Specialist Occupational Therapist

Newcastle Hospitals; Newcastle upon Tyne; Remote; GBP 35,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working arrangements

Job summary

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Band 6 Occupational Therapist to join the Urgent Community Response and Frailty Virtual Ward teams. The post is fixed-term for 12 months, with a schedule that supports flexible working and operating hours from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, seven days a week.

You will work within a multidisciplinary team delivering high-quality community care, conducting assessments, providing rehabilitation, and contributing to safe home-based care for

Qualifications

• Degree/Diploma in OT (State registered) with appropriate professional qualifications.
• HCPC registration with current status.
• Member of BAOT in good standing.
• Current UK driving licence for work purposes.

Responsibilities

• Conduct timely and proactive assessments of patients requiring urgent response within two hours of referral.
• Provide short-term rehabilitation and follow-up care to support recovery and prevent deterioration.
• Engage with Frailty Virtual Ward to support safety, independence and wellbeing at home.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary team to deliver optimum patient care.
• Maintain frail patients safely at home through comprehensive risk assessments and risk management.

Skills

Time management

Problem solving

Prioritisation

Teamwork

Communication skills

Self-reflection

Education

Degree/Diploma in OT

HCPC registration

BAOT member

UK driving licence

Job description

Go back The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Specialist Occupational Therapist

The closing date is 01 November 2026

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a motivated and experienced Band 6 Occupational Therapist to join our dynamic and supportive Urgent Community Response (UCR) and Frailty Virtual Ward (FVW) teams based at Regent Point. This is a fixed- term post for a duration of 12 months from the date of commencement, offering the chance to work within a multi-disciplinary environment committed to delivering high-quality, patient-centred care.

The service operates from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, seven days a week. We are happy to consider flexible working arrangements to support work-life balance. You will be well supported by a team of experienced, dedicated, and compassionate professionals who are committed to delivering excellence in community care.

Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for a full outline of essential and desirable criteria.

Please note: A full UK car driving licence and access to a vehicle for work purposes is essential for this role.

• Interview Date Thursday 26 November 2026

Main duties of the job

To conduct timely and proactive assessments of patients requiring an urgent response within two hours of referral.

To provide short-term rehabilitation and follow-up care to support patients' recovery and prevent deterioration.

To assess and engage with frail patients within the Frailty Virtual Ward, supporting them to achieve optimal levels of safety, independence, health and wellbeing.

To work closely with the multidisciplinary team to provide optimum care to patients.

To maintain frail patients safely at home through comprehensive risk assessments and risk management strategies, with the aim of avoiding unnecessary hospital admission.

About us

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. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

With around 2 million contacts with patients every year, we deliver care from:

• Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI)
• Freeman Hospital
• Newcastle Dental Hospital
• Newcastle Fertility Centre
• Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria
• Northern Genetics Service

These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.

We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.

Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under 'Documents to download' or 'Supporting documents'.

For further information on The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit: Careers | Newcastle Hospitals | NHS | Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Job responsibilities

• To work as an Occupational Therapist within the Frailty Virtual Ward Team.
• To provide a high standard of occupational therapy assessment, intervention, treatment and discharge planning to complex and highly complex patients within specialist area evidencing high level problem solving, reasoning skills and independence of judgement.
• To be an active member of the multi-disciplinary virtual ward team and provide day to day supervision of junior and support staff and students working in the specialist area.
• The specialist practitioner is clinically in charge for the Occupational Therapy Service within the area of practice providing highly specialist knowledge within the Trust and externally to therapists and other health care professionals from secondary and primary care.
• To maintain clinical records.
• To be responsible for own continued professional development.

Person Specification

Qualifications & Education

• Degree/Diploma in OT
• State registered with Health & Care Professions Council
• Member of BAOT
• Current UK driving licence

Knowledge & Experience

• In-depth clinical knowledge of medical conditions and their effect on occupational performance
• Highly developed understanding of OT process within acute setting
• In-depth knowledge of health and social care policy, risk assessment and management
• Extensive knowledge of a range of disability equipment
• Extensive knowledge of eligibility criteria and procedures/policies relevant to disability equipment, minor housing adaptations
• Highly specialist knowledge of moving and handling legislation and knowledge of current moving and handling best practice and associated equipment
• Excellent understanding of professional ethics and their application into practice
• Good knowledge of clinical governance
• Evidence of CPD
• Significant post-registration experience including experience within physical health
• Use of functional assessment and activity analysis
• Experience of working with patients with physical disability e.g., reduced mobility
• Team management
• Experience in supervising staff
• Knowledge of undertaking research and audit projects
• Knowledge of team dynamics and team building

Skills & Abilities

• Good organisation, time management, problem solving and prioritisation skills
• Supervisory, team management skills
• Ability to work as part of a team
• Commitment to personal and service development
• Effective written and oral communication skills
• Ability to reflect and critically appraise own performance

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.

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust