Specialist Occupational Therapist: Social Communication Pathway

at  Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

This is an exciting opportunity to join a multidisciplinary and multi agency team delivering an innovative autism assessment pathway across
Manchester. You will be be part of a multi-agency team, working alongside speech and language therapists, clinical psychologists, mental health practitioners, educational psychologists, paediatricians, child and adolescent psychiatrists and CAMHS colleagues. You will have the opportunity to develop core diagnostic skills whist practicing as a more specialist occupational therapist. The posts provide ample opportunity for training, consultation and service development and form part of a unique offer to deliver a timely, evidence based assessment for children and young people with social communication difficulties. The pathway was originally co-produced with Manchester families and the post-holder will be expected to be part of the ongoing co-production of autism services in Manchester.
MFT CAMHS has been graded ’Outstanding’ by CQC. This citywide autism assessment team operates across Manchester, this post being based with the team covering the central Manchester area. Each team is committed to providing innovative, quality care to children and young people and their families and the new team will join part of a lively, engaging ‘Autism Hub’ within the city.
You will join a multi-disciplinary team of dedicated diagnostic clinicians, and contribute to service development and innovation. You will manage a caseload of assessment and bring specialist occupational therapist skills to the team.
You will support colleagues to provide specialist autism assessments for children and adolescents referred to the service based upon the appropriate use, interpretation and integration of data from a variety of sources including developmental history, school observations, specialist assessments, self report measures, direct and indirect observation and interviews with young people, family members and/or carers.
You will link with local CAMHS teams and other agencies and contribute to the ongoing CPD of colleagues.
MFT is one of the largest NHS Trust In England with a turnover of £2.6bn & is on a different scale than most other NHS Trusts. We’re creating an exceptional integrated health & social care system for the 1 million patients who rely on our services every year.
Bringing together 10 hospitals & community services from across Manchester, Trafford & beyond, we champion collaborative working & transformation, encouraging our 28,000 workforce to pursue their most ambitious goals. We set standards that other Trusts seek to emulate so you’ll benefit from a scale of opportunity that is nothing short of extraordinary.
We’ve also created a digitally enabled organisation to improve clinical quality, patient & staff experience, operational effectiveness & driving research, and innovation through the introduction of Hive; our Electronic Patient Record system which launched in September 2022.
We’re proud to be a major academic Research Centre & Education provider, providing you with a robust infrastructure to encourage and facilitate high-quality research programmes. What’s more, we’re excited to be embarking on our Green Plan which sets out how MFT continues to play its part in making healthcare more sustainable.
At MFT, we create and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, provide equal opportunities for career development that are fair, open, and transparent, protecting your health and wellbeing and shaping the future of our organisation together.
To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience you’ll need, take a look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the ‘Supporting Documents’ heading. So that you’re even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, you’ll need to take time to read the ‘Candidate Essentials Guide’ that sits with the Job Description and Person Specification. This document provides you with details about the Trust, our benefits and outlines how ‘we care for you as you care for others’. Most importantly, it also contains critical information you’ll need to be aware of before you submit an application form.
Diversity Matters
MFT is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating and valuing diversity and eliminating any form of unlawful discrimination across our workforce, ensuring our people are truly representative of the communities we serve. All individuals regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation are encouraged to apply for this post. As an inclusive employer, we are here to support you. If you have any special requirements to help you with your application, email our team at resourcing@mft.nhs.uk.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you

Please refer the Job description for details