Senior Occupational Therapist Acute Speciality and Community Rotation

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King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK's largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1.7 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King's College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in the London Borough of Bromley.

Job overview

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has 300+ therapy staff from occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy. Each service has a head of profession accountable to the chief of therapies who represents therapies across the trust. We focus on equitable provision and shared decision making with our patients.

We value continuing professional development and promote access to internal and external learning opportunities, including the on-site training facilities and medical school library. This ensures all staff develop skills and knowledge to reach their full potential.

The King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Band 6 Occupational Therapist Acute Speciality and Community Services Rotation offers you as a qualified and experienced occupational therapist an exciting opportunity to work at a more senior level across different areas of the hospital. We promote a learning environment and you will be well supported to learn and grow in your role. You will also work within our supportive therapy teams to provide high quality occupational therapy assessments and interventions and promote development and improvement of our services.

The rotations are mostly at Denmark Hill site unless indicated below. The clinical areas covered are:
• Acute Medicine
• Frailty
• Amputees & Surgery (a split post with Bowley Close)
• Community (Intermediate Care Southwark)
• Critical Care

Main duties of the job

As a leading teaching hospital, King's is a dynamic place to work. We pride ourselves on delivering quality patient care and you will be expected to provide best-practice interventions through evidence-based practice, keeping up-to-date with research and ensuring compliance with trust and national policies and procedures. You will relish the opportunity to develop specialist skills in admission avoidance, critical care rehabilitation, fatigue management and prosthetic upper and lower limb rehabilitation.

You will identify your learning needs and access internal and external training or supervision. You will supervise and motivate junior members of staff and students to do the same. You will proactively participate and lead CPD sessions through journal clubs, in-service skills training and peer support. You will be forward-thinking and identify areas for service development, completing projects relating to these in each rotation.

The work environment is fast-paced and you will be responsive to the changing needs of the service. You will maintain a high standard of autonomous working, completing prioritisation of a caseload and complex assessment and treatment of patients. You will display excellent communication skills and partnership working with patients, their families/carers, multi-disciplinary teams, social services and intermediate care.

This post requires a flexible approach to working across sites and a commitment to working weekends on a 7-day working rota.

Working for our organisation

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK's largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King's to another level.

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King's is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone's contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust's carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

CLINICAL

1. To identify, prioritise and manage patients who require occupational therapy input. Including education of the MDT to promote appropriate referrals for both discharge planning and rehabilitation.

2. To assess and treat patients with complex needs who would benefit from a coordinated multidisciplinary assessment, rehabilitation and discharge services.

3. To be competent in the administration of specific occupational therapy assessments of motor, sensory, cognitive, perceptual, psychosocial and occupational areas.

4. To be competent in the development and implementation of remedial and preventative treatment programmes addressing motor, sensory, cognitive, perceptual, psychological and occupational areas.

5. To identify risks, complete risk assessments and implement risk management strategies including the use of therapeutic manual handling techniques and the lone working policy and document this accurately.

6. To recognise any change in the condition of the patient and alter treatment accordingly or escalate to medical teams as required.

7. To work within local policies and procedures, national standards and guidelines and adhere to the Royal College of Occupational Therapy professional standards and ethics.

8. To support patients in setting their own goals, then implementing this and evaluating appropriately.

9. To plan and implement individual and/or group interventions, in collaboration with clients and carers, to achieve therapeutic goals.

10. To select evidence based techniques as part of a coordinated treatment program.

11. To assess and demonstrate to patients and carers the safe use of equipment and adaptations and recommend provision of equipment to support discharge.

12. To liaise with professionals in onward services to ensure continuity of care.

13. To respect the individuality, values, culture and religious diversity of patients and contribute to the provision of a service sensitive to these needs, ensuring equity of service provision.

14. To make appropriate clinical observations and keep accurate electronic records and activity data in accordance with professional and trust standards.

15. To write occupational therapy functional and discharge reports for social services, onward inpatient services and community services.

16. To work as an autonomous practitioner and display appropriate problem solving, analytical and judgement skills.

17. To assist with planning and prioritisation of the team and departments' workload in the event of staff absence to ensure the occupational therapy priority services are maintained.

18. To comply with all relevant trust policies, procedures and guidelines, including those relating to equal opportunities, health and safety and confidentiality of information.

COMMUNICATION

1. To communicate complex information to patients and family/ carers who may have barriers to understanding.

2. To actively participate in team meetings within the occupational therapy department and with the MDT, including weekly MDT meetings, case conferences and best interest meetings and to delegate for specialist or team lead occupational therapist as required.

3. To be skilled in communicating reasoning and motivating patients to participate in sessions.

4. To communicate professionally in person and by telephone with families/ carers and other professionals.

5. To manage differences of opinions and difficult conversations within the team, MDT and with patients, families/ carers.

MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

1. To supervise, provide support and complete appraisals with occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants and technicians and students.

2. To be aware of the importance of staff wellbeing, accessing trust support as required and raising any concerns with supervisors or senior staff.

3. To contribute to the hospital's clinical governance arrangements and quality agenda.

4. To assist in developing services and standards according to the occupational therapy objectives.

5. To participate in the planning, evaluation and audit of practice, clinical pathways and protocols within the occupational therapy services with a view to measuring efficiency and ensuring high quality standards.

6. To be responsible for competent use and maintenance of equipment, raising any concerns and reporting when further resources are needed.

7. To carry out administrative duties as required e.g. assisting in ordering, receiving and maintaining stock and managing petty cash.

8. To have good IT skills and use a variety of IT systems to input patient and staff data as required.

TRAINING, EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

1. To review and reflect on own practice and performance through effective use of professional and operational supervision and appraisal.

2. To promote development of occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, technicians and students according to their training and development needs as identified through supervision and appraisal.

3. To regularly supervise occupational therapy students on practice placement.

4. To demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate current research, apply them to practice and disseminate findings at a local level.

5. To broaden research and development skills through participation in local audit and research projects.

6. To demonstrate ongoing personal and professional development through participation in internal and external development opportunities, recording outcomes in a portfolio.

7. To keep in touch with new developments and changing trends in occupational therapy and participate in wider issues of providing an occupational therapy service i.e. quality assurance, public relations including liaison with the community; planning and policy making.

8. To demonstrate leadership skills through the management of designated projects.

9. To participate in and present on the in-service training programmes, multi-disciplinary trainings and external conferences.

10. To undertake any other duties commensurate within the grade.

General

The post holder has a general duty of care for their own health, safety and wellbeing and that of work colleagues, visitors and patients within the hospital, in addition to any specific risk management or clinical governance accountabilities associated with this post.

To observe the rules, policies, procedures and standards of King's College Hospital NHS Trust together with all relevant statutory and professional obligations.

To live and role model the King's Trust Values and Vision.

To observe and maintain strict confidentiality of personal information relating to patients and staff.

To be responsible, with management support, for their own personal development and to actively contribute to the development of colleagues.

This job description is intended as a guide to the general scope of duties and is not intended to be definitive or restrictive. It is expected that some of the duties will change over time and this description will be subject to review in consultation with the post holder. An individual performance review and the setting of objectives will occur within each rotation.

All employees must hold an 'nhs.net' email account which will be the Trust's formal route for email communication.

Safe Guarding

The Trust takes the issues of Safeguarding Children, Adults and addressing Domestic Abuse very seriously. All employees have a responsibility to support the organisation in our duties by;

attending mandatory training on safeguarding children and adults

• familiarising themselves with the trust's processes for reporting concerns
• reporting any safeguarding child or adult concerns appropriately

Infection Control Statement

The post holder has an important responsibility for and contribution to infection control and must be familiar with the infection control and hygiene procedures and requirements when in clinical areas.

The post holder has an important responsibility for and contribution to make to infection control and must be familiar with the infection control and hygiene requirements of this role.

These requirements are set out in the National Code of Practice on Infection Control and in local policies and procedures which will be made clear during your induction and subsequent refresher training. These standards must be strictly complied with at all times.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Occupational Therapy Qualification (Dip RCOT or BSc OT)
• HCPC Registration

Desirable criteria

• Member of Professional Body (RCOT)

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Experience of working as a Band 5 OT in a physical setting
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team
• Experience working with patients, families and carers
• Awareness of Confidentiality
• Awareness of the Importance of Equality and Inclusion
• Demonstrate an understanding of hospital systems for the management of patient assessment and treatment
• Concise and accurate report writing skills

Desirable criteria

• Experience supervising qualified staff or students
• Experience of presenting to small and large audiences

Skills

Essential criteria

• Able to prioritise and manage stress
• Ability to work collaboratively
• Ability to work autonomously, planning and prioritising own workload
• Able to undertake manual handling tasks
• Good communication skills, adapting to barriers to communication
• Knowledge of relevant current policies and guidelines
• Excellent IT and record keeping skills
• Ability to work flexibly across sites and with weekend working

Desirable criteria

• Ability to develop staff

IMPORTANT

• Check your email account regularly as this is how we will communicate with you
• If you delete the job from any of your accounts, you may be prevented from accessing further communications
• To enquire about your application or inform us of any changes in your circumstances, please contact the named person on this advert
• Please provide email addresses for referees where possible
• Click here to see the range of benefits we offer
• Please review the documentation on our recruitment microsite, particularly the Trust's criminal records checking policy
• All staff have a responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and for ensuring they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role.
• Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. You are advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Annual Reports and Other Corporate Publications

King's Health Partners Academic Health Science Centre Website

King's College Hospital is part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC), a pioneering collaboration between King's College London, and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts.

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

• JD and Job Spec (PDF, 264.4KB)
• Denmark Hill Site Map (PDF, 1.2MB)
• Princess Royal (PRUH) Site map (PDF, 1.4MB)
• Visa and Sponsorship Information (PDF, 352.6KB)