afforded the time and space to engage in specialised training and development opportunities to help you become a more enhanced practitioner.

We adhere to the belief that it is better to grow and develop our own staff; this is demonstrated in the fact that many of our senior colleagues were supported and promoted in-house.

The team serves the diverse and vibrant population of Brent, named London Borough of Culture 2020 and ‘Council of the Year’ at the LGC Awards 2020. The team works flexibly/compressed hours to allow for OT provision to meet the needs of the service users throughout their day and find it also maintains staff wellbeing by providing more time to focus on their own interests and needs outside of work.

Hours are: 3 days working : 8-6.30, 1 day working 8-4, 1 day non working day.

Main duties of the job

Occupational therapists hold a key role within the Inpatient Team providing occupational therapy service and expertise; which will include individual and group work, assessment, intervention and evaluation in accordance with the Royal College of Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics.

You will be using MOHO and other evidence-based assessment tools in order to establish a baseline functional assessment from which recommendations can determine further on-going care and treatment to enable optimum functioning.

The role requires integrated evidence-based practice and skilful use of assessments & interventions with personal recovery principles, in order to improve the service users’ quality of life and to support them to do the things they want to do and live the life they want to lead.

You would need to be committed to working within recovery principles. The successful applicant will be self-motivated with a desire to work in mental health, and willing to learn and grow within the team.

This post receives supervision from the Acute Lead OT (Band 7) and in addition there is a great support network working alongside other OTs in the borough and across the trust. Opportunities for training, reflective practice, case formulation using Trauma Informed Approaches, skill sharing and several other projects are available ongoingly.

Working for our organisation

• Specialised OT & Mental health training comprehensive offer of OT to OT training sessions, as well as specialised training depending on area of interest such as sensory integration and trauma informed care.
• Shadow and develop skills in our neighbouring services including HTT, EIS, the memory clinic and community services allowing you to see the full circle of treatment for our patients.
• Mentoring and coaching sessions supporting you with your development and growth into the role, including a bespoke 1:1 induction by Head OT tailored to your specific needs.
• Monthly supervision from the lead OT for Brent Inpatient Services
• You will be supported in developing your management and leadership skills through supervising others, supporting students and developing new initiatives for the service.
• Opportunities to get involved in the established Research and Development structures in Occupational Therapy, including specialist forums and valuable networks.
• A truly inclusive and diverse workspace
• Nationally leading trust wide staff networks
• Staff health and wellbeing schemes
• QI training and support to bring your strengths and skills to service development
• Flexible working

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

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.

Personal and professional development is a high priority

for the profession 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 EBP 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.

Have a look at this video which was developed from the BAME OT Network and provides further information with what to expect when working as an OT with CNWL, and the support which is offered:
https://vimeo.com/471449677/8b5ca18b37

Person specification

Qualifications

• Degree (or Diploma) in Occupational Therapy * The OT qualification was converted from a Diploma course to a Degree course in recent years & therefore both Diploma/Degree in Occupational Therapy is accepted as the required level of qualification, for all bands of qualified Occupational Therapists
• Registration to practice in the UK * In order to remain state registered with the Health Care Professions Council, it is a requirement for all qualified OT staff to undertake post qualification CPD activities which will act as compliance in evidencing “fitness to practice”.
• Evidence of post registration training relevant to mental health practice and community OT
• Training in the theory and application of the Model of Human Occupation
• Practice Placement Educators Course/Development activities

Desirable criteria

• Leadership and/or management training
• Training in motivational interview techniques

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of post graduate working in a mental health setting
• Experience of working within a multi-agency environment.
• Experience of leading, managing and running evidence based group activities for ervice users with complex and diverse needs in a mental health setting
• Experience of undertaking specialist OT assessments and writing specialist occupational therapy reports
• Experience of supervising junior staff
• Experience of being a practice placement educator
• Experience of involvement in service change/development
• Experience of maintaining a written record of continual professional development

Desirable criteria

• Experience of using mental health services as a service user, or carer, relative, friend of a service user.

Knowledge and Skills: Communication

Essential criteria

• Highly developed interpersonal skills enabling therapeutic alliances to be developed & maintained with service users who have multiple & complex needs
• Proficient standard of written communication skills – able to communicate effectively in both written and spoken English
• Ability to promote & maintain the profile of OT within an MDT & the wider organisation

Knowledge and Skills: Personal and People Development

Essential criteria

• Ability to reflect upon and critically appraise own performance
• Ability to role model positive professional behaviour

Health, Safety and Security

Essential criteria

• Ability to identify and assess potential risks involved in work activities for self and others
• Ability to monitor work areas & practices to maintain a healthy, safe and secure working environment.

Knowledge and Skills: Quality

Essential criteria

• Applied knowledge of current national legislation, policies & guidelines relevant to clinical area
• Good personal management skills in order to manage a clinical caseload & varied workload
• Ability to work effectively within a team, understanding the importance of collaborative working in the delivery of good quality services

Equality and Diversity

Essential criteria

• Ability to apply equal opportunities & anti-discriminatory interventions that respect the service users’ customs, values & spiritual beliefs

Health and Wellbeing

Essential criteria

• Skills in promoting recovery, social inclusion, health promotion & relapse prevention

General

Essential criteria

• Ability to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions in the context of best available evidence
• Ability to deal with conflict and resolve difficulties with staff on and individual/team basis, seeking guidance from professional and clinical leads when needed

Other

Desirable criteria

• Member of relevant specialist section
• Member of the British Association of Occupational Therapy