Specialist Children Occupational Therapist

Lewisham and Greenwich; Greater London; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Part time

Job summary

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust is seeking a Specialist Occupational Therapist (Children) to join the team on a fixed-term maternity cover. The role focuses on high-quality assessment and intervention for children aged 0-19 within a supportive multidisciplinary setting.

You will work 22.5 hours per week, primarily in community and hospital-based settings, contributing to service development and innovation.

Qualifications

• Qualified occupational therapist with paediatric experience.
• Experience in NHS settings and education partnerships.
• Ability to work with families from diverse backgrounds.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist OT assessment and interventions for children and young people.
• Use SMART goals with families and other professionals.
• Deliver varied interventions: group work, coaching, and teaching.
• Record care data accurately in client files.

Skills

Communication with children & families

Planning & organisation

Autonomous working

Travel within borough

Education

Diploma or degree in occupational therapy

Post registration training in specialist field of paediatrics

Safeguarding training level 3

Further training in specialist paediatric intervention approaches

Job description

Step into a place where exceptional care, patients, culture, and careers come together.

Explore our current vacancies and take your first step toward making a real difference.

Join us. Make a difference. Be part of Team LGT.

Specialist Children Occupational Therapist

NHS AfC: Band 6

Main area Occupational therapist Grade NHS AfC: Band 6 Contract Fixed term: 11 months (This post will end on Oct 2027 and therefore the duration of the position may vary depending on recruitment timings.) Hours Part time - 22.5 hours per week Job ref 197-RF8937

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.

Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.

We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.

Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as "good" or "outstanding" in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.

LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.

We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ics in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced and motivated clinician to join our large, dynamic, and supportive Children's Occupational Therapy team in a fixed-term maternity cover Specialist Occupational Therapist role.

This is an excellent development opportunity, offering the chance to enhance your specialist skills while making a meaningful difference to the lives of children and young people. Working with children and young people aged 0-19 years, you will provide high-quality specialist assessment, intervention, and support for those with a wide range of developmental disabilities, long-term conditions, and additional needs.

You will manage a varied and rewarding caseload, helping children and young people maximise their independence and participation in everyday occupations, including self-care, play, learning, and school-based activities. As part of a thriving multidisciplinary service, you will have access to experienced colleagues, professional support, and opportunities to contribute to service development and innovation.

Main duties of the job

• Accountable to Occupational Therapy Team Manager
• To provide specialist occupational therapy assessment and interventions to children and young people, managinga caseload of clients with a variety of developmental disabilities, The children and young people will present with a range of occupational therapy participation needs relating to self care, play and school activities.
• To contribute to the overall development of the occupational therapy service as the service evolves in line with organisational changes, holding responsibility for defined projects.
• To work in a range of community settings including special schools under the supervision of senior staff
• To involve the child or young person and their carers throughout intervention and to work co-operatively with other professionals and agencies in meeting their needs.

Key Result Areas:

• Provision of clinically effective occupational therapy assessment and intervention.
• Using sound evidence base to inform practice.
• Provide child-centred and family centred interventions
• Work as part of wider multi-disciplinary team
• Support other staff and students in their development.
• Work within a changing environment, adapting own practice to these changes.

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

• Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
• Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
• Improving the experience of staff with disability
• Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
• Making equalities mainstream

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To select, administer and apply a specialist level of analysis to standardised and non-standardised assessments, tools and materials specific to paediatric occupational therapy, in order to provide diagnostic and predictive information and contribute to accurate diagnosis, prognosis and intervention.
• To use a specialist level of skills in negotiating, agreeing and setting goals with the family and other professionals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely (SMART) and address key occupational performance needs. To monitor, evaluate and modify intervention against set goals in order to measure progress and ensure effectiveness, negotiating new goals where appropriate.
• To provide varied modes of intervention e.g. group settings, advice / consultation, teaching others.
• To identify the need and where appropriate assess and plan appropriate
• management/intervention to meet the assistive technology needs of children
• (orthotics, equipment for home and school including special seating and postural management, AAC, mobility equipment and environmental controls).
• To be responsible for ordering, referral, liaison with other agencies and/or joint assessments and appropriate after care such as training, setting up equipment and reviewing progress
• To undertake risk assessments in relation to children on caseload.
• To assess for and advise others in determining appropriate and safe use of
• equipment and to assess the competence of others (school staff, family, carers) to carry out advice regarding safe use of equipment.
• To address consent throughout involvement with a child and aim to work co-operatively with parents, teaching staff and other professionals.
• To work with families from a variety of social, economical and cultural backgrounds and respond appropriately to clients needs.
• To work with families and children with additional vulnerability and provide appropriate support (e.g. Children in care, children with terminal illness / degenerative conditions, child protection, challenging behaviours).
• To adapt own style of communication to meet the differing needs of children and families e.g. use of an interpreter, sign language, uncomplicated language or pictures and symbols.
• To record and maintain all client contact information and data in client files or on electronic recording system in an accurate and contemporaneous manner, adhering to local and national policies and guidance.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Diploma or degree in occupational therapy
• Post registration training in specialist field of paediatrics
• Safeguarding training level 3
• Further training in specialist paediatric intervention approaches

Experience

• Occupational Therapist working in children and young people’s services.
• Working in an NHS environment
• Working with education services
• Client centred practice within a multidisciplinary environment
• Experience in developing and providing education and teaching programmes to other professionals and students
• Use of a variety of standardised and non standardised assessment tools.
• Supervision of staff
• Working in community services
• Member of professional body and special interest group

Knowledge and Skills

• A broad and sound understanding of child development and its relationship to the development of occupational performance through childhood.
• Specialised knowledge of the impact of specific developmental disabilities on a child's occupational performance
• Sound knowledge base in the application of a variety of interventions, whether restorative or compensatory to meet a child’s occupational performance needs
• Specialist knowledge and understanding of the OT process applied to family centred and child focused practice.
• Understanding of national legislation and initiatives relating to disability and to the education, welfare and wellbeing of children and young people across health, education and social care.
• General understanding of the requirements of the national curriculum.
• To be a highly effective communicator with children and families
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to meet the needs of different audiences.
• Good planning and organisational skills and ability to work to deadlines
• Able to work within a culturally, socially and economically diverse borough.
• Ability to work autonomously in clinics, home, nursery school and other community settings
• Able to travel around borough of Lewisham and occasionally outside borough.

Please note: Information provided during recruitment and pre‑employment checks must be accurate. Misrepresentation may be investigated as fraud and could lead to withdrawal from the process, professional sanctions, or criminal action.

Please note: that sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route is subject to Trust allocation and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) approval.

Use of AI in recruitment: We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support the initial review of applications against the essential criteria for this role. Where AI is used, it will support rather than replace human decision-making, and applications will remain subject to appropriate human review.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.