Occupational Therapist

at  Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Occupational Therapist, Band 5
Permanent - Full Time - 37.5 hours per week
This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a multi-disciplinary ward team, which is professionally supported by a Band 7 Clinical Specialist OT. There is a mix of band 5, band 6 and band 7 occupational therapists across the acute and crisis mental health service, as well as other professions, including Lived Experience Practitioners and Occupational Therapy Technical Instructors. It is a friendly and supportive team and we welcome new staff and the innovative ideas and skills they bring.
The post involves occupational therapy specific work, on a mixed gender ward with opportunities including:
Carrying an inpatient caseload, including doing assessments and 1:1 interventions to build functional and social skills.
Working closely with the ward Multi-disciplinary Team (MDT) and the outpatient MDT (Home Treatment and Community Mental Health Teams)
Group interventions.
This post provides an excellent mix of opportunities to develop your occupational therapy career. You will provide clinical supervision to junior staff and support OT student placements at Green Parks House. The postholder will offer assessments and promote occupational functioning and wellbeing on the wards while also facilitating safe and effective discharges, including maintaining some contact with service users who might use the outpatient programme.
To manage a clinical caseload
To work as a member of the MDT
To support the development of evidence-based OT practice
To provide OT specific assessment & interventions via groups & individual work related to: self-care, work and leisure
To contribute to service development
To work independently without direct supervision
To develop skills, knowledge and experience through participation in Oxleas AHP Preceptorship Programme and the Trust-wide Band 5 OT Support Group
Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.
We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.
Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:
We’re Kind
We’re Fair
We Listen
We Care

Management responsibilities

• To exercise good personal time management, punctuality and consistent reliable attendance
• To be responsible for maintaining stock & advising on resources required to carry out the job, including the responsible management of petty cash

Leadership

• To review and reflect on own practice and performance through effective use of professional and operational supervision and appraisal

Clinical

• To manage a caseload of service users with mental health needs
• To work with service users to identify OT goals as part of the multi-disciplinary care plan, OT assessment tools & treatment techniques
• To work with service users in a variety of settings in order to provide the most effective assessment & interventions
• To plan & implement service user led individual and/or group interventions, using graded activity to achieve therapeutic goals
• To ensure service users health, social, cultural and spiritual needs are considered at all times
• To assess for and provide equipment to enhance independence in daily living skills for service users with a physical disability in addition to their mental health needs
• To monitor, evaluate and modify treatment in order to measure progress and identify outcomes
• To plan and deliver services within the Care Programme Approach framework
• To apply a high level of understanding of the effect of disability and provide training and advice on life skills to maximise functional ability
• To assess the occupational needs of service users and establish and evaluate appropriate treatment interventions
• To identify appropriate & inappropriate referrals and prioritise workload
• To manage effective discharge ensuring service user and all relevant agencies are given relevant information
• To contribute to and carry out risk assessment & risk management plans
• To work as part of the MDT and attend all relevant clinical meetings

Documentation

• To ensure that up to date electronic and written records are maintained in accordance with Professional and Trust standards

Communication

• To communicate appropriately with service users and carers, team members, OT colleagues and other agencies
• To demonstrate effective communication skills with those who have difficulty with communication for any reason
• To communicate effectively as required within job role using appropriate methods of communication
• To promote an awareness of the OT role within the team, negotiating priorities where appropriate

• To exercise good personal time management, punctuality and consistent reliable attendance
• To be responsible for maintaining stock & advising on resources required to carry out the job, including the responsible management of petty cas