Specialist Occupational Therapist

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust; Colchester; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension scheme

27 days annual leave

NHS discounts

Flexible working options

Job summary

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an Occupational Therapist Clinical Specialist to lead the OT team across Community Hospitals and support the transfer of care hub. You will mentor Band 6s, plan OT capacity for a new ward at Clacton Hospital, and work with acute and community teams to streamline patient pathways.

You will also contribute to service development and on-call duties. The role emphasises autonomous practice, high standards of care, clinical assessments, and

Qualifications

• Autonomous practitioner with responsibility for own work and patients.
• Mentoring and supervising OT staff, and leading a team.
• Clinical reasoning and decision-making for complex cases.

Responsibilities

• Provide highly specialist OT assessments and form/implement treatment plans.
• Lead and manage the OT team across Community Hospitals and rotation of Band 6s.
• Collaborate with acute and community therapy teams and TOCH for patient pathways.
• Participate in on-call rota and contribute to service development.

Skills

Autonomous practitioner

Team leadership

Mentoring

Clinical reasoning

Job description

We are looking for a dedicated, compassionate, and professional Occupational Therapist Clinical Specialist who wants to make a genuine difference in the lives of people. You will work as part of our team, liaise and work closely with therapists in the acute hospital and community rehabilitation, as well as our transfer of care hub (TOCH) and community prescribers. You will lead lead and manage the team of OTs at the Community Hospitals, providing support, mentoring and supervision. You will also manage the internal rotation of the Band 6s within the community hospitals, as well as supporting their rotation whilst they are at the community hospital. You will also be involved in the planning for the OT needs and provision of a new ward at Clacton Hospital opening in the coming months. The aim is for this ward to become an dedicated Assessment Unit, providing rapid assessment, diagnostics, and treatment for appropriate patients, reducing avoidable admissions to the Colchester acute site. You will support the Physiotherapy Hospital Lead, in managing therapy staffing, rostering, and where necessary, covering in the PT Band 7 Lead's absence.

• Proposed Interview date: 30th October 2026

Key Responsibilities To work as an autonomous practitioner, to be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own work including the management of patients in your case. To ensure a high standard of clinical care for the patients under your management, and support more junior staff to do likewise. To gain consent and undertake highly specialist occupational therapy assessments, clinically diagnose and to formulate and implement treatment plans using specialist knowledge and experience. This will include the treatment of complex patients in a manner that respects people's choice, privacy, dignity and individuality. To interpret and analyse clinical and non‑clinical facts using advanced clinical reasoning and problem‑solving skills to form accurate diagnoses and prognoses in a wide range of complex conditions to recommend the best course of intervention from a range of options and develop comprehensive care management and discharge plans. To take part in the departmental emergency on call rota, as appropriate. A significant part of this role is forging links with the community rehabilitation team, and the acute therapy team. This will also include consideration of a Left Shift approach to support the process of optimising the pathway from acute to community hospital to community re for better patient outcomes.

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes. We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff. We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services. Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients. We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients. If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you. Find out about living and working here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A