Specialist Occupational Therapist / Physiotherapist in Chorley

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Specialist Occupational Therapist / Physiotherapist

NHS AfC: Band 6

Main area Occupational Therapy / Physiotherapy Grade NHS AfC: Band 6 Contract Permanent Hours Full time – 37.5 hours per week (Monday-Friday) Job ref 409-7574591

Site Wheelchair Services – Skelmersdale Town Skelmersdale Salary £38,682 – £46,580 Per Annum, Pro Rata Salary period Yearly Closing 14/12/2025 23:59 Interview date 23/12/2025

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third‑party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e‑mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to “name of trust” transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic, hardworking, motivated Occupational Therapist to join our Wheelchair Services

The team provides an inpatient / home visit service to wheelchair users of Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancashire patients.

This post is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Band 5 looking for career progression or a current Band 6 looking for a challenge to expand their skills and aim to develop not only their specialist skills but also managerial and leadership skills.

As a forward‑thinking team, we provide a 5 day service.

The successful candidate will become an integral member of the Team, promoting a positive experience and outcomes for our service users.

The JD & PS are currently under AfC review and are subject to change

Main duties of the job

Use complex communication skills and knowledge when working with service users, their families and other provider agencies.

• To involve the service user, family/carers in all relevant discussions about their management and decisions that are made about their wheelchair provision.

• To assess capacity, gain valid informed consent and have the ability to work within a legal framework with service users who lack capacity to consent to treatment.

• To provide leadership; promoting a learning culture for colleagues and other agencies.

• To ensure excellence in service delivery through personal and service development.

• To undertake complex clinical assessments of service users within your sphere of practice.

• To be responsible for carrying out evidence‑based assessment, intervention and evaluation of service user needs in the areas of mobility, posture and pressure relief for children and adults. This may often require periods of lone working
• To continually evaluate the outcomes and reassess treatment and risk assessments as the service user and environment changes and update the intervention / service accordingly.
• To undertake assessments in a clinic environment and in a service users’ home, work or school environment.
• To be professionally responsible, and accountable, for all aspects of own work.
• To develop own clinical specialist skills and when appropriate assist junior colleagues in problem solving.

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To provide clinical input in the assessment and provision of wheelchairs and specialised seating interventions to service users in Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancashire.

The post holder will be responsible for a caseload and the supervision of staff and students as required.

Main Tasks and Responsibilities:

Key Duties.

• To work within Trust clinical guidelines, HCPC and Registrant Body guidelines and to have a working knowledge of national and local standards and to ensure adherence to these and the delivery of a high‑quality service.
• To ensure effective communication processes are followed to meet the needs of service users, relatives/carers and other members of the MDT.
• To maintain a high standard of record keeping regarding service user care, which is comprehensive, concise, valid and audited on a regular basis.
• To provide clinical and professional advice to all members of the therapy team.
• To deputise for B7 therapists when required.
• The role includes a minimum of 85% clinical time within working hours.

Clinical & professional responsibilities.

• Use complex communication skills and knowledge when working with service users, their families and other provider agencies.

• To involve the service user, family/carers in all relevant discussions about their management and decisions that are made about their wheelchair provision.

• To assess capacity, gain valid informed consent and have the ability to work within a legal framework with service users who lack capacity to consent to treatment.

• To provide leadership; promoting a learning culture for colleagues and other agencies.

• To ensure excellence in service delivery through personal and service development.

• To undertake complex clinical assessments of service users within your sphere of practice.

• To be responsible for carrying out evidence‑based assessment, intervention and evaluation of service user needs in the areas of mobility, posture and pressure relief for children and adults. This may often require periods of lone working
• To continually evaluate the outcomes and reassess treatment and risk assessments as the service user and environment changes and update the intervention / service accordingly.
• To undertake assessments in a clinic environment and in a service users’ home, work or school environment.
• To be professionally responsible, and accountable, for all aspects of own work.
• To develop own clinical specialist skills and when appropriate assist junior colleagues in problem solving.

ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES

• To maintain accurate, comprehensive and contemporaneous documentation, in line with legal and service requirements.
• To be actively involved in the collection and inputting of appropriate data and statistics for the use of the service and for audit purposes.

TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES

To maintain own clinical professional development; be aware of the latest evidence‑based practice and new developments; and maintain your registration with the HCPC and comply with their requirements in compiling your CPD portfolio.

To participate in the staff appraisal scheme.

• To support junior staff with clinical supervision and appraisal.
• To participate in the delivery of Learning and Development opportunities to all bands of staff.

• To teach and instruct relatives, carers and other professionals to ensure a consistent approach to service user care and to promote the understanding of the care and use of equipment.

• To educate service users, parents/carers on 24‑hour postural management, the reasoning for this and provide indicators for the need for reassessment.

• To participate in courses and product demonstrations to maintain wheelchair and other mobility equipment skills.
• To undertake Fieldwork Education & regularly supervise students.
• To participate in the induction, training and education of staff in the Wheelchair Service.

LINE MANAGEMENT/SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

• To demonstrate leadership by means of:
  • Effecting change within own sphere of practice when and where indicated
  • Making recommendations to improve services
  • Influencing, motivating, supporting and enabling others to contribute towards the effectiveness and success of the Wheelchair Service.
• To attend, contribute and represent at relevant meetings.
• To demonstrate an understanding of policies relevant to the role including the application of clinical governance and risk management.

CLINICAL GOVERNANCE, RESEARCH & AUDIT

• To demonstrate a sound understanding of Clinical Governance and Risk Management and apply to the work situation.

• To be aware of local and national clinical guidelines and standards of care.

• To network with practitioner colleagues within the trust, across the Northwest and Nationally, to learn together and share good practice.

• To take part in service evaluation and with the use of evidence‑based practice, local and national research/audit; contribute to changes to service provision and clinical working practices.

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• To ensure effective use of resources to support budget management by advising on supply of the most cost‑effective wheelchair and mobility equipment needed to meet each service user’s clinical needs.
• To consider options for service cost improvements.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Degree in Occupational Therapist
• HCPC registration
• Clinical Educators Certificate
• Post Grad accredited study e.g. MSc in relevant health studies

Knowledge & Experience

• Advanced clinical knowledge relevant to the care environment and evidence of evidence based practise in relevant health setting
• Knowledge of relevant national policies and guidance and relevant assessment tools
• Evidence of effective working within an MDT
• Experience of Service development
• Relevant Continuous Professional Development
• Audit and research in a clinical area

Skills

• Demonstrates ability to motivate team performance to achieve objectives
• Ability to prioritise and work to deadlines
• Ability to communicate effectively in a variety of settings
• Accurate record keeping, report writing and IT skills including presentation skills
• Have a flexible approach to working with good time management

Other

• Ability to travel various hospital locations by own car/ assisted driver

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward‑thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under‑represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact Recruitment@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk

We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision‑making process.

The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Working Visa, please click here to check your eligibility before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship.

eVisa Update

For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications will no longer receive a visa vignette in passport as evidence of their permission to enter the UK.

Instead, you will be issued with an eVisa only, which is accessed by creating a UKVI account.

Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to:

• Understand how to generate an eVisa share code

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.

If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.

Flexible Working

We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:

• All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
• There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
• Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.

At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL

Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

The Trust is a non‑smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.

You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.

Additional Information

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here .

An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.

Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.