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

You will be providing Occupational Therapy leadership to the wider Living Well Centre and the occupational therapist within the focused support team. You will be managing a limited caseload of service users to assess, plan, implement and evaluate occupational therapy interventions. You will be providing occupational therapy leadership for students and/or junior staff, through supervision and appraisal. You will be participating in the planning, development and evaluation of occupational therapy and multi-disciplinary team (MDT) services, holding responsibility for defined projects.

Main duties of the job

You will be selecting and applying occupational therapy assessments for a designated caseload, addressing occupational performance and skill deficits, enabling the client in areas of self-maintenance, productivity (particularly paid employment) and leisure.

You will be working collaboratively with service users to identify occupational therapy goals as part of the overall care plan working within the care programme approach process.

You will plan and implement individual and/or group interventions, in collaboration with the service user, their family and friends and supporters and colleagues from across the Lambeth Alliance as well as the wider health networks.

Working for our organisation

Career Progression pathways and development opportunities:

We are committed to get the very best out of our staff and support staff in their career aspirations. We have career pathways available, where you will be able to develop your skills and build on your experience to progress into other roles across different specialties. For this role, we offer career pathways into Band 7 occupational therapy positions within the Trust and wider South London Partnership, NHS team leader and management opportunities as well as opportunities to diversify into other specialisms. In addition, we offer ongoing training and development in occupational therapy, a variety of social and vocational interventions, mental and physical health.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

You need to have an understanding / working knowledge of the importance of service user involvement.

You need to understand the occupational therapy professional code of conduct.

You need to be currently registered with the HCPC as an Occupational Therapist.

You need to have experience of working with people with mental health issues.

We welcome applications from people with lived experience.

We welcome applications from people with links to the local area.

We advocate strongly for a culture which values, respects and celebrates diversity. As an equal opportunity employer, we actively encourage LGBTQ+, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and disabled applicants and value the positive impact and difference this will have on our teams and the organisation as a whole.

You need to have specialist knowledge to apply OT assessments and interventions and outcome measures, relevant to the people we serve.

You need to have the ability to manage own workload / to work autonomously and determine priorities.

You need to have a willingness and ability to work flexibly.

You should have a commitment to student and staff supervision.

You should have a commitment to lifelong learning.

You need to be open to new ideas and have awareness of general issues that might have relevance to service users involvement.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Registered Occupational Therapist
• Post-graduate training relevant to Mental Health

Desirable criteria

• Post-graduate training
• Membership of OT professional body and / or special interest group

Experience

Essential criteria

• Post-registration experience as an OT
• Working in groups / Extensive clinical experience including individual and group work
• Working with mental health service users (pre or post qualification)
• Advising and supporting junior staff / Experience of supervising junior staff and students

Desirable criteria

• Practice Placement Educators course
• Experience of working in an inner-city, multi-cultural environment
• Experience of working with people with challenging behaviours

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria

• Broad / high level understanding of Mental Health disorders and treatment models
• Sound / detailed knowledge of legislation relevant to Mental Health
• Applied / working knowledge of the principles of CPA (Care Programme Approach)
• Applied / extensive knowledge of the principles of risk management and risk assessment

Desirable criteria

• Training and facilitation skills

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

• Community occupational therapist north (PDF, 432.6KB)
• SLaM Staff Benefits (PDF, 1.1MB)
• Happy to Talk Flexible Working (PDF, 680.1KB)