Senior Occupational Therapist in Alnwick

Main area: Allied Health Professionals Grade NHS AfC: Band 6

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time, Flexible working, 37.5 hours per week (Service operates 8am - 8pm 7 days a week - variable working hours - flexible working considered)

Salary: £39,959 - £48,117 per annum

Closing: Today at 23:59

Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022). Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients.

What the Northumbria Way means for you:

• Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
• Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
• A range of flexible working opportunities
• Generous annual leave and pension scheme
• Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
• Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
• Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank

We work closely with Kids First Nurseries that are based within our trust grounds at Wansbeck, North Tyneside and Hexham hospitals to care for our Trust family's children, they offer care for children from 6 weeks old up to 4 years. There are a number of funding options run by the government to help working parents, including Early Years Funding and Tax Free Childcare.

Flexible working offers choice in where, when, and how we work, ensuring patients remain at the heart of all we do. It’s open to everyone, and we aim to find solutions that work for both you and the organisation. All arrangements must be reasonable and balanced to maintain safe and effective patient care.

We are proud to be one of the country’s top performing NHS trusts – rated ‘outstanding’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England.

Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people’s homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.

We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise – a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people’s lives, such as education, employment and the economy.

If Northumbria Healthcare sounds like somewhere you could belong we would love to hear from you. Visit our website to catch up on our latest news.

Job overview: An exciting opportunity has arisen for Occupational Therapists to join our innovative, proactive well established Occupational Therapy Team at Alnwick Infirmary. We take a home first approach and work collaboratively with the MDT to assist with discharge from hospital at the earliest available opportunity.

The post will allow the successful candidates to gain enhanced clinical experience across a wide range of specialities including, but not limited to, Care of the Elderly and Rehabilitation. This post provides opportunities for development in your clinical specialist area of interest. Elements of this role include leadership, quality improvement, opportunities for audit and research.

Main duties of the job: We are looking for candidates who are motivated, enthusiastic and willing to engage in current service developments & audits and use highly developed Occupational Therapy skills and evidence-based practice to enhance the health and wellbeing of patients. The candidate will be expected to work closely with the wider multi-disciplinary team to foster an environment of high quality and seamless therapy pathways across North Tyneside and Northumberland.

This will ensure high quality individualised care is delivered which focuses on promoting independence and optimising recovery after illness or injury. The successful candidate will be supported by supervision and appraisal processes and will have opportunities to complete specialist training to enhance key skills and knowledge.

Candidates will be responsible for their own clinical practice, delegating work to Occupational Therapy Technical Instructors and support workers where appropriate, and supporting students on clinical placements. The successful candidate will comply with the Royal College of Occupational Therapists Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and National and Trust procedures to deliver a seamless therapy pathway.

The candidate will work autonomously respecting the individuality, values, cultural and religious diversity of patients and contribute to the provision of a service sensitive to these needs.

Working for our organisation: We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, in addition to our state-of-the-art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. We also care for people in their homes and provide services from facilities in local communities such as health centres.

We give people greater choice and control over their care to help them to live independently at home and avoid hospital admission where appropriate. High quality patient care is at the heart of everything we do and we strive to ensure every single patient and service user has an exceptional experience with us.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities: To provide a comprehensive Occupational Therapy service in the specific specialist area(s) following Trust policies and procedures to ensure safety and clinical excellence. To ensure service provision in the specialist areas is prioritised and service delivery is made effectively within resource constraints.

To practice within the multidisciplinary team, providing specialist Occupational Therapy assessments, diagnosis and treatment using clinical reasoning skills. To manage a defined caseload of patients (often with highly complex needs), using evidence based clinical reasoning to assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions.

To provide leadership for junior and support staff, through supervision, appraisals and mentoring. To support service provision across sites when needed, in line with needs of the service. To regularly supervise undergraduate Occupational Therapy students on practice placement and participate in placement experience of other professionals.

To complete home visits with patients where appropriate. The successful candidate may be required to work within an 8am-8pm rostering system. Working patterns between these hours will be considered to accommodate individual needs, in line with needs of the service.

It is an essential requirement of the role that the post holder has a valid driving licence and is either a car owner and able to use the car for work purposes, or has a Trust personal lease vehicle which may be used for the role. However, the Trust would consider making reasonable adjustments to the role, if necessary, to enable a disabled person to undertake the role.

Person specification: Qualifications: Diploma/Degree in O.T. State registered with Health Care Professions Council. Evidence of experience and qualification to undertake the supervision, teaching and assessing of students and junior staff or registered to complete within 12 months. Qualified for a minimum of 18 months.

Experience and knowledge: Full UK driving licence. Hospital/Community experience in Physical health. Experience of team leadership. Experience of acute working. Experience in D2A model.

Applicants who are members of the Armed Forces, those who have a disability that requires support in the workplace (two ticks pledge) and those who have been looked after by the care system as a child or young person (for example, in foster care, children's homes, kinship or local authority care) who meet the essential criteria will be interviewed under the Trust's interview guarantee scheme.

We recognise the positive value of diversity and inclusion and are committed to a workforce that is diverse, equal and inclusive. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME people are currently under-represented in our workforce as well as other under-represented groups such as LGBT+ and disabled candidates.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, we have a Gold award from the Defense Recognition Scheme, and we are delighted to support Apprenticeships, Age Positive and are a mindful employer.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend interview please make the recruitment team aware as soon as possible by calling our HR Recruitment Team on 0191 203 1415 option 2.

Applicants who meet the Fit and Proper Person Requirements (FPPR) will require additional pre-employment checks in line with CQC and NHS England statutory guidance.

Make sure to read the ‘applicant guidance notes’ before submitting your application and make sure you know everything there is to know before joining our fantastic trust!

Certificate of Sponsorship: Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust proudly hold a sponsor licence. In order to provide sponsorship you and the role you are applying for must meet UKVI eligibility requirements. Please check your eligibility prior to submitting an application.

Skilled Worker visa: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Please note that it is a requirement of this Trust that all successful applicants pay for their own DBS certification if a DBS check is required for the post. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first monthly pay.