Senior Occupational Therapist in London

Permanent | Full-time working a total of 37.5 hours per week. Location: London. Competitive salary based on experience.

Main duties

• Be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own professional activities in line with the standards of the Hospital, Department, and the professional codes of conduct of the relevant professional body and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
• Have overall accountability for planning and managing own specialised caseload of patients and organise it effectively and efficiently with regards to clinical priorities and use of time.
• Use specialist knowledge of the clinical area to undertake therapy assessments including evaluation of the impact of patients’ diagnoses and stage of disease on their ability to function and maintain quality of life, and make clinical decisions on the most appropriate form of therapy intervention, both short and long term.
• Provide therapeutic advice to patients, carers and clinicians using evidence based practice, or in the absence of a robust evidence base, advanced clinical judgement acquired through professional expertise.
• Use advanced communication and behaviour change skills to facilitate therapy interventions in situations where sensitive information needs to be discussed.
• Continuously assess, evaluate and review objectives and desired outcomes in collaboration with the patient, any carers and the multidisciplinary team.
• Make recommendations to colleagues and members of the MDT, based on theoretical and practical knowledge regarding the ongoing management of patients.
• Play an active role in discharge planning of patients in the MDT.
• Produce up to date, clear evidence based resources for patients.
• Be competent in the use of relevant equipment, including training of other healthcare professionals in its correct use.
• Provide specialist advice to the MDT in a range of forums such as ward rounds, MDT meetings and family meetings.
• Ensure that patients have consented to assessment and therapeutic interventions in line with hospital policy and professional codes of conduct.
• Maintain patient documentation, records and accurate statistical information to reflect the care provided, and to meet professional and hospital standards as well as local and national guidelines.
• Maintain accurate, comprehensive professional case notes for all direct and indirect patient contact.
• Demonstrate flexibility in communication and interpersonal skills to overcome barriers to communication such as language and cultural barriers, loss of hearing/sight, distressing information, hostile/emotive situations, altered perception and cognition, etc.
• Liaise with and provide feedback to referrers to the service by letter and/or verbal communication.
• Communicate complex patient related information effectively, to ensure collaborative working within the MDT including those external to the hospital.

Qualifications and skills

• BSc (Hons) degree or diploma in Occupational Therapy or diploma or equivalent.
• Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registration for Occupational Therapy.
• Evidence of postgraduate professional development.
• Evidence of study or intention to study at Masters level is desirable.
• Member of specialist interest group is desirable.
• Evidence of additional specialist knowledge acquired through relevant postgraduate training.
• Experience of working with an array of patients in the inpatient occupational therapy setting.
• Experience of working in the outpatient occupational therapy setting.
• Experience of a wide range of approaches for the management of complex patients is desirable.
• Knowledge and experience of audit and research is desirable.
• Experience of multidisciplinary team working is desirable.