Occupational Therapist

Job responsibilities

Job Context

Care and Support Customer Service Centre

You will work within the Care and Support Team in the Customer Service Centre. The Care and Support team is a professionally qualified team made up of social workers, occupational therapy (OT), brokers and safeguarding decision makers and is the first point of contact for Adult Social Care. The aim of this service is to provide a better opportunity to ensure people get the right help at the right time, including diverting many people to other more appropriate solutions for their care needs thus reducing demand for formal social care services through effective screening and triage to universal services and existing community resources.

The Care and Support team operate a 7-day service. Hours of operation to be confirmed.

Locality Occupational Therapy Team

There are two distinct parts to this service, an assessment function, and a delivery function.

The Occupational Therapy service will be delivered by a distinct team in each locality area who will respond to urgent and general requests for Occupational Therapy assessments, supported and managed by an OT qualified manager where possible. The Occupational Therapy service will deliver targeted and specialist aspects of the service, while universal elements can be supported by trusted assessors both internal and external to HAS. This will evolve to support the future integration agenda working with all external partners and colleagues.

OTs will provide the assessment and planning function to people to maximise and promote independence. This will generally be in a persons own home. Working with colleagues to promote safe discharges and support for the person, alongside District and Borough Councils.

OTs will support the reablement and recovery services also.

The reablement offer within this service is a period up to 6 weeks, and the assessment function could be for up to 12 weeks and with OT interventions being longer as they respond to requests for Disability Facilities Grants for major adaptations. The service will also be responsible for the review of work that sits within the OT work tray.

This service is a 7-day service.

Services in the Occupational Therapy Team will operate over 7 days, 8.00am-8.00pm Monday to Sunday. The specific requirements regarding operational working hours will be determined by service and operational team requirements on a local basis. Therefore, you will be expected to work on a weekend and extended hours, subject to service needs, on a rota basis.

Enhanced DBS clearance is required. This role involves spoken communications, so a confident use of English language is required. Registration with the Health Care Professionals Council (HCPC) is required.

Job Purpose

The core focus of the Occupational Therapist (OT) role is to maximise the independence and safety of vulnerable people in North Yorkshire who have social care needs. The post holder will do this by undertaking assessments with vulnerable people using the Directorates procedures. The post holder will support people and carers who have been assessed as being in need through the provision of advice, support equipment and adaptations to develop appropriate support plans to meet their preferred outcomes within specified resources.

Operational Management

• Undertake occupational therapy assessments with adults with care and support needs and/or their carers and where requested to undertake assessments of need with carers in any setting.
• Assess for and arrange equipment and adaptations to maintain/improve the persons independence in daily living activities.
• Undertake manual handling assessments, risk assessments and the production of a manual handling plan when appropriate.
• Work with Discharge Hubs and Community Social Care teams to facilitate appropriate assessment access to more complex equipment and major adaptation solutions to individuals, including the processing of applications for disabled facilities grants.
• Following assessments, identify whether or not people and carers fall within the eligibility criteria and communicate this to the adult with care and support needs or a carer, and work creatively and innovatively with them to develop an agreed support or intervention plan to achieve the identified outcomes.
• Produce agreed support intervention plans or reablement intervention plans.
• Undertake financial assessments relating to Top-Up Grants for adaptations.
• Provide support and advice to people and carers on how their needs could be partly or wholly met by access to universal and other non-care services.
• Avoid unnecessary hand-offs when the OT is the only worker involved, by arranging simple services to meet the persons or carers needs.
• Demonstrate and educate people, carers and appropriate colleagues/care workers in the correct use of equipment and/or techniques to enable the person to achieve optimal independence in activities of daily living.
• Provide training, assessment and sign-off of competencies in the provision of an agreed range of simple equipment and minor adaptations to assessment and reablement staff.
• Provide appropriate day-to- day consultation, advice, and support to other staff.
• Undertake or contribute to re-assessments/review of services as required.
• Maintain regular contact with people and carers during an active involvement or reablement to monitor and respond to changes in their situation.
• Represent the Directorate in court proceedings and with other agencies as required.
• Undertake a practice education role with students as required.
• Assist in proactively working towards the increased uptake of direct payments and other service development initiatives including (but not limited to) reablement, personalisation, individual budgets, self-assessment, and self-directed care.

Resource Management

• Provide day-to-day advice and support (as required) and act as Professional Practice Educator to students who are placed in or visiting the team as agreed.
• As appropriate contribute to wider team and organisational performance targets.
• Support the adult with care and support needs and / or their carer to meet their assessed needs within the indicative budget and in a way which maximises resources, where this is not the case you will seek advice from your Line manager at the earliest opportunity.
• Research or select most cost-effective equipment to meet a persons needs.

Partnerships

• Participate in training and development and project activity including multi-disciplinary and multi-agency activity.
• Contribute to the development of the local community to enable the empowerment of vulnerable people, including liaising with local, universal, and other services to promote vulnerable peoples access to them.
• Work with colleagues and other agencies including health partners, district and borough councils, housing organisations and private and voluntary sector to ensure maximising of resources and opportunities for people.
• Liaise with colleagues and other agencies to ensure the development and provision of co-ordinated and effective services.

Communications

• Maintain clear, concise, and timely records of cases, care packages and actions in line with the Directorate's policies on file maintenance, this includes electronic and paper records.
• Communicate to the adults with care and support needs and carers in an appropriate manner.
• Effectively negotiate and manage conversations where there is a disagreement.
• Engage with a range of other agencies to maximise choice and resources.
• Communicate effectively and in a manner and timescale appropriate for the level of urgency, to your manager, other colleagues, and professionals.

Systems and Information

• Ensure that you utilise the current business processes to support the Adult Social Care function in relation to case recording, financial monitoring, ICT. Assisting in the collection of data and making appropriate use of IT systems.
• Assist in the timely and accurate collection of performance data using appropriate IT systems and
• processes.
• Contribute to the on-going improvement and development of Adult Social Care processes and systems.
• Assist in the collection of performance data using the appropriate IT systems.

Safeguarding

• Be committed to safeguarding and promote the welfare of children, young people, and adults, raising concerns as appropriate.
• Undertake Safeguarding Adults Investigations, as delegated by the Designated Safeguarding Manager and in line with procedures.
• Intervene in emergency situations, including moving and handling, to protect vulnerable people and to initiate the appropriate statutory and other actions required.
• Identify and report any concerns regarding the safety and welfare of a child or young person.

Experience

Essential

• Knowledge of relevant social care legislation and associated guidance, for example the Care Act.
• Knowledge and understanding of the impact of physical and sensory impairments and learning disability on independence and activities of daily living for all age groups.
• Understanding and application of the social model of disability.
• Knowledge and understanding of how Equality & Diversity, Dignity & Respect and Human Rights apply to this role.
• Wide knowledge base of disability equipment and its application.
• Theoretical and applied medical, surgical, sociological, psychological and psychiatric knowledge.
• Knowledge of the basic framework of community care legislation and regulations.
• Knowledge of basic health and social care policy.
• Knowledge of statutory requirements, including requirements in respect of carers, equality and anti- discrimination legislation, maintaining a safe working environment, data protection and confidentiality.
• Knowledge of childrens safeguarding procedures.
• Knowledge of Direct Payments.
• Knowledge of Mental Capacity Act.
• Post qualification experience of occupational therapy practice in a community setting. (Desirable for newly qualified OTs).
• Experience of undertaking assessments and interventions with people of all ages.
• Experience of inter-agency working.
• Experience of working positively in a changing environment.

Desirable

• Knowledge of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards legislation.
• Knowledge of Mental Health Act.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation in relation to children and young people.
• Demonstrable experience of contributing to the safeguarding of vulnerable adults.

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree or diploma in Occupational Therapy and
• Professional skills and registration in line with the Health and Care Professions Council.

Desirable

• Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Best Interest Assessor Qualification (or its successor).
• Practice Educator or a commitment to undertake the Practice Educator post graduate programme.

Occupational Skills

Essential

• A person-centred approach to working with adults.
• Manual handling assessment and practical skills.
• Demonstration/teaching skills.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills. Able to use persuasion, influencing and/or negotiation techniques to influence others.
• The ability to converse at ease with customers and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post.
• Effective written communication skills communicates effectively in writing to produce documents in a range of formats and styles to suit a range of audiences. Excellent case recording and report writing skills.
• Resilience skills.
• Works productively in a pressurised environment and supports others to do so. Ability to act calmly during difficult circumstances and recover quickly from setbacks.
• Effective time management and planning skills meets deadlines.
• Good IT skills including use of email, intranet, internet, word, excel and inputting data.
• Flexibility and adaptability.
• Decision making skills can make decisions within own area of responsibility which may involve considering risks.
• Problem solving skills uses creativity and innovation to generate solutions to problems.

Desirable

• Able to undertake Mental Capacity Assessments, including complex decision making for those who are over 12 months qualified.
• Able to present evidence for continuing health care assessments.

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).