Senior Occupational Therapist for Adult Autism Service

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 34,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization is seeking an experienced registered occupational therapist in Greater London. The role involves providing specialized assessments for autistic adults and supporting their needs through individualized care plans. The successful candidate will require appropriate UK professional registration and experience with diverse clinical settings. The position offers a supportive working environment focused on health and wellbeing, with flexible working arrangements available.

Benefits

Flexible working opportunities

Employee assistance programme

Wellbeing support

Equality and diversity initiatives

Qualifications

• Registered occupational therapist with experience.
• Experience working with autistic adults or cognitive disorders.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist assessments and interventions for autistic adults.
• Organise and prioritise caseload effectively.
• Support the education and training of staff.

Skills

Advanced clinical reasoning skills

Ability to adapt communication for autistic individuals

Education

Degree or Diploma in Occupational Therapy

Current HCPC Registration

Evidence of Continuous Professional Development

Qualification in sensory integration

Job description

Job overview

This post holder will be an experienced registered occupational therapist, responsible for patients allocated to them and will assess, manage, plan and deliver care while being professionally and legally accountable. They will take a key role in the development and implementation of high standards of clinical care ensuring the service provided is needs-led, compliant with national guidance and is viewed positively by service users.

Main duties of the job

• To provide a range of specialist occupational therapy assessments and one-to-one / group interventions for autistic adults, taking into consideration the individual's physical, cognitive, sensory and psychological abilities and needs, to identify their abilities and areas of difficulty.
• To lead on providing pre- and post-diagnostic support, in particular specialist occupational therapy assessments and interventions, including those addressing clients' sensory needs and their impact on daily living.
• To provide specialist assessment services to individuals referred to the adult autism service.
• To be responsible for organising and prioritising own caseload in the day-to-day allocation of work, whilst being able to work flexibly to meet the needs of clients, their relatives and carers and the service.

Working for our organisation

Our Values 2025 - 2030

Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.

They are:

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers, and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period.

High Cost Area Supplement - Outer London

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (minimum payment of £4,714 and a maximum payment of £5,941 – per annum, pro rata for part time).

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To promote the empowerment and education of clients in relation to their holistic health. This focuses on the promotion of social inclusion, health promotion and relapse prevention.
• To deputise when required in the absence of the team clinical /service lead(s).
>To have organisational knowledge relating to Trust protocols and procedures and adhere to them.
• To be responsible for providing accurate records of information required by the Trust for audit purposes.
• To ensure effective risk management at team level by accident/incident reporting, assessing and controlling risk and ensuring residual risks are added to the Trust register.
• To provide specialist clinical advice to other team members on the suitability of various assessments and intervention methods where appropriate.
• To provide consultation and liaison to other professionals working with autistic adults in the Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge and Waltham Forest localities, both community and in-patient based.
• To take a lead role in the education, supervision and training of more junior members of staff, support workers and occupational therapy students.
• To act as a role model for occupational therapy, raising the profile and value of the role within the service.
• Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this when completing your application.

Use of AI

Please see attached document regarding acceptable use of AI during the recruitment process.

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Degree or Diploma in Occupational Therapy
• Current HCPC Registration
• Evidence of Continuous Professional Development, including post-graduate training at masters' level
• Qualification in sensory integration or equivalent experience and in-post training.

Desirable criteria

• Post graduate training in autism

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working as an occupational therapist in a range of clinical settings
• Experience of working with autistic adults, people with cognitive disorders or in other relevant service area

Desirable criteria

• Experience of managing staff

Skills

Essential criteria

• Advanced clinical reasoning skills – ability to decide and establish appropriate action
• Ability to adapt own communication to meet the needs of autistic individuals

Desirable criteria

• Leadership skills

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

• A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a 'Top 10 Family Friendly Employer' from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that's a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.

Supporting our Armed Forces

We recognise the valuable contribution that the Armed Forces community make to our organisation. We have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and achieved Gold Award under the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme. We have supportive policies, guaranteed interview schemes for veterans, reservists and military spouses and give additional leave to our reservists so that they can attend their annual camp.

Equal opportunities employer

We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of any protected characteristic.

We are a Disability Confident employer and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with disabilities. If you require this application in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape please contact the recruitment team on 0300 300 1530 or email [e-mail].

Correspondence with us

You are advised to regularly check your emails (including any junk mail/spam folders) for correspondence related to this post.

As part of our recruitment process, we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS. We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

• Band 7 OT for Adult Autism (PDF, 497.8KB)
• Candidate Recruitment Pack (PDF, 671.2KB)
• Acceptable Use of AI in Recruitment (PDF, 3.9MB)