Band 6 Paediatric Occupational Therapist

Job responsibilities

Responsible to: Paediatric Occupational Therapy Clinical Team Lead

Accountable to: Clinical Service Manager for SW Paediatric Therapies

Purpose

As part of Paediatric Therapy team to autonomously manage a complex caseload of children with a range of varied and complex needs. This will involve specialist assessment and treatment of children with complex needs.

To devise child centred therapy plans using evidence based practice to ensure that the individuals full potential is developed or maintained.

• To provide clinical support, training and supervision for junior team members and students.

Principal duties to include:

To provide support and advice for the childs family and parents about all aspects of their care that relate to their therapy needs, adjusting your use of language to allow for their level of comprehension to understand.

To provide and receive complex and sensitive information with regard to a childs difficulties and expectations.

To attend meetings where requested in order to provide specialist advice about the therapy needs of the child. To arrange these meetings when appropriate.

To co-ordinate a team of therapists and assistants, understanding the difficulty of dovetailing timetables, which can be time consuming and stressful and needs flexible diary management.

To be able to demonstrate empathy and sensitivity in response to parents and children.

To work closely with parents who are themselves dealing with anger, grief and frustration as they come to terms with the impact of their childs condition.

To provide specialist therapy reports for use within inter-agencies, e.g. educational documentation relevant to the practice setting, standards and guidelines

To ensure that up to date written electronic records and activity are maintained in accordance with the professional and organisation standards

To provide programmes on a verbal, written basis or using pictorial representation as required to ensure these programmes are accessible to parents/ carers

To interpret complex assessment results and identify therapy goals as part of an overall care plan.

To contribute to the childs diagnosis by communicating assessment findings to the childs paediatrician, parents/carers and other involved professionals.

To make referrals to other professionals and agencies if required to address the childs global needs.

To be responsible for the supervision and written assessment of students and band 5 team members

To undertake Band 5, Band 4 and Band 3 team members appraisals and line manage

To plan, organise and provide training to parents/carers and educational staff.

To plan and undertake presentation of paediatric therapy related talks both internally and externally.

To participate in the delivery of the therapy development plan.

To demonstrate ongoing personal development through participation in internal and external development opportunities, recording learning outcomes in a portfolio

To apply increasingly more complex skills and knowledge in order to establish professional competence and fitness to practice as a specialist paediatric therapist

To deputise for the Band 7 when required.

To effectively plan the daily management of a caseload of children

To support the tribunal process with guidance from a Band 7 Occupational Therapist

To respond to urgent referrals and occasionally unpredictable work patterns.

To prioritise clinical work and balance other patient related and professional activities as the department requires.

To carry out specialist assessments used to contribute to a multidisciplinary assessment and diagnosis of complex needs

To use and maintain sound clinical reasoning skills throughout the therapeutic process to ensure best practice and identify risk.

To assess clients, carers and other professionals understanding of treatment proposals, gain valid consent and have the capacity to work within a legal framework with clients who lack capacity to consent to treatment.

To formulate accurate prognoses through standardised and non-standardised assessments and recommend best course of intervention, developing comprehensive therapy plans.

To develop and implement therapy and management plans for each child incorporating individual or group therapy sessions and programmes for use at home and/or in education settings.

To re-evaluate and progress/adapt therapy programmes at established intervals depending on the needs of each child and the outcomes expected and discharge when appropriate.

To use investigative and analytical skills, and where unsure to seek guidance from senior staff.

To plan and implement a range of specialist child-centred individual and/or group interventions, using clinical reasoning skills.

To use a range of evidence based therapy/ management options in formulating programmes of care.

To evaluate the outcomes of your interventions

To review and reflect on own practice and performance through the effective use of professional and clinical supervision and appraisal in line with local guidelines.

To demonstrate a working knowledge and contribute to developing and completing clinical audits and performance information

To broaden research and development skills through participation in local audit and research projects.

This job description is not exhaustive and the post holder may be required to undertake such other duties from time to time as are consistent with the responsibility of the grade.This job description is subject to review and development from time to time in liaison with the post holder. As an employee of Central Surrey Health Ltd/First Community Health you will be required to adhere to all the organisations policies and procedures.

Qualifications

Essential

• BSc Hons or recognised degree equivalent qualification in Occupational therapy
• Registered with the Health Care Professions Council

Desirable

• Registered Member of professional body

Skills

Essential

• Ability to work automously
• Ability to reflect and critically appraise own performance in relation to current best practice and develop skills accordingly
• Planning and decision making skills and problem solving
• Computer and internet literate

Other

Essential

• Car owner/driver
• Able to work as a team member
• Flexible worker
• Punctual and reliable
• Able to deal with difficulties involving colleagues / clients
• Creative

Experience

Essential

• Knowledge of legislation and government polices related to the specialty
• 2 years Post grad experience in OT
• Broad knowledge of current best practice
• Previous therapy experience in the relevant clinical areas related to the post
• Documented evidence of Continuous professional development
• Competent to use standardised assessments
• Experience of working in a multidisciplinary team
• Ability to deliver training

Desirable

• Evidence of successful completion of specialist short courses relating to the post
• Membership of relevant Special Interest Groups/Clinical excellence networks
• Training relating to the line management and supervision of assistants and other therapists
• Experience of training parents, other therapists and other professionals

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).