Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities

1. To use specialist clinical assessment and reasoning skills to provide autonomous specialist assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of patients presenting with a combination of high risk, chronic and acute problems and medical conditions
2. To formulate and develop specialised and individually tailored therapy treatment programmes/goals based on knowledge of evidence-based practice and sound clinical reasoning and treatment skills.
3. To monitor, evaluate and modify treatment in order to measure progress and ensure effectiveness of intervention.
4. Leading by example and providing knowledgeable, responsive advice to support complex care.
5. To be responsible for the identification and prescription of complex manual handling equipment and completion of the appropriate risk assessments.
6. To train members of patients families, carers and nursing staff in correct manual handling procedures in relation to specific patients in your care.
7. To work closely and communicate effectively with the MDT and Partner organisations to ensure the delivery of high-quality services to patients and facilitate timely discharges and appropriate referrals.
8. To maintain accurate paper and electronic records in accordance with the professional and organisational standards.
9. To promote and communicate the role of Occupational Therapy and service priorities to the MDT.
10. To lead on and support staff to communicate sensitive or emotive information regarding a patients treatment, goals, progress and potential for recovery, recommending appropriate pathways for discharge to patients, relatives, carers, associated agencies and other professionals.
11. You will frequently be exposed to distressing and emotional circumstances involving patients and relatives and occasionally have to deal with patients and relatives following a serious, traumatic or terminal incident.
12. You may need to treat patients in environments with limited space and privacy, adjusting your assessment as needed to still maintain patient dignity.
13. You will be required to work alone in some environments and manage both the clinical and personal risk.
14. To understand and adhere to national guidelines and legislation relating to health and social care and their impact on service provision.
15. To comply with HCPC and the College of Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, national guidelines and Trust procedures.

Development of Service and Team members

1. To lead on the implementation of local and National guidelines to meet local clinical governance standards.
2. To ensure the achievement of National, local and Trust performance indicators, to deliver a high quality, effective service, where patient experience and safety is central.
3. Support the Team Lead to ensure Trust clinical and non-clinical policies, procedures and guidelines are strictly adhered to at all times.
4. Make recommendations for changes to practice and lead the implementation in partnership with the Team Lead.
5. To be competent to lead and train the team to support the development of clinical competency assessment within clinical area, or to support other areas as needed.
6. Contribute to the Trusts clinical governance and quality agenda, supporting Team Lead to provide evidence from the CQC Action Plan.
7. Assisting team leads with supervision of band 6s and below investing, encouraging and supporting the development of all staff to ensure the highest possible standard of OT provision across the Acute setting and aid retention.
8. To support team leads in the delivery of the appraisal scheme for the staff you supervise and to ensure all the staffs in your team have had appraisal and personal development plans.
9. To support local universities by providing clinical placements, accessing Practice Educator training and supporting staff to supervise Occupational Therapy students.
10. Undertake regular continued professional development to develop own clinical knowledge and professional skills, supporting the Team Lead in developing the service in line with Evidence Based Practice.
11. To participate in local and Trust wide service development and projects, representing for Acute OT, delegating to team members where appropriate.
12. Lead on research, clinical audits and evidence based service pilots/projects to support the development of evidence based practice in collaboration with the professional lead and the clinical team lead.

Day to day Team Management

1. To lead daily caseload meetings and team meetings with the Acute OT team to cascade information, seek opinions and facilitate team support.
2. To provide effective support to team leads in delivery of the day-to-day organisation of the team prioritising workloads, responding to changing hospital demands, ensuring an accessible, responsive and flexible service.
3. To prioritise own and others clinical work, and balance other patient related and professional activities as the department requires.
4. To provide information and updates for Team Leads during periods of high escalation, supporting the team to identify areas of pressure and urgent priorities.
5. To support the Team Leads to manage the departmental budget, equipment and resources in a responsible and justified way with clear benefits to the team and organisation.
6. To participate and contribute to workforce planning and recruitment for the team.
7. To be aware of the performance and absence management processes, monitoring staff, utilising policies and seeking support from Team Lead as required.
8. To contribute to the coordination and participate as part of the team weekend working rotas.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy or equivalent training and experience.
• Registration with HCPC
• Evidence of post graduate training or willingness to undertake further training
• Willingness to undertake further training

Desirable

• Leadership training courses
• Practice Educator training/qualification
• RCOT membership

Experience

Essential

• Specialist clinical experience in complex caseload management and discharge planning within an Acute setting. o Experience of working with a variety of medical, surgical and neurological conditions and complex presentations. o Ability to assess and identify complex equipment to facilitate safe discharges. o Sound working knowledge of legislation and clinical governance relevant to the clinical area. o Leading within a multi professional team, sharing specialist skills and coordinating complex discharges. o Understanding and experience of working with Partner Organisations and Community Teams. o Managing conflict/difficult conversations o Experience of leading the day to day management of a team and coordinating team caseloads. o Ability to reprioritise own workload in order to support your colleagues. o Staff development through supervision and appraisal o Ability to delegate, support, motivate and supervise o Experience of and involvement in service development

Desirable

• Service review and change management o Participation in recruitment process and workforce planning o Experience of performance and/or absence management o Sound understanding of Capacity and Mental health Act and Care Act 2014

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

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

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Great Western Hospitals

Marlborough Road

Swindon

SN3 6BB

Employer's website

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