Stroke Specialist Occupational Therapist

We have an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated Occupational Therapist to join our Integrated Community Stroke Therapy Team, based at Furness General Hospital, providing advanced clinical leadership across both inpatient and community settings. Our Stroke Therapy Team operates within a culture of a strong, supportive multi-disciplinary team which consists of Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Speech and Language Therapists as well as Assistant Practitioners. We promote an inter-disciplinary approach to working when supporting patients to set and work towards meeting person centred goals, helping to enable positive rehabilitation outcomes and facilitate timely discharge from hospital.

Our Stroke Therapy Team are committed to facilitating an environment which promotes professional development and engagement with research opportunities both in house and in collaboration with local universities. There is encouragement given to engage with regular clinical and managerial supervision, to help promote personal professional development and an interdisciplinary approach is taken with the facilitation of clinical supervision for our Assistant Practitioners.

Main duties of the job

• Education: Diploma or Degree in Occupational Therapy approved by the College of OT, UK Health and Care Professions Council registered Occupational Therapist.
• Experience: Transferable knowledge and skills at basic practitioner level with aptitude to develop to experienced OT practitioner level. Relevant post registration experience as an OT to achieve knowledge and skills applicable to this post.
• Skills, Knowledge and abilities: Ability to analyse professional and ethical issues. Ability to apply knowledge of the principles of clinical governance. Understanding of professional conduct and confidentiality. Ability to build effective working relationships. Written and oral communication skills in English sufficient to communicate effectively with patients to gain consent and explain treatment interventions and gain information required for the patient’s medical/social history relevant to OT. Willingness to work flexibly to meet unexpected and unusual circumstances related to providing direct patient care, and have the ability to work across different sites/bases/locations.

Working for our organisation

We operate from three main hospitals - Furness General Hospital (FGH) in Barrow, the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI), and Westmorland General Hospital (WGH) in Kendal, as well as a number of community healthcare premises including Millom Hospital and GP Practice, Queen Victoria Hospital in Morecambe, and Ulverston Community Health Centre. FGH and the RLI have a range of General Hospital services, with full Emergency Departments, Critical/Coronary Care units and various Consultant-led services. WGH provides a range of General Hospital services, together with an Urgent Treatment Centre, that can help with a range of non-life threatening conditions such as broken bones and minor illnesses. All three main hospitals provide a range of planned care including outpatients, diagnostics, therapies, daycase and inpatient surgery. In addition, a range of local outreach services and diagnostics are provided from community facilities across Morecambe Bay. Our Community Service for adults are provided in people's homes, community centres, clinics, GP Practices, community hospitals. Our aim is to work with people to help them remain independent, improve their health and manage their conditions through high quality care, advice and support.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further details on the advertised position and the principal job duties/responsibilities, please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification found under the supporting documents section.

Person specification

• Education: Diploma or Degree in Occupational Therapy approved by the College of OT, UK Health and Care Professions Council registered Occupational Therapist. Practice placement educator accreditation.
• Experience: Relevant post registration experience as an OT to achieve knowledge and skills applicable to this post. Willingness to work flexibly to meet unexpected and unusual circumstances related to providing direct patient care, and have the ability to work across different sites/bases/locations. Experience as a supervisor of OT (Band 5) and/or OT support staff and/or OT students.
• Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Transferable knowledge and skills at basic practitioner level with aptitude to develop to experienced OT practitioner level. Ability to analyse professional and ethical issues. Assessment, observation, evaluation and reporting skills. Knowledge of current best practice in OT. Ability to develop effective working relationships / team working. Ability to apply knowledge of the principles of clinical governance. Understanding of professional conduct and confidentiality. Ability to build effective working relationships. Portfolio of documented evidence of personal Continuing Professional Development. Written and oral communication skills in English sufficient to communicate effectively with patients to gain consent and explain treatment interventions and gain information required for the patient’s medical/social history relevant to OT. Supervisory skills. Experience of caseload management and lone working as an autonomous practitioner. Experience of assessment and prescription of aids and adaptations.

PLEASE NOTE THAT SHORTLISTED APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED BY EMAIL. The Trust promotes flexible working opportunities where ever possible to enable staff to balance their work and home life. We are committed to Equal Opportunities and aim to be Effortlessly Inclusive. The trust operates a No Smoking Policy. Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our Person Specification will be shortlisted for Interview. We reserve the right to close a job advert early where sufficient applications have been received. The Trust does not offer interview expenses to shortlisted candidates unless indicated in the advert.

If the post is subject to Disclosure & Barring Service checking, (formally CRB) a charge of £49.50 for Enhanced and £21.50 for Standard clearance and additional to this a £4.90 administration fee will be made to the successful candidate(s). This currently only applies to roles Band 6 and above and Medical & Dental posts. Anyone newly appointed to the trust under the Agenda For Change contract, will be subject to the completion of a satisfactory 6 month probationary period. This will give the new staff member an opportunity to become familiar with the role and working environment.

We have introduced a new system called Pre-Onboarding, specifically to support you right the way through to your first few months in your new role with us at UHMB. This bespoke site has lots of useful information to help you settle into your new role including: what to expect from the recruitment clearances process, where to get a uniform, when you'll get paid etc. As well as information on a number of our services i.e. Infection Prevention, Anti-fraud, Inclusion and Diversity, Care Certificates and much more.