Senior Occupational Therapist

Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust; Haywards Heath; On-site; GBP 38,000 - 47,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in the UK seeks a Band 6 Therapist to manage complex caseloads and deliver high-quality therapy interventions in patients' homes. You will supervise junior staff, contribute to service improvement, and work within a multidisciplinary team to enhance patient care and independence. Ideal candidates will possess relevant qualifications and substantial experience. The role is full-time with a competitive salary range of £38,682 to £46,580, and various benefits including flexible working options.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Excellent training and development opportunities

Supportive team environment

Qualifications

• Professional qualification such as a degree or equivalent in Occupational Therapy.
• Current registration with the Health and Care Professions Council.
• Substantial relevant post-qualification experience.

Responsibilities

• Manage a complex caseload delivering high-quality therapy interventions.
• Supervise and support colleagues from Bands 2 to 5.
• Engage in continuous professional development through training.

Skills

Advanced communication skills

Clinical skills competency

Ability to assess and plan care

Numeracy and IT skills

Leadership and supervisory skills

Education

Degree or equivalent in Occupational Therapy

Current registration with the Health and Care Professions Council

Job description

The UCR Service provides urgent support, seven-days a week, to help prevent unnecessary hospital admissions. This is achieved by providing a two-hour crisis response delivered by a multi-skilled team of professionals. Support is provided at home or where they usuallyreside for people who are concerned their health or mobility is declining and are therefore at risk of admission to hospital. Our teams work closely with our local ambulance service to pull category 3 & 4 patients off the ambulance stack, supporting patients in receiving a rapid response in the community by teams with the skills to support them to remain at home.

The Mid Sussex & Wealden Team covers a large area and we have office bases in Haywards Heath & Lewes, along with a hub in Crowborough.

The UCR service also provide a general virtual ward service, supported by digital technology and remote monitoring. Our multidisciplinary teams ensure that patients receive hospital-level care at home safely and in familiar surroundings, helping speed up their recovery while freeing up hospital beds for patients that need them most. As well as home visits, digital remote monitoring is utilised.

Main duties of the job

Band 6 Therapist:

As a Band 6 Therapist, you will manage a complex caseload, delivering high-quality, evidence-based therapy interventions to patients in their own homes. You'll use your advanced clinical reasoning to complete holistic assessments, develop tailored treatment plans, and monitor progress, adapting interventions as needed.

This is a leadership role where you'll supervise and support colleagues from Bands 2 to 5, contribute to student education, and support appraisals and team development. You'll be actively involved in service evaluation, audits, and improvement initiatives, ensuring best practice is embedded across the team. You will be required to clinically co-ordinate as part of the MDT

Working as part of a responsive multidisciplinary team, you will play a key role in planning patient pathways, managing clinical risk, and promoting patient independence. You'll also maintain accurate documentation, support equipment management, and engage in continuous professional development through training, reflection, and supervision.

The Team is made up of GPs, Advanced Clinical Practitioners, Nurses, Paramedics, Pharmacists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, and Health & Therapy Assistants who work together to reduce hospital admissions. Patients are reviewed daily by a clinical team and the 'ward round' may involve a home visit or take place through video technology.

About us

We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex, with 6,000 staff serving 1.3 million people. We deliver essential care to adults and children, helping them manage their health, avoid hospital admissions, and reduce hospital stays.

Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community. We offer opportunities across medical, clinical, support, and corporate services.

Why work for us?o Positive 2024 NHS Staff Survey results, highlighting compassionate leadership and wellbeingo Varied environments: community hospitals, patients' homes, and bases across Sussexo Flexible working options: part-time, flexi-time, annualised hours, and flexi-retiremento Excellent training, development, and research opportunitieso Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove, and Brightono Active EMBRACE, Disability & Wellbeing, LGBTQIA+, and Religion & Belief networkso Level 3 Disability Confident Leader and Veteran Aware Trusto Beautiful Sussex location near the South Downs and coast

Our values--Compassionate Care, Working Together, Achieving Ambitions, Delivering Excellence--guide everything we do.

We embrace diversity and encourage applications from all backgrounds, particularly from ethnically diverse, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. We aim to create an inclusive environment and support reasonable adjustments during recruitment.

This post may close early if sufficient applications are received.

Job responsibilities

Our multidisciplinary teams work flexibly to provide a 7-day service, 365 days a year, between 8am and 8pm.

Are you committed to delivering an outstanding service which is fast- paced and reliable? Do you want to work with a team of caring and dedicated staff? We are looking for an experienced Senior Occupational Therapist to join us, so if youre an ambitious, proactive, and looking to take a role in a supportive and collaborative team that provides cutting-edge, excellent community care, wed love to hear from you!

For further information on the roles available please see attached Job Descriptions and Person Specification.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Professional qualification such as a degree or equivalent in Occupational Therapy.
• Current registration with the Health and Care Professions Council
• Evidence of relevant postgraduate courses / CPD and reflective practice relevant to clinical speciality
• Training in student education

Experience

• Substantial relevant post-qualification experience covering a broad range
• Experience of working within a relevant specialist area
• Experience of interdisciplinary working
• Experience of supervising junior staff, assistants and students
• Experience of independently managing a clinical caseload
• Experience at contributing to audit and evaluation within a clinical governance framework
• Experience of a range of caseload management and prioritisation systems
• Experience within specialism underpinned by theory and specific therapeutic knowledge
• Experience of using assessment tools relevant to client group

Skills and Knowledge

• Able to demonstrate competency in a range of clinical skills
• Able to assess, plan, implement and evaluate care for individuals
• Able to plan and prioritise own workload efficiently
• Able to delegate work to others
• Good numeracy, literacy and IT skills
• Promotes choice and independence in undertaking patient care
• Able to demonstrate advanced communication and negotiation skills
• Able to demonstrate the application of research based practice
• Up to date knowledge of national policies and procedures relevant to the clinical setting
• Up to date knowledge of clinical governance, clinical audit and risk management
• Able to give supervision and appraisal of junior staff
• Up to date knowledge of professional code of conduct
• Able to demonstrate knowledge / understanding of boundaries of role
• Able to demonstrate how to reflect and learn from situations and identify difficulties as challenges to then work with others to identify solutions
• Able to demonstrate co-operative team working and awareness of the roles of other professionals
• Able to demonstrate a commitment to learning and development with documented evidence of CPD

Other

• Car driver (Valid Driving License for use in the UK)
• Access to a vehicle for work purposes
• Willingness to undertake training to develop within the role
• Other requirements Flexible approach to working

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.

£38,682 to £46,580 a yearper annum pro rata