Occupational Therapy Clinical Specialist

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose:

You will 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.

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

You will provide clinical support, training and supervision for junior team members and students.

You will be responsible for the delivery of services and ensuring performance targets are met

You will deliver specialist clinical input into the service.

You will lead on research, clinical audits and evidence based service pilots/projects to support the development of evidence based practice in collaboration with the clinical team lead.

You will support the clinical leadership within the senior management team related to relevant specialisms.

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 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 all Occupational therapy team members.

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 triage referrals

To participate in the delivery of the therapy development plan.

To demonstrate on going 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 support the Clinical team leads when required.

To effectively plan the daily management of a caseload of children

To respond to urgent referrals and occasionally unpredictable work patterns. To support clinical triage and allocation of urgent referrals

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

To be able to prioritise clinical and managerial work and balance other client 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 team members.

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 initiate and maintain contacts with local and national clinical interest groups appropriate to the clinical field and to share and disseminate knowledge with team members and partners

To actively participate in decision making regarding placement of children with highly complex needs in specialist resources, using knowledge of the services provided by a range of special schools.

To support and provide appropriate training and induction as necessary to junior team members, students and agency.

To promote a culture of providing Occupational Therapy clinical placements, assisting fieldwork educators and NVQ assessors by supervising students/apprentices clinical work and providing training sessions

To demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate current research, apply them to practice and disseminate findings at a local level and to the professional lead

Representation at tribunals and to support junior team members

Contributing to the on-going development of the Surrey wide OT service in collaboration with the professional lead and other OT clinical specialists

To participate in audit and contribution to understanding performance data

To participate in recruitment of team members into service

To participate ininvestigations as part of the disciplinary and grievance procedures

Responsible for the day to day operational line management of their direct reports

Support the safety and clinical governance of their team

Experience

Essential

• Knowledge of legislation and government polices related to the specialty.
• 5 years Post grad experience in OTT
• Broad knowledge of current best practice.
• Previous therapy experience in the relevant clinical areas related to the post
• Documented evidence of CPD
• Competent to use standardised assessments.
• Experience of working in a multidisciplinary team.
• Ability to deliver training
• Experience of managing teams and undertaking appraisals
• Experience of contributing to service development
• Relevant highly specialist experience post registration
• Experience of undertaking clinical audit
• Experience of safeguarding
• Experience of dealing with complaints

Desirable

• Previous experience of working with Children in the field of Occupational Therapy and / or other fields.
• 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

Qualifications

Essential

• B.Sc Hons or recognised degree equivalent qualification in Occupational therapy
• Health Care Professions Council registrar

Desirable

• Registered Member of professional body
• Evidence of successful completion of postgraduate courses up to Masters Degree or equivalent
• Management or leadership qualification

Skills

Essential

• Ability to work autonomously.
• 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

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).