Specialist Occupational Therapist / Physiotherapist

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Skelmersdale; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare provider in Skelmersdale is seeking an enthusiastic Occupational Therapist to join the Wheelchair Services team. This role involves conducting complex assessments and providing leadership while ensuring high-quality service delivery for wheelchair users. The successful candidate will work collaboratively to enhance patient outcomes and will be involved in training and clinical supervision. A strong focus on professional development is essential. Competitive benefits and flexible working options are offered.

Benefits

Generous pension scheme

Employee of the month recognition

27 days annual leave

Qualifications

• Enthusiastic, hardworking, and motivated individual.
• Experience in clinical settings with a focus on wheelchair services.

Responsibilities

• Assess service users' capacity and consent.
• Provide leadership and promote a learning culture.
• Ensure excellence in service delivery.
• Conduct complex clinical assessments.
• Maintain accurate records of service user care.

Skills

Complex communication skills

Leadership qualities

Clinical assessment

Education

HCPC registration

Job description

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic, hardworking and motivated Occupational Therapist to join our Wheelchair Services. The team provides an inpatient / home visit service to wheelchair users of Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancashire. This post is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Band 5 looking for career progression or a current Band 6 looking for a challenge to expand their skills and aim to develop not only their specialist skills but also managerial and leadership skills. As a forward‑thinking team we provide a 5‑day service. The successful candidate will become an integral member of the team, promoting a positive experience and outcomes for our service users. The JD & PS are currently under AfC review and are subject to change.

Use complex communication skills and knowledge when working with service users, their families and other provider agencies. Involve the service user, family/carers in all relevant discussions about their management and decisions that are made about their wheelchair provision.

Responsibilities

• To assess capacity, gain valid informed consent and work within a legal framework with service users who lack capacity to consent to treatment.
• To provide leadership and promote a learning culture for colleagues and other agencies.
• To ensure excellence in service delivery through personal and service development.
• To undertake complex clinical assessments of service users within your sphere of practice.
• To carry out evidence‑based assessment, intervention and evaluation of service user needs in the areas of mobility, posture and pressure relief for children and adults. This may often require periods of lone working.
• To continually evaluate outcomes and reassess treatment and risk assessments as the service user and environment change and update the intervention/service accordingly.
• To undertake assessments in a clinic environment and in a service user’s home, work or school environment.
• To be professionally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own work.
• To develop own clinical specialist skills and, when appropriate, assist junior colleagues in problem solving.
• To provide clinical and professional advice to all members of the therapy team.
• To deputise for B7 therapists when required.
• To maintain a high standard of record keeping regarding service user care, which is comprehensive, concise, valid and audited regularly.
• To ensure effective communication processes are followed to meet the needs of service users, relatives/carers and other members of the MDT.
• To maintain accurate, comprehensive and contemporaneous documentation, in line with legal and service requirements.
• To be actively involved in the collection and inputting of appropriate data and statistics for the use of the service and for audit purposes.
• To work within Trust clinical guidelines, HCPC and Registrant Body guidelines and have a working knowledge of national and local standards, ensuring adherence to these and delivering a high‑quality service.
• To maintain a caseload and supervise staff and students as required.
• To ensure a minimum of 85 % clinical time within working hours.

Teaching & Training Responsibilities

• Maintain own clinical professional development; be aware of the latest evidence‑based practice and new developments; and maintain HCPC registration and comply with their requirements in compiling your CPD portfolio.
• Participate in the staff appraisal scheme.
• Support junior staff with clinical supervision and appraisal.
• Participate in the delivery of learning and development opportunities to all bands of staff.
• Teach and instruct relatives, carers and other professionals to ensure a consistent approach to service user care and promote the understanding of the care and use of equipment.
• Educate service users and parents/carers on 24‑hour postural management, the reasoning for this and provide indicators for the need for reassessment.
• Participate in courses and product demonstrations to maintain wheelchair and other mobility equipment skills.
• Undertake fieldwork education and regularly supervise students.
• Participate in the induction, training and education of staff in the Wheelchair Service.
• Demonstrate leadership by:
  • Effecting change within your sphere of practice when and where indicated.
  • Making recommendations to improve services.
  • Influencing, motivating, supporting and enabling others to contribute towards the effectiveness and success of the Wheelchair Service.
• Attend, contribute and represent at relevant meetings.
• Demonstrate an understanding of policies relevant to the role including the application of clinical governance and risk management.

Clinical Governance, Research & Audit

• Demonstrate a sound understanding of clinical governance and risk management and apply it to the work situation.
• Be aware of local and national clinical guidelines and standards of care.
• Network with practitioner colleagues within the trust, across the Northwest and nationally to learn together and share good practice.
• Take part in service evaluation and, with the use of evidence‑based practice, local and national research and audit; contribute to changes in service provision and clinical working practices.

Financial Responsibilities

• Ensure effective use of resources to support budget management by advising on the supply of the most cost‑effective wheelchair and mobility equipment needed to meet each service user’s clinical needs.
• Consider options for service cost improvements.

Flexible Working

We actively support flexible working patterns throughout the Trust. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that: All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment; there is no limit on the number of requests they can make; and employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason. At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL & Staff Recognition

Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. 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 offers a variety of services. The Trust is non‑smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.

Application Integrity

All application material, including personal statements and behaviour examples, must be truthful and factually accurate. Plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own. The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI‑generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.

Trust Values

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trust’s values and behaviours: We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE. You can find them here. An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during the recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents. Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.

Trust Overview

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites. We strongly believe that the communities we serve should have access to Five Star Patient Care. Our services include: Acute Care – emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites; Primary Care – services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre in St Helens; Community Services – adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire; an inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital to continue rehabilitation; urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre in St Helens town centre; and specialist regional services such as the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit and the Spinal Injuries Unit.

Achievements include being rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection in August 2018; being a Top 100 place to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal); and having national preceptorship accreditation (2023) for our Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme.