Specialist Occupational Therapist in Newcastle upon Tyne

Main area 317 Virtual Wards Grade Band 6 Contract Fixed term: 12 months (from date of appointment) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 317-2026-30-043-A

Employer The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Regent Point Town 317 Regent Point Salary £39,959 - £48,117 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing Today at 23:59 Interview date 15/10/2026

Specialist Occupational Therapist

Band 6

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS hospital trusts in the country. We have around 16,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.7 billion.

With strong history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation regionally, nationally and internationally, w e’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country.

As well as providing a wide range of hospital and community services, we support people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency. Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a motivated and experienced Band 6 Occupational Therapist to join our dynamic and supportive Urgent Community Response (UCR) and Frailty Virtual Ward (FVW) teams based at Regent Point. This is a fixed- term post for a duration of 12 months from the date of commencement, offering the chance to work within a multi-disciplinary environment committed to delivering high-quality, patient-centred care.

The service operates from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, seven days a week. We are happy to consider flexible working arrangements to support work-life balance. You will be well supported by a team of experienced, dedicated, and compassionate professionals who are committed to delivering excellence in community care.

Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for a full outline of essential and desirable criteria.

Please note: A full UK car driving licence and access to a vehicle for work purposes is essential for this role.

Main duties of the job

To conduct timely and proactive assessments of patients requiring an urgent response within two hours of referral.

To provide short-term rehabilitation and follow-up care to support patients’ recovery and prevent deterioration.

To assess and engage with frail patients within the Frailty Virtual Ward, supporting them to achieve optimal levels of safety, independence, health and wellbeing.

To work closely with the multidisciplinary team to provide optimum care to patients.

To maintain frail patients safely at home through comprehensive risk assessments and risk management strategies, with the aim of avoiding unnecessary hospital admission.

Working for our organisation

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

With around 2 million contacts with patients every year, we deliver care from:

• Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria

These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.

We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.

Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under ‘Documents to download’ or ‘Supporting documents’.

For further information on The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit: Careers | Newcastle Hospitals | NHS | Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To work as an Occupational Therapist within the Frailty Virtual Ward Team.
• To provide a high standard of occupational therapy assessment, intervention, treatment and discharge planning to complex and highly complex patients within specialist area evidencing high level problem solving, reasoning skills and independence of judgement.
• To be an active member of the multi-disciplinary virtual ward team and provide day to day supervision of junior and support staff and students working in the specialist area.
• The specialist practitioner is clinically in charge for the Occupational Therapy Service within the area of practice providing highly specialist knowledge within the Trust and externally to therapists and other health care professionals from secondary and primary care.
• To maintain clinical records.
• To be responsible for own continued professional development.

Person specification

Qualifications & Education

• Degree/Diploma in OT
• State registered with Health & Care Professions Council
• Member of BAOT
• Current UK driving licence

Knowledge & Experience

• In-depth clinical knowledge of medical conditions and their effect on occupational performance
• Highly developed understanding of OT process within acute setting
• In-depth knowledge of health and social care policy, risk assessment and management
• Extensive knowledge of a range of disability equipment
• Extensive knowledge of eligibility criteria and procedures/policies relevant to disability equipment, minor housing adaptations
• Highly specialist knowledge of moving and handling legislation and knowledge of current moving and handling best practice and associated equipment
• Excellent understanding of professional ethics and their application into practice
• Good knowledge of clinical governance
• Evidence of CPD
• Significant post-registration experience including experience within physical health
• Use of functional assessment and activity analysis
• Experience of working with patients with physical disability e.g., reduced mobility
• Team management
• Experience in supervising staff
• Knowledge of undertaking research and audit projects
• Knowledge of team dynamics and team building

Skills & Abilities

• Good organisation, time management, problem solving and prioritisation skills
• Supervisory, team management skills
• Ability to work as part of a team
• Commitment to personal and service development
• Effective written and oral communication skills
• Ability to reflect and critically appraise own performance

Important note on completion of reference section of Application Form

All references from current and previous employers will be sought and must cover a minimum of 3 years employment. Therefore, when completing the reference section of your application form, please give the address, telephone number and work email address of each of your current/previous line managers that cover 3 years employment. Failure to complete this section may result in your application not being processed.

Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.

Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e‑mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has been unsuccessful.

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.

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