East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Occupational Therapist

The closing date is 25 January 2026

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for enthusiastic and motivated individuals to join our Reactive Emergency Assessment Community Team (REACT) as a Band 6 Occupational Therapist (OT). REACT is a multidisciplinary, integrated community service within ESNEFT. This role will support the development of care pathways focusing on Urgent Community Response (UCR) and the acute Frailty Virtual Ward--two fast paced and exciting government initiatives.

Our team is committed to delivering excellent, patient-focused care to individuals across Ipswich and the wider East Suffolk community. Could you be a valued and key member of our team?

This is a full-time post of 37.5 hours per week, including weekdays and weekends, covering an 8am-8pm service.

Main duties of the job

You will:

Provide skilled occupational therapy clinical expertise with knowledge in admission avoidance, frailty and caring for the older person in the community.

Manage and escalate patients on the REACT virtual ward (VW) and community caseload (UCR)

To promote high standards of professional practice and deliver quality care to aid admission avoidance where appropriate.

Plan and provide training/education for nurses, therapists, and other disciplines in relation to admission avoidance and frailty.

Maintain a high level of awareness of relevant research trends and national recommendations regarding admission avoidance and older person's care/frailty and admission avoidance.

Demonstrate competent skills in triaging incoming patient referrals, responding appropriately in the patients and service best interest. Escalating any issues or capacity concerns, to the leadership team

To be responsible and accountable for ensuring the REACT team complies with clinical governance and quality.

To supervise less experienced junior staff and students to a graduate level, being involved in working with the universities to ensure the standard of practice and teaching meets the standards of the degree level qualification. To deliver teaching sessions in specialised area as part of planned in-service training.

About us

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.

Find out about living and working here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A

Date posted

08 January 2026

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

432-HR1127-25

Job locations

Constantine House

Ipswich

IP1 2DH

Job description

Job responsibilities

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role, please see the attached job description.

Job description

Job responsibilities

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role, please see the attached job description.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

oBSc / MSc in Occupational Therapy
oHCPC Registered Occupational Therapist

Desirable

oInformation technology
oValidated post registration courses
oNon-clinical courses
oLEO / leadership
oStudent educator course

Experience

Essential

oExperience of multi-disciplinary working
oComprehensive range of junior rotations with experience of complex caseload management.
oExperience of facilitating discharges from the acute setting and/or managing a caseload of patients within the community.
oIn-service training and reflective learning
oCompleted preceptorship year

Desirable

oSupervision of students in any environment
oClinical Audit
oInput into service improvement
oExperience in UCR and / or Virtual wards

Knowledge

Essential

oBroad knowledge of; respiratory, neurology, elderly and trauma and orthopaedic conditions and their management.
oPrinciples and practices of rehabilitation / reablement
oSound clinical reasoning
oCurrent evidence-based practice
oDetailed anatomy and physiology relevant to the speciality

Desirable

oFalls re-education
oSupervisory / appraisal skills
oKnowledge of local community agencies, services and resources

Skills

Essential

oAbility to travel across ESNEFT where needed. Hold a clean and valid UK driving licence & have access to a car with business insurance.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

oBSc / MSc in Occupational Therapy
oHCPC Registered Occupational Therapist

Desirable

oInformation technology
oValidated post registration courses
oNon-clinical courses
oLEO / leadership
oStudent educator course

Experience

Essential

oExperience of multi-disciplinary working
oComprehensive range of junior rotations with experience of complex caseload management.
oExperience of facilitating discharges from the acute setting and/or managing a caseload of patients within the community.
oIn-service training and reflective learning
oCompleted preceptorship year

Desirable

oSupervision of students in any environment
oClinical Audit
oInput into service improvement
oExperience in UCR and / or Virtual wards

Knowledge

Essential

oBroad knowledge of; respiratory, neurology, elderly and trauma and orthopaedic conditions and their management.
oPrinciples and practices of rehabilitation / reablement
oSound clinical reasoning
oCurrent evidence-based practice
oDetailed anatomy and physiology relevant to the speciality

Desirable

oFalls re-education
oSupervisory / appraisal skills
oKnowledge of local community agencies, services and resources

Skills

Essential

oAbility to travel across ESNEFT where needed. Hold a clean and valid UK driving licence & have access to a car with business insurance.

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

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Constantine House

Ipswich

IP1 2DH

Employer's website

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

Employer details

Employer name

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Constantine House

Ipswich

IP1 2DH

Employer's website

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