Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist (Upper Limb)

Job description

Job responsibilities

1. Uses evidence based knowledge and advanced clinical reasoning to undertake highly complex clinical assessment, in a relevant location, eg hospital, nursery, school, work or home, identifying patient needs, treatment aims and goals in collaboration with the individual patient and the MDT. These may be in-patients, outpatients or those attending specialist clinics. Assessment and treatment may include advanced skills in upper limb rehabilitation, wheelchair adjustment, therapeutic handling / hoisting and discharge planning in a busy and unpredictable environment.

2. Uses specialist communication skills, sensitivity and empathy to engage patients with challenging behaviour, psychological and psychiatric needs in purposeful treatment programmes, in collaboration with the MDT, to ensure the provision of holistic care.

3. Determines patients level of understanding of treatment plan to ensure valid patient consent and works within legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent.

4. Documents findings according to Trust policy and department procedure.

5. Uses recognised outcome measures and goal setting measures to motivate challenging clients.

6. Formulates and implements graded treatment plans for highly complex patients.

7. Oversees treatment plans delegated to support staff, maintaining responsibility for overall care of patient.

8. Analyses patients progress and adjusts treatment programmes as appropriate.

9. Manages clinical risk within own patient caseload and in teamwork environment.

10. Plans and leads group and individual specialist education, advice and support sessions for up to 15 patients / carers or staff.

11. Makes referrals, reports and recommendations verbally and in writing to the MDT, external agencies and employers as required.

12. Prioritises and manages the clinical caseload, delegating as appropriate.

13. Attends ward rounds, case conferences and other patient reviews and reports both verbally and in writing.

14. Maintains and develops knowledge of evidence based practice and own competencies through CPD activities (e.g. peer review, in-service training, journal club, external courses), maintaining a portfolio, which reflects personal development.

15. Deals with informal complaints sensitively, avoiding escalation where possible, and refers to OT Manager if issues cannot be resolved.

Policy/service development/implementation

16. Develops standards of practice and procedures for the OT Shoulder service and makes suggestions for changes across the service.

17. Assists Team leader and Therapies Clinical manager in evaluating the OT service and implementing appropriate changes.

18. Actively participates in the Seniors Meeting and feeds back as appropriate.

19. Ensures opinions of service users are taken into consideration when developing services.

Financial and physical resources

20. Monitors stock levels of equipment and materials for own clinical area and initiates ordering process as required.

21. Checks OT equipment is in working order within manufacturers guidelines and reports need for repair if required.

22. Carries out or delegates maintenance and cleaning of equipment as appropriate.

23. Ensures equipment is issued as per department policy.

24. Proposes bids for equipment and facilities needed in treatment area.

25. Ensures efficient use of resources in own clinical area.

26. Processes cash donations as per departmental policy.

Human resources

27. Ensures staff competencies in the safe use of all equipment and techniques before use.

28. Participates in staff appraisal scheme as an appraisee and is responsible for complying with agreed personal development plan to meet required knowledge and competencies.

29. Inducts, supervises and educates allocated members of staff according to their learning needs.

30. Conducts appraisal of allocated members of staff.

31. Organises educational programme and fieldwork placements for undergraduate and post-graduate OT students including assessments and reports for the Higher Education Institution.

32. Contributes and presents to specialist educational programmes in the clinical unit.

33. Prepares and delivers in-service training sessions to groups of therapy staff in rotation with other staff members as required.

34. Provides specialist advice and education to OTs in other organisations, who may be specialists in the field and discusses the most complex queries with peers and managers, as appropriate.

35. Shares good practice with all grades of staff, internal and external to the organisation.

36. Arranges appropriate cover of patient caseload in the absence of a member of the team.

37. Follows Trust recruitment and selection procedures to assist in shortlisting, interviewing and selecting new staff, as requested by Occupational Therapy Manager.

Information resources

38. Maintains statistics according to department procedure.

39. Maintains resource files and contact details for relevant external organisations.

40. Proposes and helps to implement new ways of using information across the OT service.

41. Updates patient information as required, in liaison with the MDT and Trust advisory panel.

Research and Development

42. Initiates and undertakes measurement and evaluation of current practice through use of projects, audit and outcome measures with approval of Head Occupational Therapist and RNOH Research & Development Committee.

43. Uses a range of research methodologies and collects required data as part of research and audit initiatives.

44. Documents projects undertaken, submitting papers for publication and presentation to special interest groups and conferences.

45. Implements findings of research and audit projects in discussion with the Head Occupational Therapists.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• DipCOT/ Degree in Occupational Therapy
• Member of COT or recognised equivalent
• Evidence of relevant CPD

Desirable

• Member of relevant special interest group

Experience

Essential

• 4 years minimum post-qualification experience as an occupational therapist
• at least one year's experience in rehabilitation of the upper limb
• Staff appraisal and supervision/mentoring skills

Desirable

• Experience in, Shoulder, Peripheral Nerve Injury and/or pain management rehabilitation
• Mental Health experience

knowledge and skills

Essential

• Good written and spoken English
• Good organisation of self and time
• Advanced skills in developing graded rehab programmes for complex upper limb patients
• Detailed knowledge of biopsychosocial and/or neurological assessment and treatment approaches based on current evidence

Desirable

• Splinting
• Hand Therapy
• Familiar with virtual consultation platforms

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

Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust

Address

RNOH Stanmore and RNOH Bolsover

Stanmore site and London site W1W 5AQ

HA7 4LP

Employer's website

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