Senior Occupational Therapist

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About Us

EPUT provides community health, mental health and learning disability services to support more than 3.2 million people living across Bedfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Also:

• We are among the largest employers in the in the East of England region, with more than 10,000 staff working across more than 200 sites.
• We run the COVID-19 vaccination programme across mid and south Essex and Suffolk and north east Essex.

EPUT was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT). A new leadership team was established at the Trust in 2020.
Our vision and values

Our Vision

"To be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care".

Our Purpose

"We care for people every day. What we do together, matters".

Our Values

• We Care
• We Learn
• We Empower

Our strategic objectives

• We will deliver safe, high quality integrated care services.
• We will enable each other to be the best that we can.
• We will work together with our partners to make our services better.
• We will help our communities to thrive.

Our services

• Mental Health Services
• Community Health Services
• Learning Disabilities Services
• Social Care

Find out more about the services we offer in our service directory.

Job overview

We are looking for a Specialist Occupational Therapist to expand our existing team with expertise in neurology, responsible for providing a high standard of assessment, treatment and evaluation to patients, both in a Rehabilitation Ward setting and in the community as part of the Stroke Early Supported Discharge (ESD) Team.

To deliver stroke rehabilitation as part of 7-day working

To build on previous experience, to further develop clinical and managerial competencies.

To develop neurological expertise within the team as a member of the Specialist Stroke and Neurological Services Team providing care to patients who have had a recent stroke or are diagnosed with a neurological condition as part of the community specialist inpatient service and Early Supported Discharge (ESD) Team.

To be an autonomous professional practitioner working without the need for direct supervision.

To carry out appraisals & clinical supervision for more junior members of the team.

To be a clinical educator to students on placement with the team.

To be able to delegate work appropriately.

To appropriately manage assistant practitioners and therapy assistants within the team.

To be able to prioritise referrals & workload.

To practice in accordance with the Royal College of Occupational Therapists rules of Professional Conduct and Standards of OT, and the Health Professions Council's regulations.

Main duties of the job

To perform Occupational Therapy assessments of patients with diverse presentations and complex conditions to provide a diagnosis and develop and deliver an individualised treatment programme.

To consolidate prior knowledge and ensure continued development of a broad range of clinical skills in rehabilitation. This will include skills in neurological rehabilitation and management of long term conditions.

To supervise therapy assistants within the team and deliver training where appropriate and required.

To supervise, educate and assess performance of OT students. This would be to a graduate level and involve working with the universities to ensure the standard of practice and teaching meets the standards set by the degree level qualification.

Working for our organisation

EPUT are looking for motivated staff who shares our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;

• Season Ticket Loans
• NHS discounts for staff
• Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
• Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
• The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
• Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
• Day One Flexible Employer

The Trust supports and actively encourages flexible working for all employees. We offer many options and you are encouraged to ask the recruiting manager what is possible for this role. If appointed, you will have the opportunity to apply for a flexible working request from the first day of your employment

Join our Staff bank

What is Staff Bank?

Our EPUT NHS staff bank is an entity managed by the trust that hires clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals to take on shifts at our trust hospitals and community settings. Here at EPUT we maintain our own bank of specialist staff to ensure that we are able offer safe and effective care at all times.

All our permanent staff are automatically enrolled onto the staff bank however this does not mean you have to work any additional shifts, but the option is there for you if you wish.

If you are joining our Trust in a fixed term role, please indicate on your New Starter Paperwork that you wish to join our staff bank.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Autonomously manage a complex caseload of stroke and neurological patients using clinical reasoning, critical thinking, reflection and analysis to support assessment and treatment.
• To undertake comprehensive assessment of patients with a range of complex health and social care needs. This will require specialist assessment of all aspects of occupational performance (physical, cognitive, mental, social and environmental needs).
• To develop collaborative treatment programmes with patients, carers and colleagues, demonstrating client-centred reasoning and specialist problem solving techniques.
• Implement the appropriate occupational therapy intervention to enable the individual to achieve his/her optimum level of independence.
• Evaluate patient progress, reassess and review treatment programmes as required through the monitoring of medical and rehabilitation needs and adjusting as required. This will involve determining the potential for rehabilitation and future care and support needs.
• Plan and prioritise own workload and delegate tasks where appropriate to ensure effective use of time.
• Supervise junior staff and assistants to plan their work effectively.
• Facilitate the safe transfer of people and using equipment and approved moving and handling techniques.
• Identify and undertake routine and complex risk assessments, of individuals and their environment.
• Advise the multi-disciplinary team in determining appropriate management relating to moving and handling and safe use of equipment.
• Fit, adjust and safely use a range of equipment. Ensure patients, junior staff and assistants under your supervision attain competency in the safe use of all equipment.
• Provide support and education to patients and carers regarding all aspects of Occupational Therapy.
• To work flexibly across the ward and the community service as required.
• To manage and review effectiveness of therapy run groups
• Triage referrals into the inpatient and early supported discharge service when required

Person specification

Desirable

Essential criteria

• Ability to travel across sites

Essential

Essential criteria

• Qualifications
• Relevant Stroke/Neuro experience

Desirable criteria

• Post Graduate specialist interest groups
• Experience of service development

Please note - staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered 'suitable alternative employment' to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.

Important Professional References

Make sure that as a part of your application you have professional references with business contract information covering your last three year employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references.

As a newly appointed employee you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post, the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.

Applications for Job Share are positively welcomed.

Equal Opportunities Employer

Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email epunft.recruitment.adverts@nhs.net and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.

The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.

Covid Vaccination

Although Covid vaccinations are no longer a mandatory requirement within the NHS we continue to encourage and support the vaccination uptake as this remains the best line of defence against Covid19. The safety of our staff and patients is a top priority for us at EPUT.

If you would like to book a Covid vaccination or would like more information please contact us by emailing epunft.cv19hr@nhs.net.

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, 728.5KB)
• Person Specification (PDF, 296.6KB)
• EPUT Pledge - Step into Health (PDF, 211.0KB)
• Candidate Privacy Policy (PDF, 336.6KB)
• Right to Work Information (PDF, 293.6KB)
• Employer Recognition Scheme - Gold Award (PDF, 27.7KB)
• Trust Vision and Values (PDF, 168.9KB)
• Values of the NHS Pension (PDF, 151.3KB)