Senior Occupational Therapist

We are looking for an enthusiastic Senior Occupational Therapist to join the Therapies Department at the University Hospitals of North Midlands. The post offers the opportunity to work in an exciting University Hospital based on the two hospital sites of The Royal Stoke and County Hospital.

Main duties of the job

• The post rotates across a variety of specialist inpatient and outpatient areas which include:
• Critical Care – early rehabilitation of trauma, surgical, medical and neurological patients, including cognitive assessment, functional assessment, splinting and casting.
• Palliative Care - oncology/renal conditions, fast track discharge planning & complex manual handling assessments & equipment provision. Long term life limiting conditions and challenging conversations.
• Frail Elderly - frailty management, patients with dementia, falls management, complex discharge planning.
• Emergency Portals - rapid decision making in relation to discharge planning and equipment provision & admission avoidance. Working across A&E and same day discharge wards.
• Medicine - wide range of medical conditions including Non-Invasive Ventilation, MND, Cardiology & post Critical Care Step down, complex discharge planning, specific knowledge in seating wheelchairs.
• Orthopaedics – At County we also offer input to elective orthopaedics supporting complex discharges.

Working for our organisation

The UHNM NHS Trust covers Royal Stoke Hospital in Stoke on Trent and County Hospital in Stafford. Royal Stoke is a large acute teaching hospital, with a turnover of £360 million. Located in Stoke on Trent and Stafford, UHNM is close to the M6, within commuting distance of culturally diverse major conurbations, such as Manchester and Birmingham and surrounded by rural pleasures, including the Peak District National Park. Each year Royal Stoke cares for over 600,000 people providing emergency treatment, planned operations and medical care. It is a leading teaching hospital in partnership with Keele University and has a patient-centred clinical research facility providing state-of-the-art facilities.

Investing in the health and wellbeing of our staff is really important to us. We offer a range of options for our staff to help maintain a good work-life balance including full time, part time hours and bank hours. We are also committed to offering flexible working wherever we can and where relevant to the role and the service, agile working. You can select your preferences upon application.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further information on this vacancy, please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification or contact the Hiring Manager.

Person specification

Education & Qualifications

• Degree/Diploma in Occupational Therapy
• Registered with HCPC
• CPD relevant to speciality area

Experience

• Minimum of 18 months post-graduate experience as an Occupational Therapist
• Experience gained in an acute setting
• Demonstrable experience of complex discharge planning
• NHS experience
• 2-4 years post graduate experience

Skills, Ability and Knowledge

• Experience of multidisciplinary working
• Experience of audits
• Clinical Educator
• Experience across a wide range of clinical settings, acute, community, mental health
• Experience of cognitive assessments

Important information about your application

All correspondence will be sent to you via the email address you applied from. Please ensure you check your emails regularly. References - please ensure you provide email addresses for all referees for the last three years of employment. We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from everyone regardless of ethnicity, disability, gender, age, faith or sexual orientation. Appointment will be based on merit alone. Flexible working will be considered in line with Trust policies.

New recruits are required to pay for their Disclosure and Barring Service check (and admin fee) prior to starting if the role requires a DBS check.

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) has been awarded the Gold Award for proudly supporting those who serve. We actively encourage applications from the Armed Forces community.

If you obtained your qualifications overseas, you will be required to provide an official government translation through ECCTIS (formerly known as NARIC). Please note, this is in addition to any professional registration requirements and not a replacement for your qualifications.

If you are currently in the UK on a visa, you must have at least six months remaining on your visa at the time of your start date to ensure sufficient time for the operational and training process associated with the role. The requirement of at least six months remaining on your visa does not apply to a Skilled Worker Visa, as a new Skilled Worker Visa would be required for a new role.

In line with the change of Immigration rules on 8th January 2026 if you require Sponsorship through the Skilled Worker Visa you must be able to provide B2 English evidence before a Certificate of Sponsorship can be issued.

Visa eligibility notice: The UK Home Office has imposed an emergency brake on specific visa routes. Skilled Worker visas cannot currently be issued to Afghan nationals. Study visas cannot currently be issued to nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar or Sudan. As a result, we are unable to progress applications requiring sponsorship under these routes.

UHNM supports the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist in preparing your supporting statement. However, we reserve the right to reject applications where AI has been used in a misleading manner, for example, by implying experience or understanding that the applicant does not possess or where its use is excessive or unfair. If AI has been used to support your application, you must declare this within your submission.

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.