Advanced Paediatric Occupational Therapy

at  Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Advanced Paediatric Occupational Therapist - EarlyBird Programme 12 Month Secondment - 7.5 hours (1 day per week/ 1 WTE)
Ealing Paediatric Occupational Therapy Service is looking for a motivated, flexible and innovative therapist to deliver the EarlyBird Programme in Ealing. We are a friendly, dynamic and innovative team who are passionate about supporting children, young people and families in Ealing. We work with a diverse population group across health, education and social care. We are based at Carmelita House at Ealing Broadway and form part of ESCAN (Ealing Services for Children with Additional Needs) where there is a high level of integration and collaboration between different health, education and social care services.

BEFORE APPLYING FOR THIS SECONDMENT PLEASE DISCUSS WITH YOUR LINE MANAGER TO ENSURE 12 MONTH COMMITMENT IS POSSIBLE.

Vaccination
The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.
We are looking for a team player who has a range of clinical experience. Candidates will need to have good communication skills and any experience in working within an inter-disciplinary team and interagency collaboration will be an advantage. Regular supervision and support will be provided by a Band 8a. Are you the person we are looking for?
This post will involve working with a Speech and Language Therapist to deliver the EarlyBird training programme to parents of children (up to the age of 5 years old) with a diagnosis of Autism. The post holder would also be expected to take lead in a quality improvement project.
Our service is keen to focus on evidence based family-centred care principles, and applying best practice guidelines to enable occupational participation. We are open to new ideas and constantly reviewing and modifying the way we work. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been operating a hybrid face-to-face and remote working service delivery model.
The team has been highly successful in getting funding from different agencies, and have a team of more than 23 staff. We have a strong professional structure with Clinical Leads (Band 8a) and Advanced Therapists (Band 7), each leading on different aspects of service delivery. There are also Band 6 & 5 Therapists and Band 3 Technicians. We have regular in-house and external CPD opportunities and a strong supervision structure.
This role is an Ealing Community Partners role through Central North West London (CNWL) Trust. Please note that the post does not meet the application criteria for the trust’s Golden Hello and Relocation package.

1. To lead and coordinate the EarlyBird Programme jointly with Speech and Language Therapist in Ealing. This would include:
   a. Maintaining the record keeping system to track referrals.
   b. Liaison with other professionals and agencies as appropriate.
2. To manage your own EarlyBird caseload, working as an autonomous practitioner and providing specialist assessment and intervention for children and young people (CYP) with diagnosis of Autism in the following areas according to the CYP’s stage of development and specific needs with consideration of the social and cultural needs of the CYP and family:
   a. Within individual and/or in groups, as part of multi-disciplinary team, in a variety of health, educational and community settings.
   b. To use sound clinical reasoning and appropriate outcome measurement.
   c. To demonstrate specialist knowledge underpinned by current evidence-based practice.
   d. To facilitate optimal and increased independence of CYP in -
   i. Participation in self-care and activities of daily living, e.g. feeding, toileting, dressing, personal hygiene etc.
   ii. Participation in productive activities, e.g. school-based tasks, regulation of attention, organisation of behaviour, fine manipulation of tools etc.
   iii. Participation in play and leisure activities, e.g. joint engagement, turn-taking, gross motor task performance, motor-coordination.
3. Access to support and supervision will be provided as necessary.
4. To carry out community visits (e.g. home, school etc.) to provide specialist advice, recommendations and training to parents/carers/other professionals as part of the EarlyBird Programme.
5. To provide advice and support families and other professionals involved with the CYP’s care in order to implement strategies.
6. To work collaboratively with multi-agency professionals and parents/carers to develop and implement comprehensive specialist intervention packages for CYP, including planning and delivering specialist training to other OTs, professionals and parents/carers.
7. To use specialist knowledge to refer children and families to other services / professionals as necessary after getting appropriate consent e.g. SAFE etc.
8. To supervise / manage students and other junior staff working in own specialist area