Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist (Upper Limb)

at  Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust

Responsible for the development, delivery and evaluation of the Occupational Therapy service to the Peripheral Nerve Injury Unit and Shoulder Unit
To become independent in the assessment and treatment of highly complex patients within the Shoulder, and Peripheral Nerve Injury Units and with upper limb conditions referred from other clinical units. To build up the provision of specialist input and training to the multi-disciplinary team (including consultants) and external agencies, including other specialist occupational therapists nationally and internationally.
To provide cover for administrative, managerial and clinical tasks in the temporary absence of another member of the team, as appropriate to own level of experience.
Delivers a comprehensive and effective Occupational Therapy Service to patients with upper limb conditions. . Contributes to the development of this OT service through initiating and leading development projects
Assesses and treats patients with highly complex upper limb conditions and liaises with other senior members of the RNOH multi-disciplinary team (MDT) and in other organisations to ensure the best level of care for each individual.
Make suggestions to and supports the Team leader and Therapies Clinical manager in coordinating and developing the Occupational Therapy Service within the upper limb team..
Promotes the OT role within the Trust and raises the profile of the RNOH OT service to external agencies.
Provides clinical supervision to 1-4 members of staff and students and acts as a source of specialist advice to other staff.
RNOH Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust (RNOH) is the largest orthopaedic hospital in the UK and a global leader in our field. We provide a dynamic working environment where we support frontline staff to implement improvements so that we can realise our vision of being a world leading neuro-musculoskeletal hospital providing the best patient care and staff experience in the NHS, delivering world leading research, and offering a strong foundation of education, training and career progression. Our dedicated staff come from diverse backgrounds, and our patients benefit from the wide range of experience they bring to the trust. RNOH brings unrivalled expertise together in one place allowing us to deliver some of the world’s most complex and innovative care to our patients. RNOH is rated good by the CQC and covers two sites, one in central London and one in Stanmore - which has recently opened The Stanmore Building, a new, state-of-the-art inpatient facility. For more information, please access the following link: https://www.rnoh.nhs.uk/
1. Uses evidence based knowledge and advanced clinical reasoning to undertake highly complex clinical assessment, in a relevant location, eg hospital, nursery, school, work or home, identifying patient needs, treatment aims and goals in collaboration with the individual patient and the MDT. These may be in-patients, outpatients or those attending specialist clinics. Assessment and treatment may include advanced skills in upper limb rehabilitation, wheelchair adjustment, therapeutic handling / hoisting and discharge planning in a busy and unpredictable environment.
2. Uses specialist communication skills, sensitivity and empathy to engage patients with challenging behaviour, psychological and psychiatric needs in purposeful treatment programmes, in collaboration with the MDT, to ensure the provision of holistic care.
3. Determines patients’ level of understanding of treatment plan to ensure valid patient consent and works within legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent.
4. Documents findings according to Trust policy and department procedure.
5. Uses recognised outcome measures and goal setting measures to motivate challenging clients.
6. Formulates and implements graded treatment plans for highly complex patients.
7. Oversees treatment plans delegated to support staff, maintaining responsibility for overall care of patient.
8. Analyses patients’ progress and adjusts treatment programmes as appropriate.
9. Manages clinical risk within own patient caseload and in teamwork environment.
10. Plans and leads group and individual specialist education, advice and support sessions for up to 15 patients / carers or staff.
11. Makes referrals, reports and recommendations verbally and in writing to the MDT, external agencies and employers as required.
12. Prioritises and manages the clinical caseload, delegating as appropriate.
13. Attends ward rounds, case conferences and other patient reviews and reports both verbally and in writing.
14. Maintains and develops knowledge of evidence based practice and own competencies through CPD activities (e.g. peer review, in-service training, journal club, external courses), maintaining a portfolio, which reflects personal development.
15. Deals with informal complaints sensitively, avoiding escalation where possible, and refers to OT Manager if issues cannot be resolved.
Policy/service development/implementation
16. Develops standards of practice and procedures for the OT Shoulder service and makes suggestions for changes across the service.
17. Assists Team leader and Therapies Clinical manager in evaluating the OT service and implementing appropriate changes.
18. Actively participates in the Seniors Meeting and feeds back as appropriate.
19. Ensures opinions of service users are taken into consideration when developing services.
Financial and physical resources
20. Monitors stock levels of equipment and materials for own clinical area and initiates ordering process as required.
21. Checks OT equipment is in working order within manufacturers’ guidelines and reports need for repair if required.
22. Carries out or delegates maintenance and cleaning of equipment as appropriate.
23. Ensures equipment is issued as per department policy.
24. Proposes bids for equipment and facilities needed in treatment area.
25. Ensures efficient use of resources in own clinical area.
26. Processes cash donations as per departmental policy.
Human resources
27. Ensures staff competencies in the safe use of all equipment and techniques before use.
28. Participates in staff appraisal scheme as an appraisee and is responsible for complying with agreed personal development plan to meet required knowledge and competencies.
29. Inducts, supervises and educates allocated members of staff according to their learning needs.
30. Conducts appraisal of allocated members of staff.
31. Organises educational programme and fieldwork placements for undergraduate and post-graduate OT students including assessments and reports for the Higher Education Institution.
32. Contributes and presents to specialist educational programmes in the clinical unit.
33. Prepares and delivers in-service training sessions to groups of therapy staff in rotation with other staff members as required.
34. Provides specialist advice and education to OTs in other organisations, who may be specialists in the field and discusses the most complex queries with peers and managers, as appropriate.
35. Shares good practice with all grades of staff, internal and external to the organisation.
36. Arranges appropriate cover of patient caseload in the absence of a member of the team.
37. Follows Trust recruitment and selection procedures to assist in shortlisting, interviewing and selecting new staff, as requested by Occupational Therapy Manager.
Information resources
38. Maintains statistics according to department procedure.
39. Maintains resource files and contact details for relevant external organisations.
40. Proposes and helps to implement new ways of using information across the OT service.
41. Updates patient information as required, in liaison with the MDT and Trust advisory panel.
Research and Development
42. Initiates and undertakes measurement and evaluation of current practice through use of projects, audit and outcome measures with approval of Head Occupational Therapist and RNOH Research & Development Committee.
43. Uses a range of research methodologies and collects required data as part of research and audit initiatives.
44. Documents projects undertaken, submitting papers for publication and presentation to special interest groups and conferences.
45. Implements findings of research and audit projects in discussion with the Head Occupational Therapists

Please refer the Job description for details