Senior Occupational Therapist

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South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.

We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good'.

We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone's potential as change makers.

The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I'm going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you'll be part of something special.

As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview

The Recovery and Rehabilitation Community Team is based at Queens Resource Centre in Croydon. The Team works with service users in Croydon Funded Placements who are experiencing enduring mental illness and who present with complex needs. We work with people with Psychosis as a primary diagnosis but many of our service users also have secondary mental health diagnosis of personality disorders, ASD, Mild Learning disabilities and substance misuse.

The post holder will work with Care Coordinators and Care providers in a range of funded placements; Residential homes, Nursing homes, supported living, etc. They will provide Occupational therapy and rehabilitation interventions that support independent living / social integration and potentially step down into less supported accommodation. They will also work with carers and family where needed.

We are looking for enthusiastic and confident Occupational Therapist to join the multidisciplinary team. Applicants need to have excellent self-management and communication skills. They need to be experienced in dynamic risk assessment, work well under pressure and be able to work collaboratively with the MDT, service users, carers and accommodation providers. They must be able to formulate flexible, robust and holistic Occupational Therapy interventions in collaboration with service users and/or carers.

Main duties of the job

To work as part of the Rehabilitation and Recovery multidisciplinary team to assess, plan, implement and evaluate OT individual (1;1) and group interventions which promote rehabilitation and independent living skills. To support community-based service users on the team caseload where possible to step down to less dependent accommodation and promote their recovery, community reintegration and social inclusion.

Our aim is to support the rehabilitation and recovery of service users to enable them to move on to live their most fulfilling, well, independent lives.

Working for our organisation

The Team is highly experienced, supportive. The post is supported with regular Professional supervision and peer support from other OT's working in the Croydon Community teams. We actively promote student placements and access to training and CPD activities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:
• To manage a caseload of clients with complex needs living in supported accommodation using evidence based/client centred principles.
• To work as part of the multidisciplinary team to provide a range of Occupational Therapy interventions which promote rehabilitation and independent living skills.
• To provide ADL Functional assessments to support individual Care Plans and Placement reviews.
• To work with service users, Family, Carers and Accommodation Staff to provide rehabilitation opportunities for service users and manage any challenging behaviours.
• To take a lead in promoting the use of employment, other vocational and leisure activities with service users as a means to recovery and social inclusion.
• To develop links with relevant services and agencies in the community to support service users to reintegrate and connect with their local community.
• To apply a high level of understanding of the effect of illness, disability, risk and safeguarding and provide assessment, training and advice on lifestyle changes and adaptations to the service user's social and physical environment.
• To participate in the induction, training, supervision and education of students, volunteers, and other staff as required. To hold an awareness of the limitations that may arise in fulfilling some aspects of the role, and seek assistance and guidance from colleagues where indicated.
• To undertake negotiated generic tasks as needed to support Multidisciplinary Team working.
• To participate in service and occupational therapy evaluations, clinical pathways development and implementation, benchmarking and audit activities and to contribute to service development and continuous quality improvement projects as required.
• To demonstrate ongoing personal reflection and development through participation in supervision, mandatory training, internal and external development opportunities and CPD professional activities that fulfil HCPC and Trust requirements.

Person specification

Knowledge and skills

Essential criteria

• Qualified and HCPC registered Occupational Therapist
• Post registration experience working at Band 5 OT Level
• Experience working with mental health service users
• Experience implementing both group and individual interventions
• Experience of supervision junior staff/ students
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• High level understanding of mental health disorders
• Specialist knowledge of OT Assessments, interventions and outcomes applicable to the client group
• Knowledge of risk assessment and risk management
• Commitment to client centred practice and collaborative working
• Ability to manage own workload and set priorities
• Ability to organise and respond effectively to complex information

The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:

• Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice
• Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment
• We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity

Please note:

• That all applications for this post will need to be made online
• That you read and understand the Job Description and Personal Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria
• That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible
• That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs
• That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not successful
• That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
• That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
• That we are a smoke-free Trust

SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion , Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe'

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• Job description (PDF, 528.6KB)
• Person Specification (PDF, 416.6KB)
• SLaM Staff Benefits (PDF, 1.1MB)
• Happy to Talk Flexible Working (PDF, 680.1KB)