Team Lead - Acute Occupational Therapy

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Swindon; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent healthcare institution in Swindon is seeking a Band 7 Team Lead Occupational Therapist. The role involves overseeing the Acute Occupational Therapy service, providing clinical leadership, and managing a diverse team. Candidates should have strong experience in complex caseload management and meet HCPC registration standards. This is a fantastic opportunity for those looking to grow in a collaborative healthcare setting. Offering competitive salary and various working patterns including full-time and flexible options.

Qualifications

• Must have specialist clinical experience in complex caseload management.
• Leadership training courses are required.
• Practice Educator qualification is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Oversee and coordinate the Acute Occupational Therapy service.
• Lead on local and national guidelines implementation.
• Conduct audits relevant to the service area.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Change management

Complex caseload management

Team coordination

Education

BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy

Registration with HCPC

Job description

Team Lead - Acute Occupational Therapy

Closing date: 25 December 2025

The Great Western Hospital is seeking a Band 7 Team Lead Occupational Therapist to join our Acute Occupational Therapy Team. This is a fantastic opportunity to step into a senior leadership role within a busy acute setting, working collaboratively with our existing Band 7 Team Lead to ensure smooth service delivery, shared leadership responsibilities and consistent support for the wider OT team. Together you will provide operational oversight, clinical leadership and day‑to‑day coordination across a range of medical and surgical wards.

You will also work closely with our Band 7 Clinical Specialists, whose expertise supports quality patient care across areas such as Palliative Care, Frailty, Cardiology and Respiratory. Through strong partnership and shared decision‑making, you'll help align leadership, specialist input and service priorities to ensure the team delivers safe, effective and patient‑centred care.

If you would like to learn more about this opportunity or arrange a visit to meet the team, please contact: [e-mail]

Main duties of the job

You will be part of a vibrant OT service of 22 qualified OTs, assistants and apprentices, offering a friendly, collaborative and supportive working environment. Through our Improving Together methodology, you will lead and implement quality improvement initiatives and influence service developments.

At Great Western, we invest in our people. Through the Great Western Academy you will have access to a wide range of training, leadership programmes and higher‑education opportunities to support your growth in this senior role.

• Oversee, coordinate and further develop the Acute Occupational Therapy service at the Great Western Hospital site.
• Work collaboratively with the existing Acute Occupational Therapy Team Lead to ensure consistent, high‑quality service delivery.
• Provide specialist clinical expertise and professional leadership to both qualified and unqualified staff, and to the wider multidisciplinary team.
• Act as the representative for Acute Occupational Therapy, delivering service updates and contributing to senior leadership across the Great Western site, including deputising for the Acute Therapies Lead when required.

About us

Our STAR values – Service, Teamwork, Ambition and Respect – are a golden thread running through everything we do. These values guide us towards our vision of delivering great joined‑up services to our local community, empowering individuals to lead independent and healthier lives.

Job responsibilities

• Ensure the achievement of national, local and Trust performance indicators, delivering a high‑quality, effective service where patient experience and safety are central.
• Demonstrate leadership, including change management skills, through the management of designated projects that contribute to the department’s clinical governance and service development plan (e.g. developing care pathways, setting and monitoring standards, being the OT lead in multidisciplinary working groups).
• Lead on implementation of local and national guidelines to meet local clinical governance standards.
• Ensure Trust clinical and non‑clinical policies, procedures and guidelines are strictly adhered to at all times.
• Make recommendations for changes to practice and lead the implementation of specific changes to practice.
• Undertake and lead audits relevant to the service area, disseminating findings locally.
• Contribute to Trust clinical governance and quality agenda, providing evidence from the CQC Action Plan, attending CQC meetings and checking the quality report.
• Undertake regular CPD to develop own clinical knowledge and skills, developing the service in line with evidence‑based practice.
• Participate in local and Trust‑wide service development and projects, representing Acute OT and delegating to team members where appropriate.
• Use specialist clinical assessment and reasoning skills to provide autonomous specialist assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of patients presenting with high‑risk, chronic and acute problems and medical conditions.
• Work with patients to identify OT goals as part of the overall care plan.
• Monitor, evaluate and modify treatment to measure progress and ensure effectiveness of intervention.
• Work closely and communicate effectively with the MDT and partner organisations to ensure delivery of high‑quality services to patients and facilitate timely discharges and appropriate referrals.
• Maintain accurate paper and electronic records in accordance with professional and organisational standards.
• Promote and communicate the role of OT and service priorities to the MDT.
• Lead and support staff to communicate sensitive or emotive information regarding a patient’s treatment, goals, progress and potential for recovery, recommending appropriate pathways for discharge to patients, relatives, carers, associated agencies and other professionals.
• Frequently be exposed to distressing and emotional circumstances involving patients and relatives and occasionally deal with patients and relatives following serious, traumatic or terminal incidents.
• Treat patients in environments with limited space and privacy, adjusting assessment as needed to maintain patient dignity.
• Work alone in certain environments and manage both clinical and personal risk.
• Understand and adhere to national guidelines and legislation relating to health and social care and their impact on service provision.
• Comply with HCPC and the College of Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, national guidelines and Trust procedures.
• Manage the departmental budget, equipment and resources responsibly and justify with clear benefits to the team and organisation.
• Ensure the team receives regular and relevant training utilising in‑service training, mandatory training and external courses as appropriate, maintaining compliance with RCOT standards of practice and HCPC registration.
• Provide direct supervision to senior OTs, investing, encouraging and supporting the development of all staff to ensure the highest standard of OT provision across the acute setting and aid retention.
• Support local universities by providing clinical placements, accessing Practice Educator training and supporting staff to supervise Occupational Therapy students.
• Ensure all staff and students receive a comprehensive induction to the Trust and team.
• Coordinate and monitor supervision and appraisal of staff.
• Lead daily caseload meetings and team meetings with the Acute OT team to cascade information, seek opinions and facilitate team support.
• Ensure caseload and referral data kept up‑to‑date with support from the Informatics Team, providing reports when required.
• Maintain the Health Roster including use of annual leave, sickness absence, TOIL, overtime and weekend working.
• Responsible for workforce planning and recruitment for the team.
• Monitor performance and absence management processes, utilising policies and seeking support and guidance from HR as required.
• Lead investigation of incidents and complaints in line with Trust policies and procedures, liaising with PALS and sharing learning with the team and wider Acute Therapies.
• Coordinate and participate in team weekend working rotas.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy or equivalent training and experience
• Registration with HCPC
• Professional knowledge acquired through a degree supplemented by further training, short specialist courses, to master’s equivalent level
• Willingness to undertake further training
• Leadership training courses
• Practice Educator training/qualification
• RCOT membership

Experience

• Specialist clinical experience in complex caseload management and discharge planning within an acute setting
• Ability to assess and identify complex equipment to facilitate safe discharges
• Sound working knowledge of legislation and clinical governance relevant to the clinical area
• Leading within a multi‑professional team, sharing specialist skills and coordinating complex discharges
• Understanding and experience of working with Partner Organisations and Community Teams
• Managing conflict/difficult conversations
• Experience of leading day‑to‑day management of a team and coordinating team caseloads
• Ability to reprioritise own workload to support colleagues
• Staff development through supervision and appraisal
• Experience and involvement in service development
• Service review and change management
• Participation in recruitment process
• Experience of budget management and workforce planning
• Experience of incident and complaint management
• Experience of performance and/or absence management

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and requires a Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly CRB) to check for any previous convictions.

£47,810 to £54,710 a year pro‑rata per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full‑time, Job share, Flexible working, Compressed hours