Specialist Occupational Therapist

NHS Lothian; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 43,000 - 53,000; Full time

Job summary

NHS Lothian in Edinburgh is seeking an experienced Specialist Occupational Therapist (Band 6) for the North Edinburgh Older People’s CMHT. The post is permanent and part-time/full-time equivalent at 36 hours per week in the East Neighbourhood Centre.

You will work within the Older People’s Community Mental Health Team, applying core OT skills to assess, intervene and rehabilitate to support people living at home, with a focus on older adults and mental health conditions.

Qualifications

• Experience using core OT skills for assessment, intervention and rehabilitation.
• Experience working with older people and mental health conditions.
• Experience in community settings with multidisciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Provide assessment and interventions for older people with mental health issues or dementia.
• Collaborate with OT, nursing and medical colleagues to plan care.
• Support and empower natural support networks for clients.

Skills

OccupationaL therapy

Assessment

Intervention

Rehabilitation

Job description

Job reference: 262300
Salary: Band 6 (£43,231 - £52,679)
Job closing date: 28/10/2026
Job Type: Allied Health Professions
Location: East Neighbourhood Centre
Employment type: Permanent
Hours Per Week: 36
Job posted date: 14/10/2026
Employer (NHS Board): NHS Lothian
Department: North Edinburgh Older People's CMHT

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Edinburgh Health + Social Care Partnership

Older People's Mental Health CMHT North

Specialist Occupational Therapist 1.0 WTE

We are delighted to be able to advertise this opportunity to recruit an experienced Specialist Occupational Therapist (Band 6) and interest from people who would consider job share/flexible working are encouraged.

This permanent post has arisen due to an internal promotion and reconfiguring of staffing resources to reflect the expertise and contribution of OT in this rapidly developing clinical area. The successful candidate will work alongside OT, nursing and medical colleagues and the Occupational Therapy teams in the Older People's Community Mental Health Teams and across the range of EHSCP services.

The clinical skills needed for success could have been gained in a wide variety of settings and there is the scope to use a wide breadth of core OT skills for assessment, therapeutic intervention and rehabilitation to maintain people living at home, offering advice and guidance to support and empower natural support networks. Expertise and understanding of the presentation of mental health conditions and co-morbidity in older people is essential.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the North Edinburgh Older People’s Community Mental Health Team as a Specialist Occupational Therapist (Band 6). We are a motivated and friendly team, who place the person and their family at the centre of our practice.

We welcome applications from Occupational Therapists who are passionate about working with older people, enthusiastic about their profession and motivated to develop themselves and our service. This is a great opportunity for an Occupational Therapist to develop their assessment and intervention skills, working in the community, with older people with a mental health problem or dementia.

If you would like to know more, please contact Jennifer Simpson, Team Lead, on 0131 553 8473 or email [e-mail].

To work in the United Kingdom, there is a legal requirement for an individual to demonstrate that they have the relevant permission to work in the country. This permission is, without exception, granted by the UK Visa and Immigrations Service. Further information on what NHS Scotland Boards are required to do to check this as well as what your responsibilities include can be found in the further information for this vacancy.

Please note: we anticipate a high level of interest in this position and may close the vacancy early once a sufficient amount of applications are received. Therefore, please make sure you complete and submit your application at an early stage.

We will fully support disabled candidates, and candidates with long-term conditions or who are neurodivergent by making reasonable adjustments to our recruitment policy and practices.

This post requires the post holder to have a PVG Scheme membership/record. If the post holder is not a current PVG member for the required regulatory group (i.e. child and/or adult) then an application will need to be made to Disclosure Scotland and deemed satisfactory before they can begin in post.