Senior Occupational Therapist – Vascular, Orthopaedics & Surgery in Luton

We have an exciting opportunity to appoint a senior occupational therapist to work across our vascular, orthopaedic & surgical wards. You will be working alongside a knowledgeable team of MDT professionals. The role aims to empower patients pre and post operatively & facilitate discharge. We welcome progressing band 5s to Band 6s looking to develop in these specialities. The aim is to provide an inpatient service driven by evidence based practice & enhanced recovery principles.

Vascular

• The rehabilitation of all vascular patients within the acute hospital, including primary amputees & those with multiple limb loss.
• Be involved in patients' entire inpatient journey from pre-assessment to home assessments.
• Be responsible for wheelchair assessments & referrals, including preoperative assessments of total hip, knee replacements & complex elective cases like joint revisions.
• The team also works on the fractured neck of femur unit, covering a variety of trauma cases.

General Surgery

• These wards include a caseload of colorectal, head & neck, urology & breast surgery patients.
• We also receive patients post critical care for rehabilitation.
• The successful candidate will provide cover across the specialties as needed & support is provided to upskill as required.
• Opportunities include attendance at Tracheostomy study day, head injury management courses, spending time with our stoma team & colleagues at the limb fitting centre.

Main duties of the job

• The successful candidate will be responsible for managing their own caseload and supervising rotational band 5 occupational therapists, support staff, students and apprentices.
• There will also be opportunities to support the band 7 team in team management and staff training.
• Regular support and supervision will be available from the Band 7 Occupational Therapist & Physiotherapists within the specialty.
• You will be required to work with other qualified and non-qualified staff to provide a seven day service including Bank Holidays, with a commitment of 1 in 4 weekends with days off in lieu.
• The service provides cover 8:00-20:00 Mon-Fri and 8:00-16:00 at weekends.
• This post will allow you to develop a wide range of clinical, managerial, organisational, teaching and supervision skills.
• You will play an active role in audits and service development.
• We offer a well-established supervision and appraisal structure.
• We encourage individual progression within the Band 6 role and have a firm commitment to in-service training and CPD as well as supporting staff to attend relevant external courses and conferences.

The Luton and Dunstable Hospital Therapy Department are a friendly, forward thinking and innovative department with a well-established Clinical Governance programme and a focus on developing staff.

About us

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region, you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trust's core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity and creating a culture that values differences.

Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering the first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarise yourself with all requirements of the job.

Job responsibilities

Please see job description and person specification provided. If further information is required, please speak to our contact on advert.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

• Dip COT or BSc (Hons) in OT
• HCPC registration
• Evidence of CPD maintained in a portfolio including attendances at recent post graduate courses/ in-service trainings relevant to the speciality
• Membership of BAOT/RCOT or similar

Experience

• Experience of working in an acute hospital environment
• Evidence of broad based postgraduate experience to include experience in orthopaedics or elderly care
• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team
• Work experience, student or therapy assistant supervision
• Experience of supervising junior staff or non-qualified
• Experience within the NHS
• Knowledge of working in liaison with community therapy services and intermediate care services

Skills

• Understand the legal responsibilities of the profession
• Ability to organise, prioritise and delegate appropriately
• Ability to comprehend and work within the Trust's policies of data protection, equal opportunities and health and safety and meet the differing needs of the patients
• Awareness of wider local and national agendas and impact on OT

Communication

• Excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills
• Ability to communicate where there may be barriers to understanding

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such 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.