Specialist Occupational Therapist

Job responsibilities

Clinical

To work with clients to identify OT goals as part of the overall care plan, using specialist mental health and OT assessment tools.

To plan and implement client centred individual and/or group interventions, using graded activity to achieve therapeutic goals.

To monitor, evaluate and modify treatment in order to measure progress and ensure effectiveness of intervention.

To apply a high level of understanding of the effect of disability and provide training and advice on lifestyle changes and adaptations to the clients social and physical environment.

To assess the occupational needs of a defined client group and establish and evaluate appropriate treatment programmes.

To provide clinical advice, expertise and leadership within your team.

To co-ordinate the care of a defined group of service users carrying out their assessment and planning, implementing and evaluating their care under the guidelines of CPA without supervision. To act as care coordinator (when required) normally for the more complex cases e.g. those service users subject to CPA.

To monitor and offer professional advice and leadership to all team members with regards to their caseloads and working practices.

To ensure that the service users care plan is developed to meet the assessed need of the individual. To monitor, via performance management, the care plans developed for service users by all sector members to ensure that they are appropriate and of a high standard.

To liaise with family members, carers and significant others as necessary when completing the assessment and developing a care plan. To be a point of contact for service users and carers that have concerns regarding their care, making every effort to resolve their concerns sensitively andpromptly, referring to and informing the Team Manager as necessary.

To develop a risk management plan for service users under your care, taking note of the contributions from other members of the team. Ensure that all significant people are aware of the risk management plan and are actioning it appropriately.

To monitor and work with all team members to ensure that service user risk is managed appropriately and that risk management plans are of a high quality.

To lead the systematic monitoring and evaluation of service users under the care of the sector you have responsibility for.

To have an in-depth knowledge of the Mental Health Act. To support service users and their carers when the Mental Health Act is being used to admit the service user to hospital. To support staff involved in the application of the Mental Health Act, ensuring that they are aware of and fulfilling their duties.

To monitor the provision of a range of therapeutic activities for service users by supervision of sector members caseloads and via audit.

To use skills gained through training and experience to de-escalate situations where service users become physically or verbally aggressive. Use your judgement, gained from experience, to establish if a service user requires assessment by a medic or possibly hospital admission.

To use skills gained through experience to deal with service users who become angry, hostile or distressed.

To ensure all sector members get appropriate support following violent incidents and liaise with the Team Manager to ensure any identified actions arising from such incidents are implemented.

To participate in and/or lead service user reviews ensuring that service user needs are met and that the team has all the relevant information on which to base their clinical decisions.

To develop care plans that enable service users to reach and maintain their optimum level of health and independence to help them to remain in the community in their chosen setting or return to this on discharge.

To react pro-actively in cases of service user crisis and put in place immediate plans to resolve the situation.

Communication

To promote awareness of the role of OT within the MDT negotiating priorities where appropriate.

To ensure a seamless approach by liaising with other professionals as required.

To use verbal and non-verbal communication skills established through training and experience to impart sensitive information e.g., diagnosis or symptoms to service users and their families.

To offer support to other staff to do this.

To check understanding of information where there are often barriers to effective communications due to distress or psychiatric symptoms in service users or where there is resistance in staff. This may also be necessary when English is not the first language.

To use skills established through training and experience to give and receive information, adhering to the Caldicott guidelines, to other individuals with regard to a service users care in reviews andmulti-disciplinary meetings. These individuals may be external to the Trust.

Documentation

To ensure that up to date written and electronic records and activity data are maintained in accordance with Professional and Trust standards and provide specialist OT reports relevant to practice setting.

To ensure that all relevant information with regards to a service users care and treatment is documented accurately and legibly into the health record. Supervise and monitor the entries made by sector members through performance management and audit.

Professional Ethics

To comply with the COT Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and national and local policies and procedures.

To adhere to the Trust Policy on Confidentiality.

Leadership, Supervision & Appraisal

In line with local guidelines review and reflect on own practice and performance through effective use of professional and operational supervision and appraisal.To provide effective guidance, supervision and appraisals for junior staff as required.

Training Staff & Student

To lead in the induction, training of students and other staff both within or external to the Trust.

To be responsible for the supervision and written assessment of OT students on practiceplacement within the Trust.

To contribute to the provision of teaching sessions in order to pass on knowledge and skills

Service Development & Delivery

To participate in the operational planning, and implementation of policy and service development within your team, leading on delegated projects within your team.

To provide reports and statistical returns to a variety of departments as requested.

Professional Development

To apply specialist skills and knowledge in order to establish professional competence and fitness to practise as a specialist OT.

To demonstrate ongoing personal development through participation in internal and external development opportunities, recording learning outcomes in a portfolio.

To participate in the implementation of the Trusts PDP process for all staff in your sector.

Service Governance, Quality, Standards

To contribute in the Trusts Directorates and teams service governance arrangements and quality agenda, including the setting and monitoring of practice standards.

To apply national guidelines/ legislation relating to health and social care in mental health service provision.

Ensure that work is conducted in line with Trust Equality and Diversity policy, reporting incidents and complaints as required.

To tackle unsatisfactory performance promptly and constructively in your sector, liaising with Team Manager.

To participate in the investigation process regarding the disciplinary procedure and service users/carer complaints.

This job description is intended as an outline indicator of general areas of activity and will be reviewed in light of the changing needs of the Trust in consultation with the postholder.

Qualifications

Essential

• Relevant professional OT qualification
• Current HCPC registration

Desirable

• Fieldwork Educators certificate
• Post graduate accredited study e.g. PSI, CBT, MSc in relevant health studies.

Knowledge/ Experience

Essential

• Previous experience in relevant health settings
• Supervision of staff
• Effective team working within a multi-agency framework
• Experience of service development
• Experience using both group and individual treatment skills
• Demonstrate experience of problem solving approaches
• Audit and research practices relevant to clinical area
• Assisting with effective budgetary management
• Evidence based and experience of reflective practice
• Recovery Model of Care
• Model of Human Occupation
• Safe Guarding Children
• Mental Health Act 1983
• Mental Capacity Act
• Effective Care Coordination
• Relevant national policies and guidance
• Up to date clinical knowledge relevant to the care environment
• Audit and research methods
• Vulnerable adults guidelines
• Able to discuss/explain specialist OT role
• Awareness of own strengths and limitations

Desirable

• Post graduate clinical experience, within mental health services.
• Wider range of statutory and non-statutory services
• Risk management training

Skills

Essential

• Ability to utilise assessment skills and tools effectively
• Ability to communicate in a variety of settings
• Ability to formulate relevant reports
• Delegation and coordination
• Ability to prioritise and work to deadlines
• Mentorship skills
• Accurate Record keeping
• Flexible approach/ creative thinking
• Able to move and handle clients
• IT skills

Desirable

• Effective leadership qualities
• Presentation skills
• Ability to network and influence decision making
• Team Building skills

Values

Essential

• Continuous Improvement
• Accountability
• Respectfulness
• Enthusiasm
• Support
• High professional standards
• Responsive to service users
• Engaging leadership style
• Strong customer service belief
• Transparency and honesty
• Discreet
• Change oriented

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).