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

Are you an experienced Occupational Therapist with a passion for working in mental health with older people and people with dementia?

Do you have the skills and knowledge necessary to manage a complex and varied caseload in specialist inpatient settings?

We are looking for a Senior Occupational Therapist to lead on the planning, co-ordination and delivery of occupational therapy provision on Hayworth Ward, an acute older adult mental health ward, recently rated by the CQC as outstanding in the caring domain.

We are committed to provide the very best for our staff and support staff in their career aspirations. For this role we offer training and development in physical health skills, model of human occupation assessment tools, occupational formulation and SMART goal setting, sensory informed approaches and leadership.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be an experienced Occupational Therapist providing high quality, evidence based, person centred Occupational Therapy to Older Adults experiencing mental distress in an acute inpatient setting. They will work closely with the Service User, their Supporters and the wider Multidisciplinary Team to provide a robust assessment of the Service User's occupational strengths and needs, 1:1 and group interventions and recommendations to support timely and effective discharge.

Working for our organisation

Benefits:

We are committed to ensuring our staff get the most out of their benefits package and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance. There is an extensive range of excellent benefits for you and your family. We want you to feel like you are part of a close knit team at SLaM. It's important to us that you valued and appreciated and that are why we have a comprehensive benefits package on offer

Some of our benefits are highlighted here:

• Generous pay, pensions and leave, we offer a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on the role and length of service.

• Work life balance, flexible working and support a range of flexible options, such as: part-time working and job sharing.

• Career development, There are plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes

• Car lease, our staff benefits from competitive deals to lease cars

• NHS discounts, with discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands though Health Service Discounts website. Other benefits include:

• Counselling services

• Wellbeing events

• Long service awards

• Cycle to work scheme

• Season ticket loan

• Childcare vouchers

• Staff restaurants

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Provision of specialist Occupational Therapy Assessment and Interventions in an acute mental health setting for older people and people living with Dementia
• Working collaboratively with a broad range of health and social care professionals including close working relationships with Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapy and Therapy Support Staff
• Overseeing the Ward Activity - Therapy Programme
• Supervising Junior Staff and Students on Practice Placements
• Contributing to Service Improvement Initiatives

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Registered Occupational Therapist
• Understanding of Professional Standards for Practice, Conduct and Ethics

Desirable criteria

• Post-registration Qualification
• Post-graduate training relevant to mental health of older adult and dementia specialism
• Royal College of Occupational Therapists Membership

Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant post registration experience as an Occupational Therapist.
• Experience of working with older people with mental health difficulties and/or people with dementia in a clinical setting.
• Experience of supervising junior staff and students.

Desirable criteria

• Experience working with service users with complex mental and physical health needs.
• Completion of Practice Placement Educator Course.
• Experience of Preceptorship and/or Completion of Preceptor Training.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria

• High level of understanding of Mental Health conditions e.g. Schizophrenia, Depression, Anxiety and emotional regulation difficulties and Occupational Therapy best practice in relation to supporting people with these conditions.
• Specialist knowledge and application of Occupational Therapy assessments, interventions, evaluation and outcome measures relevant to service user population.
• Experience of planning and co-ordinating occupational therapy input.
• Skills in adaptations, graded activity and prescription of aids and equipment.
• Sound knowledge of risk assessment and the key aspects of patient safety relevant to Occupational Therapy practice.

Desirable criteria

• Ability to undertake specialist seating assessments.
• Knowledge and demonstrable skills in the use of sensory approaches.
• Ability to lead on quality improvement and/or other service development initiatives and support others engagement in these.

Personal Qualities

Essential criteria

• Passionate about working with older people and people living with dementia.
• Effective and adaptive communicator
• Ability to reflect and critically appraise own performance.
• Able to work autonomously and demonstrate resilience

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

• Hayworth Ward - Senior Occupational Therapist JD (PDF, 472.6KB)
• SLaM Staff Benefits (PDF, 1.1MB)
• Happy to Talk Flexible Working (PDF, 680.1KB)