Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist, Trauma & Orthopaedics - Chertsey

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the Job Description and Personal Specification for full details.

Clinical

To assess patients with complex problems including highly skilled assessments and to make referrals to other disciplines and agencies as appropriate.

To support other less experienced staff with their patient caseload.

To be responsible as an autonomous practitioner to undertake a significant specialist clinical caseload and use excellent clinical reasoning skills to utilise a wide range of treatment options and skills to formulate a specialised programme of care.

To achieve and maintain a high standard of clinical care using evidence based practice, keeping up to date with clinical developments, analysing current research, discussing and implementing changes in clinical practice and encouraging this throughout the team.

To be responsible for setting and monitoring of standards and policies of clinical practice in the team evaluate outcomes.

To take responsibility for the writing of evidence based clinical guidelines and protocols as appropriate to the speciality and for regularly reviewing and updating those guidelines.

To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of professional activities working within codes of practice and professional guidelines.

To use ongoing investigative and analytical skills, assessment techniques and diagnostic procedures to assess complex patients.

To formulate accurate prognoses and recommend best course of intervention, developing comprehensive discharge plans.

To be aware of risks involved as part of delivering clinical care and manage this within own patient case load.

To demonstrate physical ability to carry out assessments and interventions including manual and therapeutic handling techniques. This involves frequent light to moderate physical effort.

To maintain accurate records in line with the College of Occupational Therapy standards and Trust and service standards and policies.

To attend relevant board rounds, meetings as appropriate in order to ensure appropriate management and effective and timely discharge of patients.

Management

To plan effectively the daily management of a caseload of patients by prioritising clinical work, responding to urgent referrals and frequently unpredictable work patterns.

To maintain the high standards of the service by contributing to the individual team and service objectives.

To ensure team working within Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals, assisting other members to effectively prioritise, plan and manage their caseloads.

To be able to manage potentially stressful and upsetting or emotional situations in an empathetic manner.

To be able to prioritise clinical and managerial work and balance other patient related and professional activities as the department requires.

To supervise junior and senior staff and therapy assistants.

To participate in the appraisal scheme as an appraiser and to be appraised.

To contribute to the overall strategic view of the in patient service at ASPH, by monitoring and evaluating activity. To demonstrate a high level of understanding of clinical governance and clinical risk.

To initiate and lead projects to develop services in line with recent NHS initiatives and guidance and in response to demand.

To communicate effectively with all disciplines involved in a patient’s care, both those from within the organisation and those outside to ensure efficient multidisciplinary working.

Communication

To be able to communicate complex and sensitive information to patients, carers and other staff including imparting unwelcome news relating to their rehabilitation potential and gaining consent for treatment.

To assess patients’ understanding of treatment proposals, gain valid consent and have the capacity to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment.

To be able to motivate patients to comply with extended periods of treatment.

To maintain accurate records in line with COT, Trust and service standards and policies.

To ensure that records of directly managed staff also comply with these standards.

To use a range of verbal and non verbal communication tools to communicate effectively and sensitively with patients in order to progress treatment programmes. This may include patients who may have difficulties in understanding or communicating.

To communicate any changes in care plan or treatment approach to other Occupational therapists as necessary.

To attend staff meetings and actively participate ensuring understanding of information imparted.

To provide advice to other disciplines both internally and externally to ensure a multidisciplinary approach to care.

· To ensure timely and effective communication with the Clinical and Therapy Leads on all operational or professional matters.

· To communicate effectively with all disciplines involved in a patient’s care, both those from within the organisation and those outside to ensure efficient multidisciplinary working.

Education

To supervise and lead on the professional development and training of occupational therapists and other members of the team in the specialist field .

To undertake regular supervision with individuals to support clinical reasoning and to undertake problem patient sessions as facilitator and participant.

To participate in any training sessions as a recipient and facilitator.

To disseminate any training received to other staff and healthcare professionals.

To be actively involved in special interest groups in order to share and disseminate knowledge to colleagues.

Research/Audit/Quality

To regularly participate in and lead on appropriate work related research/evaluation projects and to be aware of current research relevant to the speciality.

To participate in and initiate clinical audit and the evaluation of clinical effectiveness in line with Trust Policies.

To evaluate your own clinical effectiveness.

To undertake and present relevant evidence based projects.

IT

To maintain timely and accurate statistical information as required by senior staff and managers.

To be responsible for the accurate input of clinical information onto the trust IT system and any external systems used for patient related care

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Diploma/Degree in Occupational Therapy leading to inclusion on HCPC register
• Evidence of ongoing development
• Practice educators course

Desirable criteria

• Leadership training

Experience

Essential criteria

• Minimum 5 years experience including at band 6 level in the NHS on Orthopaedic Inpatient wards
• Experience of working in a team
• Significant experience in acute discharge planning in the NHS
• Experience in teaching staff, patents, peers and carers
• Clinical Supervision Junior Staff and students

Desirable criteria

• Involvement in project work/ service improvement

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria

• Sound understanding of orthopaedic conditions, surgical procedures and their onward management
• Ability to carry out a highly advanced range of assessments to make clinical diagnoses, treatment and management plans
• Effective and appropriate communication skills
• Knowledge of national and clinical guidelines relevant to orthopaedic patients