Specialist Occupational Therapist

Royal Marsden; Chelsea (MA); On-site; USD 44,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading cancer care institution is seeking an enthusiastic Occupational Therapist to join their dedicated team. The ideal candidate will be a qualified professional with a passion for supporting cancer patients, eager to take advantage of extensive training and development opportunities within a renowned healthcare environment. This fixed-term position requires strong clinical skills and a commitment to high-quality patient care.

Benefits

Structured Preceptorship Programme

Generous CPD Support

10 days of protected study leave

Qualifications

• Must have experience in general physical field and with oncology patients.
• Membership of British Association of Occupational Therapists preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provide high-quality occupational therapy services for cancer patients.
• Organize occupational therapy activities within a defined clinical area.

Skills

Knowledge of functional assessment techniques

Clinical reasoning

Ability to manage time effectively

Education

Diploma/Degree in Occupational Therapy

State Registration with Health Care Professions Council

Job description

Main area Clinical Services Grade NHS AfC: Band 6 Contract Fixed term: 11 months (Until 17 May 2026) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 282-SA756

Employer The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site The Royal Marsden Chelsea Town Chelsea Salary £44,806 - £53,134 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 25/06/2025 23:59

Job overview

Are you an enthusiastic and compassionate Occupational Therapist looking to develop your career in a world-renowned centre of excellence?

At The Royal Marsden, we are proud to offer a supportive, innovative, and professionally enriching environment for Occupational Therapists at all stages of their careers. Whether you're newly qualified or looking to take the next step, this is the place to grow, thrive, and make a real impact.

Why Join Us?

• Structured Preceptorship Programme
  Our preceptorship pathway is designed to support Band 5 and 6 Occupational Therapists, helping you build confidence, consolidate clinical skills, and develop professionally from day one.
• Dedicated Practice Educator
  We’re proud to have a forward-thinking Practice Educator who not only supports student placements but also pioneers innovative models of training. This approach engages service leads as well as frontline staff—lightening the load on clinicians while improving the quality of our training delivery.
• Generous CPD Support
  We invest heavily in your development. You’ll benefit from:
• Access to multiple CPD funding streams including charitable funds
• 10 days of protected study leave per year
• Opportunities to attend external courses, conferences, and specialist training
• Strong and Visible OT Leadership
  Our robust Occupational Therapy leadership team is committed to supporting your career progression, wellbeing, and ongoing development. Your voice is heard, and your growth is championed.

Main duties of the job

The Band 6 Occupational Therapist is an active member of a team that provides a high quality, evidence based occupational therapy service for the patient with cancer.

As a skilled practitioner, the postholder is a source of knowledge and expertise for patients, relatives and colleagues of all disciplines.

With the support of the Band 7 Occupational Therapist, they will organise occupational therapy activities within a defined clinical area and will also liaise closely with all members of the multi-professional rehabilitation team in the provision of a specialist input to a variety of education programmes.

Working for our organisation

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a world-leading cancer centre. Our role is to offer our patients the best cancer care available anywhere in the world, and to continue to make a global contribution to finding better ways of diagnosing and treating cancer. We employ over 4,500 staff in a diverse range of careers including nursing, medical, science, radiography, pharmacy, occupational therapy, finance and administrative services. We have two hospitals – one in Chelsea, London, and one in Sutton, Surrey – as well as a Medical Daycare Unit in Kingston Hospital.

At The Royal Marsden, we deal with cancer every day, so we understand how valuable life is. When people entrust their lives to us, they have the right to demand the very best. That's why the pursuit of excellence lies at the heart of everything we do.

At the heart of the hospital is our dedicated team. We offer a stimulating and dynamic working environment, a wide range of staff benefits, learning and development opportunities and clear career pathways. There are opportunities to work flexibly across a range of areas and specialities and we welcome flexible working requests from point of hire to support employees work life balance. We are looking for employees who aspire to excellence, share our values and can play a crucial role in our on-going achievements.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Come and join us—be part of something exceptional.

You will be joining a supportive and friendly team of qualified Occupational Therapists working in an acute setting to support needs of patients undergoing cancer treatment across all tumour groups. There is excellent internal and external CPD opportunities, generous support for study leave, parking onsite, and comprehensive staff benefits via Vivup.
We encourage you to contact us to discuss the role if you are interested in applying.

Please contact Lauren Blackburn on [e-mail] or 0208 661 3090.

For more information please refer to the job description and personal specification.

Working autonomously in ward and outpatient settings to provide complex clinical assessment of the biomechanical, sensory, psychological, cognitive, perceptual and interpersonal deficits affecting the functioning of individuals with cancer, their families and carers through the use of advanced clinical reasoning.

Developing and implementing individual specialised therapeutic rehabilitation programmes specific to patient’s needs based on activity analysis using a client-centred, problem solving approach.

Developing and implementing treatment and educational groups for people with cancer and their carers such as Health & Well Being groups.

Assessing and prescribing the complex wheelchair and specialist seating needs for example paralysis, dystonia, major surgery, extreme fatigue, pressure relief of patients with cancer.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

• Diploma/Degree in Occupational Therapy recognised by UK College of Occupational Therapists.
• State Registration with Health Care Professions Council for Occupational Therapy.
• At least one year’s experience in general physical field.
• Evidence of experience of dealing with oncology patients and their families / carers.
• Evidence of experience in clinical supervision and appraisal.
• Evidence of experience of principles and practice in audit, outcomes measurement and clinical governance.
• Accredited wheelchair course.
• Accredited splinting and hand therapy course
• Membership of British Association of Occupational Therapists.
• Membership of OPC (Occupational Therapists specialist section in Oncology and Palliative Care)

Skills Abilities/knowledge

• Knowledge of functional assessment and treatment techniques for oncology and palliative care patients, including physical, cognitive, psychosocial functional assessments and treatment, as well as specific symptom and lifestyle management techniques (e.g. relaxation, anxiety, breathlessness and fatigue management)
• Ability to carry out risk assessments concerning patients and staff safety, including Manual Handling.
• Ability to assess risks associated with lone working, take responsibility for reporting to colleagues and ensuring self and patient are safe at all times
• Ability to assess potential risks with regard to patients’ discharge from hospital.
• Developed clinical reasoning as well as analytical and creative problems solving skills.
• Ability to produce professional reports and records including POMRs, multiprofessional care plans, letters, assessments for hospital and external agencies.
• Ability to work as part of a supportive team.
• Ability to work in a highly motivated, self directed manner on clinical and departmental activities.
• Ability to prioritise and manage time effectively.
• Ability to fulfill supervisory role for undergraduate students.
• Ability to teach both patients and carers in areas relating to rehabilitation.
• Proven ability to prepare and deliver presentations and education sessions to health care colleagues and members of public
• Ability to enter data, prepare reports, formal written documentation and multi-media presentations.

The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment.

All applicants will be contacted by email to the address supplied on your application. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly and to ensure that email filters are set to allow our emails.

Flu Vaccination – What We Expect of our Staff

At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease.

The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.