Specialist Occupational Therapist

Freeman Hospital; Carthage (MO); On-site; USD 43,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a motivated Band 6 Occupational Therapist to join the Urgent Community Response and Frailty Virtual Ward teams at Regent Point for a 12-month fixed-term position. The role operates across early hours to evenings, with a strong multidisciplinary support network and flexible working options.

You will conduct swift assessments within two hours of referral, provide short-term rehabilitation and ensure safe discharge planning for frail patients at

Qualifications

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

Responsibilities

• Work as an Occupational Therapist within the Frailty Virtual Ward Team
• Provide high standard OT assessment, intervention and discharge planning
• Be an active member of the multidisciplinary virtual ward team
• Maintain clinical records and CPD
• Supervise junior staff and students where appropriate

Skills

Time management

Teamwork

Communication skills

Problem solving

Prioritisation

Leadership

Education

OT degree/ Diploma

HCPC registration

BAOT member

Post-graduate experience

UK driving licence

Job description

Qualifications & Education

Essential criteria

• Post graduate experience

Employer heading

Specialist Occupational Therapist

Band 6

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS hospital trusts in the country. We have around 16,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.7 billion.

With strong history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation regionally, nationally and internationally, we’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country.

As well as providing a wide range of hospital and community services, we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle (Shine) and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency. Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.

Job Overview

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 15 October 2026
• 37 Hours 30 Minutes/Week
• You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy. Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

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.

Working for our organisation

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
• Cramlington Manor Walks
• Urgent treatment centres
• 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

Detailed Job Description And Main 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.

Whilst Newcastle Hospitals are a forward thinking and highly innovative organisation, the use of Third-Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity of your individual application or to the recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.

Qualifications & Education

Essential criteria

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

Knowledge & Experience

Essential criteria

• 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

Desirable criteria

• 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

Essential criteria

• 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

Desirable criteria

• IT skills
• Presentation skills

Important note on completion of reference section of Application Form

All references from current and previous employers will be sought and must cover a minimum of 3 years employment. Therefore, when completing the reference section of your application form, please give the address, telephone number and work email address of each of your current/previous line managers that cover 3 years employment. Failure to complete this section may result in your application not being processed.

Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.

Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e‑mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has been unsuccessful.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• JD & PS (PDF, 179.9KB)
• Newcastle Staff Benefits (PDF, 274.4KB)
• Behaviour and Civility Charter (PDF, 93.8KB)

Further details / informal visits contact

Name Katherine Hanmore Job title Team Lead / Nurse Practitioner Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 07720157569 Additional information

01912823664