Oxford Health NHS Trust

Occupational Therapist - Mental Health Adult Eating Disorders

The closing date is 28 December 2025

Job summary

Are you an Occupational Therapist committed to working in mental health and keen to use your professional skills to support individuals' recovery?

Are you interested in being involved in service innovation and part of bringing change to local mental health delivery?

Cotswold House is a Specialist Eating Disorder Unit based at the Warneford Hospital in Oxford, offering 14 inpatient beds and six day patients. We are looking for a qualified Occupational Therapist who is registered with HCPC to join our diverse, innovative and passionate multidisciplinary team on a full time basis.

With a reputation for excellence, our service provides a stepped-care model of care tailored to the individual's needs for stabilisation and recovery.

Our service has a whole-team Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Eating Disorders (CBT-ED) approach. We offer a range of CBT-ED programmes and evidence-based treatments to assist a patient's return to independent living, including work, training, or study. You can draw upon your skills /models of formulating patient assessments and outcomes, as appropriate to the patient's individualised formulation. Further training and CPD opportunities are available, such as PEACE Pathway, Masters Pathway, CBT-E Skills training and DBT Skills training to the successful applicant.

Main duties of the job

To develop and provide a high standard of assessment and treatment for patients referred to the service.
To take responsibility for an agreed clinical caseload, involving care co-ordination as appropriate.
To collaboratively assess and provide needs-based treatment programmes and discharge plans for patients which compliment the overall provision of service
To develop and maintain relevant therapeutic activities as appropriate to the patient group served, including opportunities for cognitive, creative, education, work, leisure, interpersonal and life skills. wherever possible to ensure these interventions are evidence based.
In consultation with users, carers and clinical teams to plan and provide appropriate therapy services for patients referred, within defined resources and using evidence-based practice.
To act as a role model and coach to staff within the service and across multidisciplinary teams, students, patients and carers to ensure best practice is maintained.

We know that many roles for Occupational Therapists working in mental health do not provide the ability to draw on these core occupational therapy skills. We are keen to support Occupational Therapists who want to step into roles that use their profession specific skills, alongside their mental health practitioner skills. If you are interested but unconfident about this step or want to know more to know if this is the role for you, than please get in touch.

About us

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust provides physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people's homes, delivering care as close to home as possible

Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive:"Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team"

Our values are:"Caring, safe and excellent"

At Oxford Health we offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

Excellent opportunities for career progression
Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
Competitive pension scheme
Lease car scheme
Cycle to work scheme
Employee Assistance Programme
Mental Health First Aiders
Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists may apply)
Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Date posted

11 December 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£38,682 to £46,580 a year Per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

267-OA7426625

Job locations

Warneford Hospital

Warneford Lane

Oxford

OX3 7JX

Job description

Job responsibilities

We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the supporting statement element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.

The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview, and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Person Specification

Qualifications and training

Essential

Professional Qualification in Occupational Therapy (Degree or equivalent).
HCPC registration
Evidence of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) portfolio.

Desirable

APPLE or equivalent student placement training
Sensory training
Trained in use of specific models/assessment relevant to the role

Experience

Essential

Substantial post qualification experience.
Experience of working with the mental health service users in a variety of settings.
Experience working with a range of standardised and non-standardised OT assessments
Supervision of O.T. students and other professionals.
Staff appraisal & development work.

Desirable

Service development work.
Groupwork experience
Experience of undertaking audit work/using outcome measures

Knowledge/Skills Requirements

Essential

Working knowledge of Adult Eating Disorder or Adult Mental Health in-patient or community services.
Experience of caseload management / complex conditions & cases.
Evidence based, reflective practice & clinical reasoning skills in assessment & treatment.
Use of standardised Occupational Therapy assessment and outcome measures.
Understanding experience of risk assessment and management.

Desirable

Knowledge/experience to working with patients with neuro diversity / awareness of reasonable adjustments.
Experience initiating and leading service improvement projects and audit.
Awareness of National and local issues concerning this client group.

Person Specification

Qualifications and training

Essential

Professional Qualification in Occupational Therapy (Degree or equivalent).
HCPC registration
Evidence of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) portfolio.

Desirable

APPLE or equivalent student placement training
Sensory training
Trained in use of specific models/assessment relevant to the role

Experience

Essential

Substantial post qualification experience.
Experience of working with the mental health service users in a variety of settings.
Experience working with a range of standardised and non-standardised OT assessments
Supervision of O.T. students and other professionals.
Staff appraisal & development work.

Desirable

Service development work.
Groupwork experience
Experience of undertaking audit work/using outcome measures

Knowledge/Skills Requirements

Essential

Working knowledge of Adult Eating Disorder or Adult Mental Health in-patient or community services.
Experience of caseload management / complex conditions & cases.
Evidence based, reflective practice & clinical reasoning skills in assessment & treatment.
Use of standardised Occupational Therapy assessment and outcome measures.
Understanding experience of risk assessment and management.

Desirable

Knowledge/experience to working with patients with neuro diversity / awareness of reasonable adjustments.
Experience initiating and leading service improvement projects and audit.
Awareness of National and local issues concerning this client group.

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).

Additional information

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

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

Oxford Health NHS Trust

Address

Warneford Hospital

Warneford Lane

Oxford

OX3 7JX

Employer's website

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

Employer details

Employer name

Oxford Health NHS Trust

Address

Warneford Hospital

Warneford Lane

Oxford

OX3 7JX

Employer's website

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