Senior Practitioner for Occupational Therapy in Bolton

This is a new and exciting post created within the Bolton Specialist CMHT's to enhance the support offered to service users to promote recovery and optimum independence. This senior practitioner post will lead a cluster team within the CMHT, in line with the Community Transformation transformed model offer, to offer a flexible and proactive approach to supporting service users in their recovery journey.

Main duties of the job:

• Provide clinical and professional leadership, supervision, support and consultation to occupational therapy staff and MDT colleagues in line with CMHT pathways and operational procedures.
• Lead an identified cluster with a focus on OT and recovery‑based interventions, holding a small caseload of OT‑specific and generic work.
• Support the care group AHP lead in the operational and strategic development of the OT service.
• Maintain effective liaison with primary care, GP practices, and local statutory and non‑statutory agencies.
• Adhere to RCOT Codes of Ethics and Professional Standards and HCPC registration requirements, ensuring compliance of others.
• Maintain clinical competence, using evidence‑based, client‑centred practice to assess, plan, deliver and evaluate interventions, and record all work in line with CMHT procedures.
• Participate in the Operational on‑call rota and deputise for the CMHT Team Manager, undertaking delegated duties as required.

Working for our organisation:

Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122 locations. We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford, Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.

Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options. Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity. Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

See attached detailed job description and person specification.

Staff benefits:

• Pay Enhancements – 30% additional for Evenings (8pm onwards) and Saturdays and 60% additional for Sundays and Bank holidays.
• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years.
• Excellent pension.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Salary sacrifice car scheme.
• Wellbeing programme.

Person specification:

Qualifications:

• Essential criteria: Degree in Occupational Therapy.
• Desirable criteria: Masters higher-level degree or equivalent in occupational therapy or related field. OR Equivalent training must include a course of accredited theoretical study to degree/post graduate level in a specialist clinical area OR Formal management qualification.
• Documented evidence of post graduate Continuing Professional Development throughout career (min 4 years) relevant to specialism, as per guidelines to meet HCPC registration requirement.
• Current Fieldwork Educator qualification (APPLE) or within 12 months of appointment.

Experience:

• Essential criteria: Evidence of applied post grad theoretical knowledge in specialist area of clinical practice.
• Detailed knowledge of best practice, legislation, governance and risk management relevant to post.
• Demonstrated leadership knowledge and skills in an expert advisory role on service development and strategy, within specialist field.
• Specialist knowledge and application of OT models, assessment and interventions relevant to client group.
• Ability to analyse, evaluate and respond to confidential, highly complex, sensitive and contentious information.
• Detailed knowledge and experience of risk assessment and management within community settings.
• Extensive knowledge of current best practice in OT for people with mental health and physical health problems.
• Skills in decision making and prioritising relevant to role.

Knowledge:

• Initiate, plan and implement training sessions within the trust and other statutory and voluntary services.
• Experience of induction and training of new staff within the Multidisciplinary team.
• Registration with HCPC.

The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.

Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer. The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under‑represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities.

If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications:

A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application. The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI‑generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges. We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.

Sponsorship:

We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website.

If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.

The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it.

Do you have experience outside the NHS?

We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities. We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment.