Job responsibilities
1.Clinical
To take a leading role in the advanced assessment, clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients with a neurological condition and complex presentations. As examples, this will include, but is not limited to, acquired and traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, Guillain Barre syndrome, MS etc.
To proactively support complex patients in navigating the health and social care system.
To provide an effective high quality service to complex neurological patients and their relatives.
To be responsible as an autonomous practitioner to undertake a significant specialist clinical caseload.
To take a leading role in the training and development of staff in this speciality.
To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of professional activities working within codes of practice and professional guidelines.
To be aware of risks involved as part of delivering clinical care and manage this within own patient case load.
To be an integrated member of the inpatient team and be able to provide support to other teams in the management of complex neurological patients.
To in-reach to the acute wards to identify patients requiring ongoing neuro rehabilitation and support their transition through the pathway.
To act as a lead specialist Occupational Therapy resource using highly developed clinical skills in theoretical knowledge and relevant practical experience.
To be responsible as an autonomous practitioner to undertake a significant specialist clinical workload and use excellent clinical reasoning skills to utilize a wide range of treatment skills and options in order to formulate a specialized programme of care using a range of interventions.
To use investigative and analytical skills, manual assessment techniques and diagnostic procedures to assess complex patients and support other more junior staff with their patients as required.
Formulate accurate prognoses and recommend best course of intervention, developing comprehensive discharge plans and appropriate discharge information.
To provide expert knowledge of local neuro rehabilitation provision and appropriate criteria and referral processes.
To ensure patients with complex neurological needs are referred to the most appropriate service to meet their needs.
To identify those patients whose needs can be met by alternate care or rehab pathways.
To monitor patients on waiting lists for specialist inpatient neuro rehabilitation units, in order to re-direct if their needs change.
To have good communication links with neuro rehabilitation teams and community services and to take a lead on ensuring onward referrals are appropriate and completed in a timely fashion.
To provide continuity of contact for patients and their relatives through the complex neuro rehabilitation pathway.
Evaluate patient progress, reassess and alter treatment programmes if required.
To set and maintain a high standard of clinical care using evidence-based practice by keeping up to date with clinical developments, analyzing current research and discussing and implementing changes in your clinical practice and encourage this throughout the team.
To be responsible for the setting and monitoring of standards and policies of clinical Occupational Therapy practice benchmarking against National guidelines such as RCP, NICE and RCOT.
To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of your professional activities working within the codes of practice and professional guidelines.
To demonstrate a high level of understanding of clinical governance and clinical risk and of the use of treatment plans with evidence-based link.
To develop services in line with recent NHS initiatives and guidance.
To demonstrate the physical ability to carry out Occupational Therapy assessments and interventions, including highly developed cognitive therapy and therapeutic handling. This includes frequent moderate to high physical effort.
To be aware of risks involved as part of delivering clinical care and manage this within own patients case load.
Management
To plan effectively the daily management of a caseload of patients by prioritising clinical work, responding to urgent referrals and issues and frequently unpredictable work patterns.
To set up the neuro rehabilitation service in the Trust including development of service criteria, appropriate pathways, potential out-reach opportunities and training.
To review, audit, monitor and change the neuro rehabilitation services to meet the demand of the service.
To maintain the high standards of the service by contributing to the individual team and service objectives.
To be able to manage potentially stressful and upsetting or emotional situations in an empathetic manner.
To be able to prioritise clinical and managerial work and balance other patient related and professional activities as the department requires.
To supervise junior staff, senior staff and therapy assistants where appropriate.
To participate in the appraisal scheme as an appraiser and to be appraised.
To demonstrate a high level of understanding of clinical governance and clinical risk.
To attend appropriate meetings both within and outside of the trust
Communication
To be highly effective in communicating with other partner organisations in order to provide an effective service. This will include consultants, the stroke rehab team, in-patient therapy teams, nursing teams, neuro rehabilitation teams, ICBs and community services.
To initiate and maintain good contact with service users regarding the development of the service.
To provide advice to other disciplines both internally and externally to ensure a multidisciplinary approach to care.
To communicate effectively with all disciplines involved in a patients care, both those from within the organisation and those outside to ensure efficient multidisciplinary working.
To be able to communicate complex and sensitive information to patients, carers and other staff including imparting unwelcome news relating to their prognosis and gaining consent for treatment.
To assess patients understanding of treatment proposals, gain valid consent and have the capacity to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment.
To maintain accurate records in line with the RCOT, Trust and service standards and policies. To ensure that records of directly managed staff also comply with these standards.
To use a range of verbal and non-verbal communication tools to communicate effectively and sensitively with patients in order to initiate treatment and achieve treatment concordance. This may include patients who may have difficulties in understanding or communicating.
To communicate any changes in care plan or treatment approach to other member of the multi-disciplinary team as necessary.
Education
To participate in clinical supervision sessions as a member of the MDT.
To participate in any training sessions as a recipient and facilitator.
To disseminate any training received to other staff and healthcare professionals.
To be actively involved in special interest groups in order to share and disseminate knowledge to colleagues.
Research/Audit/Quality
To regularly participate in and lead on appropriate work-related research/evaluation projects and to be aware of current research relevant to clinical area.
To utilise audit skills to evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of the Occupational Therapy service to the specialist clinical area.
To evaluate your own clinical effectiveness
To undertake and present relevant evidence-based projects.
IT
To maintain timely and accurate statistical information as required by senior staff and managers.
To be responsible for the accurate input of clinical information onto the trust IT system and manage the clinical workload diary.
To keep up to date with advances in technology.
Further information and general responsibilities
To have responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of self and others at work. This includes being conversant with relevant trust safety policies and procedures. To report incidents and near misses at work; take part in the risk management process; attend all mandatory training courses in the agreed duration as defined by trust policy and carry out tasks and use equipment only when competent to do so.
To ensure confidentiality at all times, only releasing confidential information obtained during the course of employment to those acting in an official capacity. To comply with the requirements of the Data Protection act.
To comply with the trusts corporate and local policies and procedures on such subjects and clinical management and human resources.
To ensure that patients, clients and members of the public are consulted and involved in decisions about local health service developments. As a trust employee to be mindful of this and do what is appropriate to the role and level meet this duty of responsibility.
To undertake such other duties as may be required from time to time and are consistent with the responsibilities of the role.
To comply with the trusts policies on equal opportunities, the consumption of alcohol and smoking.
This job involves regular exposure to unpleasant working conditions e.g. bodily fluids including urine and faeces and occasional exposure to verbal aggression.
