Occupational Therapist Advanced - Fixed Term

Job description

Job responsibilities

To work as a Band 7 Advanced Specialist Occupational Therapist across the Neonatal and Early Years pathways, providing highly specialist occupational therapy for infants and young children with a wide range of medical and developmental diagnoses. The post holder will hold a mixed caseload including neonatal inpatients, developmental follow-up, and Early Years community cases. In-depth knowledge and experience in neonatal therapy and early child development are required, as well as the ability to work competently and autonomously at a Band 7 level across acute and community settings.

To ensure the successful implementation of specialist areas within the occupational therapy clinical pathways, alongside wider service development initiatives within a multidisciplinary context.

To provide specialist support and guidance to other occupational therapists and members of the neonatal and community AHP teams, supporting best practice in early intervention, developmental care, and family-centred approaches.

To work collaboratively with staff on the neonatal units and within community AHP teams, supporting the establishment and delivery of intervention programmes that meet childrens occupational therapy needs across both hospital and Early Years settings.

To be responsible for providing advanced, individualised, child-focused assessments and interventions that integrate understanding of child development, disability, environment, and occupation, in order to address functional performance, participation, and developmental needs.

To select, administer, and analyse standardised and non-standardised assessments specific to neonatal and community paediatric occupational therapy, providing diagnostic and predictive information to support accurate assessment, goal setting, and intervention planning.

To use highly specialist skills to negotiate and set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) goals with families, early years staff, and other professionals. To monitor, evaluate, and modify interventions using appropriate outcome measures, including Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS), ensuring progress is evidenced and interventions remain effective.

To identify and, where appropriate, assess and plan intervention to meet the assistive technology and equipment needs of children including orthotics, postural management, specialist seating, and mobility equipment ensuring safe use and appropriate training for carers, families, and education staff.

To undertake complex risk assessments for children on the caseload, ensuring all recommendations prioritise safety, function, and participation.

To address consent throughout all stages of involvement, working in partnership with parents, carers, and other professionals.

To work sensitively and effectively with families from diverse social, economic, and cultural backgrounds, adapting communication style to meet individual needs for example, through the use of interpreters, simplified language, or visual supports.

To maintain accurate and contemporaneous clinical records on electronic systems, in line with Trust and national guidance, ensuring all client contact and intervention data are recorded to a high standard.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

Essential

• Diploma or degree in occupational therapy
• Post registration training in specialist field of paediatrics including Neonatal Care

Desirable

• Neonatal training, for example: NBO, General movements, HINE, Sensory baby, Sensory beginnings, FINE

Experience

Essential

• Substantial experience as an Occupational Therapist in children and young people's services.
• Significant experience working in an NHS environment
• Working in Neonatal unit and with pre-term babies.

Desirable

• Supervision of staff
• Member of professional body and also a special interest group

Personal Qualities

Essential

• To be a highly effective communicator with children and families
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to meet the needs of different audiences.
• To be able to organise and respond effectively to complex information
• Excellent planning and organisational skills to manage own caseload, leadership and service development responsibilities

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).

Employer details

Employer name

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust

Address

Kaleidoscope Childrens centre

32 Rushey Green

London

SE6 4JD

Employer's website

https://www.lewishamandgreenwich.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)