Occupational Therapy Assistant

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Title: Occupational Therapy Assistant

Location: Stanford Court, Highgate, Birmingham

Salary: £24,473 £25,545 per annum (DOE)

Hours: 37.5 hours Mon-Fri (Occasional weekend work may be required)

Job Type: Permanent

Job Summary

To provide support to occupational therapists throughcontributing towards the assessment process and analysing the strengths and needs of patients with severe and enduring mental health needs.

To provide and deliver occupation focused interventions on an individual and group basis, as directed by the occupational therapist, and report on progress.

To support individuals in our care to achieve their personal goals and aspirations.

Principle Responsibilities

The post holder will be responsible for the following:

Professional Practice:

Assist the occupational therapists in building a structured routine for patients through the implementation and facilitation of occupation focussed intervention.

• Prioritise the delivery of a therapeutic timetable based on promoting occupational balance with a view to improve/maintain patient skill base.
• Provide a motivational and flexible approach to supporting patients to improve their independence in activities of daily living and overall quality of life.
• Understand the importance of the patient as the centre of the healthcare system, demonstrating that you consult and involve patients in decisions about their treatment, care and well- being.
• Deliver culturally sensitive, respectful, non-judgemental patient care.
• Complete elements of the occupational therapy process under the supervision and direction of an occupational therapist. This includes completion of interest checklists, OSA, MOHOST SOF, analysis of results, planning group and individual interventions, and aspects of report writing.

Support in the application of grading and adaptation of activities to suit individual strengths and needs. To contribute to evaluation and modification of therapeutic interventions under the supervision of an occupational therapist.

Support individuals in our care to identify and work towards meeting their personal goals and aspirations.

Work with a degree of autonomy and as part of a team, completing specific activities, set out by established protocols and within your scope of practice.

Communicate and share information effectively, timely and concisely in a range of situations, including documentation, handovers and MDT meetings, depicting the level of engagement during intervention.

• Monitor patients physical, mental health and cognitive functioning and feedback to the occupational therapist/clinical lead occupational therapist any notable changes in presentation.

Faciliation of Learning:

Identify own learning needs through active participation in regular supervision and annual appraisals.

Be open to guidance from more experienced colleagues to identify and act on own learning needs.

Actively seek out opportunities to learn from and with others. Contribute to a culture in which everyone is encouraged to constantly learn (including from mistakes), to receive and give constructive feedback, and learn from and with each other.

Actively participate in continuous learning through orientation, induction, mandatory training and identified educational/developmental opportunities.

Support others to learn about the importance of engaging in occupations to be healthy and well.

Engage in, apply and record relevant learning and development activities, and identify the impact and benefit of own learning for self and people who access services, their families and their carers

Support patients, staff and carers to learn new techniques or re-gain skills related to daily living skills, self-regulation strategies, and use of equipment.

Contribute to the development and evaluation of educational and vocational resources for students and individuals in our care.

With support of more experienced colleagues, contribute to the education of others (including occupational therapy students).

• Demonstrate understanding of fundamental legal practices related to consent and the prevention of abuse.

Leadership:

Act as a role model to promote the values of the profession.

Identify priorities, manage time and resources effectively with guidance, as appropriate.

Alert managers to resource issues which affect learning, development and performance, identify ways to resolve resource issues.

Consider and propose alternative ways to complete tasks without compromising service quality, recognising and seeking to influence a change in culture where needed.

Take some leadership responsibility for the work of others within a defined and supervised structure.

Evidence, Research and Development:

With guidance from occupational therapists, to understand the importance of sourcing evidence to inform and apply into practice.

Read different types of materials, summarise the key messages and discuss findings in relation to own work.

Keep accurate records.

Take part in pre-designed audit and quality improvement projects.

• Contribute to the collection of data for audit purposes as required.
• Take part in service evaluation activities.

Additional Responsibilities:

Be able to utilise de-escalation techniques as required with patients who can present with challenging behaviour.

• Understand the importance of team-working to the delivery of high-quality service.

Take part in service evaluation activities

Ensure resources are available to deliver planned therapeutic activities.

Assist in the monitoring and maintenance of the health, safety and security of self and others in work area.

Responsible for the prevention and control of infection within the workplace.

Report any incidents of harm or near misses, ensuring appropriate actions are taken to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.

Demonstrate a commitment to continued personal development.

Maintain confidentiality of patient information at all times.

Demonstrate good verbal and non-verbal communication skills with patients, carers and families, and any relevant voluntary/third sector organisations as required.

Actively promote diversity and maintain an environment where there is equal opportunity and commitment to anti-discriminatory, anti-racist and anti-stereotyping practices.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Completed NVQ Level 2 in Health and Social Care or Care Certificate.
• Completed, or working towards, NVQ level 3 in Health and Social Care or a relevant qualification at an equivalent level.

Experience

Essential

• "Experience of working within mental health services.
• "Experience of planning and running activity groups and 1:1 work.
• "Observation of functional ability, including the use of aids and adaptations as recommended by the MDT.
• "The importance of occupation and activity, which are fundamental to a person's health and well-being, within the context of their various environments.
• "Awareness of a range of mental health conditions and risk behaviours.
• "Understanding of the roles of individual members of the clinical multi-disciplinary team.
• "Working Knowledge of the Mental Health Act 1983 and changes with Mental Health Act 2007.
• "Working knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Safeguarding procedures.
• "To understand and adhere to the confidential nature of the work.

Skills

Essential

• Time management skills.
• Basic risk assessment on activities.
• Literate in IT Skills.
• Active listening Skills.
• Effective communication, both verbal and non-verbal.
• To be able to negotiate and advocate on behalf of the patient.
• To record information clearly and accurately.
• Able to work with/without direct supervision.
• Able to prioritise and organise own work, whilst also supporting others.
• Work in partnership with others.
• Respond flexibly to changing situations.

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).

Employer details

Employer name

Options for Care

Address

106 Moseley Road

Birmingham

B12 0HG

Employer's website

https://optionsforcare.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)