Specialist Occupational Therapist in St Helens

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Main area Therapies Grade NHS AfC: Band 6 Contract Fixed term: 12 months (Maternity Cover until Jan 2028) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 409-8298484

Site St Helens Hospital Town St Helens Salary £39,959 - £48,117 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 01/11/2026 23:59

Job overview

Burns & Plastics Specialist Occupational Therapist- Burns & Plastics

Band 6 - Full time (Maternity leave cover until December 2027)

VAC: 409-8298484

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Mersey Regional Burns, Plastics and Reconstructive Therapy Team based at Whiston Hospital as a Band 6 Occupational Therapist.

The ideal candidate will have a keen interest in burns and plastic surgery and will work in one of the largest units in the UK.

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

Please note- it is the applicant’s responsibility to seek authorisation from their current manager to be released for the secondment before a formal application is made

Main duties of the job

Our therapy team consists of Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Therapy Assistant and Pressure Garment Technicians who continuously strive to provide high-quality person-centred care.

This is a dynamic service that encompasses therapy provision across seven days in which you will play a key role. There will be opportunity to work with inpatients, outpatients and therapy led clinics. This is a rotational role across both clinical areas with the expectation that you will advance your knowledge and skills within the speciality.

As a regional centre we are responsible for the therapy management and rehabilitation of complex, challenging cases and are an integral part of a large multidisciplinary team. You will be an Occupational Therapist who is motivated, enthusiastic and able to demonstrate specialist clinical, interpersonal, communication, organisational, time management and clinical reasoning skills to provide bespoke patient care. You will have the ability to work independently and as a core member of the MDT.

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

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. 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

There is a well-established in-service training programme, and you will be expected to participate in this. You will assist with the development of junior staff and students, completing supervision and appraisals as required. You will actively seek opportunities to support the development of the service.

Our philosophy is to keep the patient at the heart of everything we do. We look for people who are willing to go the extra mile, not because they are asked to, but because they are committed to being part of a healthcare team that delivers an excellent caring service to our patients.

If you are highly motivated, proactive and passionate about delivering high-quality care, would relish the opportunity to join a dynamic, innovative and supportive team and are interested in finding out more about the role, we would love to hear from you.

Due to the highly specialised nature of Burns and Plastics, it is recognised that additional training may be required.

Person specification

Qualifications

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

Our Values

• We are Kind
• We are Open
• We are Inclusive

Experience

• Advanced clinical knowledge relevant to the care environment and evidence of evidence-based practise in relevant health setting
• Awareness of own strengths and limitations
• Knowledge of relevant national policies and guidance and relevant assessment tools
• Experience of line managing a team including setting objectives, conducting appraisals and effective delegation and co-ordination
• Evidence of effective working within an MDT
• Experience of Service development
• Demonstrate experience of problem-solving approaches
• Demonstrates 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

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 Worker 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 1974 (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 will be expected to undertake the Trusts' commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

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.

Name Vikki Engel

Job title Team Lead Burns and Plastics therapy team

Email address vikki.engel@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk

Telephone number 0151 430 1057

Additional information

Lisa Chapple, Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist, Burns & Plastics

Lisa.Chapple@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk

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