Job responsibilities
Duties
and Responsibilities
To provide high quality, specialist Occupational therapy assessments and planning therapy intervention and
discharging for community-based patients, living with a broad range of complex
rehabilitation needs/impairments and frailty syndromes. Using evidence-based
pathways of care informing these interventions as appropriate.
To
work as a lone and autonomous practitioner within the community
To
independently manage a caseload of clients in the community with complex/highly
complex needs as an autonomous practitioner.
To demonstrate specialist post
qualification experience with skills and knowledge in working with patients who
are clinically complex in their presentation
To provide specialist Occupational
therapy advice/assessment to and confer with other healthcare professionals on
the assessment, treatment and care of patients referred to the Community Team
ensuring a high professional standard of care including complex triage process.
To be responsible for managing and
prioritising a complex and specialist caseload and workload independently,
working in line with local and national policies and procedures
To work flexible hours to meet the needs
of patients and the service, including meetings, education sessions and home
visits where appropriate.
A large proportion of the work includes
accessing homes of clients who are unable to maintain themselves or their homes
in a hygienic manner.
To be aware that clients may demonstrate
antisocial or abusive behaviour due to their condition, and to know how to act
accordingly.
The work requires high levels of
concentration due to unpredictable interruptions in the working environment.
The ability to travel freely across
Halton is essential
To
perform occupational analysis and risk evaluation leading to the formulation on
intervention options which reduce the consequence of disability and optimize
the patients functional ability and independence
To
use a range of standardized and non-standardized assessment tools and
techniques to identify presenting strengths and difficulties and identify the
need for these within the service.
To
refine treatment techniques in line with most recent evidence of clinical
effectiveness by evaluating and implementing key developments and promoting
discussion within the Occupational Therapy service.
To
devise, deliver and oversee rehabilitation programmes and outcomes which other
members of the multidisciplinary team may implement.
To
fulfil legal requirements and demonstrate clinical reasoning within
documentation.
To
actively ensure the implementation of and adherence to issues associated with
clinical governance, policies and procedures of the Trust and the Standards of
the College of Occupational Therapy.
To
use a client centred goal focussed approach using a range of specialised
treatment interventions, and to continually evaluate these in order to
determine further needs including regular specialist goal setting meetings.
To
demonstrate highly specialist knowledge and assessment skills around the
provision of specialist/bespoke equipment to improve function eg. Environmental
aids and minor adaptations and to instruct clients and their carers in safe use
of this and either arrange provision via Community Equipment Services or to
advise re private purchase or provision by other agencies.
To
consider the needs of carers to ensure necessary support systems are in place
and to involve them in the rehabilitation process. Where necessary to invite
other involved parties to a case conference to enable an interdisciplinary and
interagency focus to the clients care and to effectively ensure their needs are
met.
Through advanced clinical reasoning
and analysis, to identify clients needs, establish clinical risk and to liaise
and refer clients to relevant services including other healthcare services,
healthcare professionals, and voluntary agencies as appropriate ie alcohol
services and advocacy
To
manage own emotional responses and remain objective, calm, and professional
with clients in high emotional and physical distress and regularly deal with
sensitive/complex information and stressful environments.
To
understand the psychological processes of loss in order to provide clients with
empathy and reassurance.
To
have knowledge and understanding of group skills and to assist in developing
group rehabilitation programmes.
To work collaboratively with other
clinicians to influence service development and ensure quality of care is
delivered
CommunicationTo be an active
member of the MDT, and facilitate effective communication within the community
services and the larger Rehabilitation Network by attending regular team
meetings as appropriate.
To represent effectively the unique
Occupational Therapy perspective on assessment and treatment within the
multidisciplinary team from a specialist perspective.
To act as an advocate on behalf of
clients by adopting a client centred approach to support meaningful
participation in life roles.
To develop a comprehensive understanding
and appreciation of the role of the other disciplines within the community
teams and a knowledge of the impact of their role on Occupational therapy
practice
To build effective links and to
strengthen working relationships, with health and social care service
professionals as well as private and voluntary agencies.
To attend/actively participate in and
facilitate Occupational Therapy meetings and specialist community
rehabilitation professional meetings as required.
To play a
significant role in the effective internal and external two way communication
with patients, carers and all other Health and Social Care professionals
regarding all aspects of patient care. This will include highly sensitive and
complex clinical information and may include clients with communication or
cognitive impairments
To provide and receive high levels of
complex information that requires empathy, tact and reassurance, and utilise
the required skills when communicating in situations where there may be
barriers to understanding
To give accurate and concise feed back
regarding individual clients progress in clinical meetings and discussions, so
that appropriate and consistent treatment, aims and objectives can be
formulated and enacted.
To utilise formal and informal reporting
mechanisms, including electronic and hand-written reporting to ensure effective
internal and external communications. To ensure all documentation is accurate
and professional in line with Trust policy.
To educate both formally and informally,
other professionals, including doctors, nurses qualified and unqualified Allied
Health Professionals and students in own area of clinical expertise
To maintain confidentiality consistent
with the Trust and Service policies.
Managerial & Leadership
To provide the
managers with specialist advice on the planning and development of the
Community Service
To
play an active role in assisting the managers in achieving the departmental
objectives and promoting an open style of management
To
provide day to day caseload manager and clinical supervision to junior staff,
students and assistant therapists including formulation of PDRs/My Plan and
local induction
To actively
participate in and develop the professional development programme of the
physiotherapy and occupational therapy department (including rehabilitation
assistants)
To be
responsible for collection of statistics / records as required nationally and
departmentally and to ensure that confidentiality is maintained
To coordinate
the work of the community team at an operational level ensuring the efficient
running of the service and effective dissemination of information
To represent Physiotherapy / Therapy
Services on the service development committees within the Network and the WCFT
To assist with the developing and
reviewing procedures, protocols and service directives within the Occupational
Therapy Service
To contribute to and influence multi-disciplinary
service development issues.
To ensure that all clinical
documentation is kept up to date and meets local and professional standards.
To collect and monitor clinical
statistics and report service fluctuations to line manager when required or necessary.
To be a Fieldwork Educator to
Occupational Therapy students, including daily supervision, assessment,
grading, writing reports and liaising with the relevant university.
To keep abreast of government
initiatives and incorporate these changes to ensure the effective and efficient
running of the service, and service development.
To ensure Occupational Therapy cover is
available for the team during planned absences and to provide cover for
Occupational Therapy colleagues in other areas during holiday periods and staff
sickness as required
To effectively manage own time,
prioritising workload demands and demonstrating flexibility according to
current resources and staffing.
Clinical
Governance
To comply with health and safety
policies of the Trust including adhering to Lone
Working Procedures and undertaking all
Trust mandatory training at the required intervals
To be involved in the development of
departmental procedures, SOPs and guidelines on areas of clinical relevance
To contribute to and take appropriate
action in seeking to fulfill the action plans of the WCFT and Rehabilitation
Network in compliance with clinical
governance and national guidelines
To ensure that any equipment, furniture
or building in need of repair is reported to the correct authority
To be involved
in clinical audit through developing and actively participating in audits
within the Community service and the Therapy departmentTo promote best
clinical practice for the Community therapy service ensuring a high standard of
patient care is provided.
To comply with the Data Protection Act
and Caldicott recommendations
To comply with
the Royal College of Occupational
therapists standards and rules of professional conduct.
