Senior Occupational Therapist

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Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) is one of the largest community healthcare organisations in London and Hertfordshire, providing our services to diverse communities/boroughs in 11 London Boroughs - Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hounslow, Kensington and Chelsea, Merton, Richmond, Wandsworth, Westminster - and Hertfordshire.

We are rated Good by the Care Quality Commission and are ranked among top NHS employers. Community healthcare is our focus and our passion. We champion the role of community health professionals to make sure our patients get great care closer to home.

Job overview

Band 6 Children's Occupational Therapist

Working in partnership with you: supporting children and young people to participate in what they need and want to do.

Due to an internal applicant being successful in recruitment to a Band 7 Children and Young People's Occupational Therapist (CYPOT) role, an opportunity has arisen for a motivated and dynamic Paediatric Occupational Therapist to join our team as a Band 6. The Children and Young People's Occupational Therapy (CYPOT) service covers the Inner London Boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea, and Westminster. We operate across 3 sites within these Boroughs. CYPOT works collaboratively with children, their families and communities to promote participation in childhood occupations.

Within this role, you will independently manage a caseload of children and young people aged 0-19 across a variety of community and clinic settings, including mainstream and special schools. You will apply sound clinical reasoning skills and draw on a strong evidence base to support your interventions. You will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team and liaise closely with colleagues in Health, Education and Social Care. You will have a role in supporting junior members of staff and students on practice placements.

Main duties of the job

The ideal candidate should have Paediatric Occupational Therapy experience, be able to plan and carry out function-focused assessments; plan motivating, goal and occupation-centred interventions, and evaluate outcomes effectively. They will have strong communication and time management skills, and contribute service development, and actively seek out opportunities for continuing professional development. An understanding of the SEN code of practice and Education, Health & Care Plans is essential to this role.

The ideal candidate should actively engage in working practices that acknowledge and support the diversity of children & families we work with. This includes awareness, understanding and sensitivity of the protected characteristics of age, disability, gender and gender-neutral identification, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.

CLCH supports staff to develop strong leadership and clinical skills through regular supervision, performance appraisal, and internal and external Continuous Professional Development opportunities.

For further information about this post, please contact Bernadette Ford (Service Manager) via email bernadette.ford2@nhs.net

Visit us on https://www.clch.nhs.uk/services/occupational-therapy-children

Find us on Twitter! https://twitter.com/CYPOT_CLCH

Working for our organisation

Just as we care about our patients' wellbeing, we care about yours!

We can offer you:

• A comprehensive induction into the community service followed by a local induction to introduce you to the role
• Car lease scheme *T&C's apply
• Flexible working options
• Annual travel card loan
• Training, support and development in your career

To have a full look at our benefits and what it's like working for us please go here: https://www.clch.nhs.uk/job/pay-and-benefits

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To attend meetings as required (e.g. team meetings, working group meetings)
• To implement and maintain good working practice ethics and competency to practice following RCOT and HCPC guidelines
• To ensure accurate and up to date records of all professional judgements, decisions taken and statistical information are kept and reported following CYPOT and Trust policies
• Utilise formal and informal reporting mechanisms including electronic reporting to ensure effective communication across health and social care.
• To undertake management tasks as directed by the Team Lead
• To participate in the operational planning and implementation of policy and service development within Children's Services.

  Please see attached Job Description and Person Specification for full roles and responsibilities.

Person specification

Education/Qualification

Essential criteria

• Degree or equivalent Diploma/Qualification in OT
• Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• The successful candidate must apply for and receive satisfactory clearance of suitability through the Disclosure and Barring Service prior to confirmation and commencement of employment within the Trust.

Desirable criteria

• Member of professional body; RCOT Specialist section CYPF, SI network, BAOT
• Post graduate qualification/training in topics such as early years intervention, sensory processing, upper limb splinting/casting, perception, neurological dysfunction, psychology, counselling, family work
• Attendance at workshops/ seminars in paediatric OT
• Wheelchair assessor certificate - basic
• An up-to-date professional portfolio demonstrating reflective learning.

Experience

Essential criteria

• Proven and relevant experience, preferably in paediatrics as a specialist OT
• Experience of working with people with a wide range of permanent disabilities and short-term illness
• Experience in assessing and treating patients with neurological impairment and young people with disabilities
• Experience as a paediatric OT post qualification
• Experience of positioning/seating to maximise individuals' function
• Experience of working with orthopaedic conditions

Desirable criteria

• Work in special and mainstream schools
• Experience working with Social Services, CAMHS and Education-funded OT's
• Experience working with clients from diverse cultures
• Understanding of cultural differences and their impact on OT provision.
• Experience of initiation or involvement in service development and improvement projects
• Experience of planning and running groups
• Experience with splinting/casting upper limbs post botox
• Experience of psychosocial aspects of working with families of children with disabilities

Skills & Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Basic knowledge of the developmental stages of children and young people
• Awareness of the psychological and social factors of dysfunction and disability
• An ability to use clinical and ethical reasoning skills to analyse and interpret assessment findings, plan and evaluate intervention programme
• Ability to reflect on clinical practise and experience
• An understanding of the boundaries of the Occupational Therapist role within the paediatric field
• Ability to recognise and manage difference of opinion in both client related and inter-professional situations
• Willing to learn and grow professionally with a commitment to lifelong learning
• Knowledge of the role of the OT within the multidisciplinary team.

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of Educational Legislation and the National Curriculum
• Knowledge of the Children's Act 2014 and the SEN Code of Practice
• Experience of provision of services in relation to Education Health and Care Plans.
• Knowledge of the legislation relating to children; NHS Plan, modernisation agenda, and children's NSF, legislation relating to education and SEN.
• Ability to be innovative and use initiative in practice

Key Attributes

Essential criteria

• Ability to organise and prioritise workload
• Ability to work in a team, with a range of professionals from statutory bodies
• Ability to work independently
• Ability to work under pressure
• Calm and consistent approach to stressful situations
• Ability to work collaboratively with others in a team which involves sharing the values, vision and commitment of the team and respecting each members skills
• Clear & concise written skills and appropriate level of IT skills for reports and advice/activity suggestions
• Ability to communicate clearly and sensitively with parents and carers and others using effective listening skills, non-verbal communication and establishing an appropriate rapport.
• Candidate must also possess emotional integrity and demonstrate ability to cope with difficult/highly emotive situations.
• Experience of teaching/presenting to professionals, colleagues or carers
• Ability to work effectively within a team

Desirable criteria

• Ability to think creatively
• Experience using a coaching approach when working with people of all ages

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close this vacancy before the advertised closing date. Therefore please apply for this post as soon as you can, if you are interested and you meet the requirements of the Person Specification

Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification will be shortlisted for this job.

Interview arrangements will be communicated via email so please check your email regularly following the closing date.

At CLCH we appreciate and are proud of the diversity in the communities we serve and the workforce we employ. Applications are open and welcome to anyone, regardless of your age, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, religion, and disability.

We are proud to say that we follow the workforce race equality standard and 28% of our senior staff (8A and above) are from a BAME background. CLCH also has active BAME and LGBTQI networks:

Disability and Wellbeing Network (DAWN)

Race Equality Network

Rainbow Network which supports LGBTQI staff.

Each network has a champion who is an executive director at the Trust and they hold regular meetings to discuss issues and make plans to improve CLCH.

The CLCH Equal opportunities statement is on our Website Equal opportunities :: Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (clch.nhs.uk)

"We work Flexibly"

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 and Person Specification (PDF, 552.3KB)
• CLCH Trust Values (PDF, 720.3KB)