Senior Occupational Therapist (Acute)

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic Occupational Therapist to join our Orthopaedic trauma Therapy team. The successful candidate will support the Team Leads and Clinical Service Leads in the delivery of Occupational Therapy interventions across the Orthopaedic Trauma ward, our outlying trauma patients, and the Therapy Rehabilitation Area at RAEI, as well as supporting the future development of the services and its staff. The post offers the opportunity to work alongside the dynamic Physiotherapy team.

Main duties of the job:

• To carry out specialist assessment and treatment interventions for patients admitted to RAEI with the aim to optimise functional independence and safety.
• To facilitate safe and timely discharges with appropriate transfer of care and/or referral to community health and social care providers.
• Contribute to the determination of a clinical diagnosis, develop, deliver, implement, evaluate, and modify individualised treatment programmes and/or provide specialist advice, ensuring appropriate pathways of care.
• Communication via liaison and referral to other agencies as required.
• Take part in the education and training of Occupational therapists and qualified and non-qualified healthcare/social services/education staff including medical staff.
• To support the Team Leads and Clinical Service Manager in the day-to-day running of the Occupational Therapy service within the Orthopaedic trauma therapy service.
• To work alongside the wider MDT (health and social services) on the delivery of interventions as required.

Key results from the job holder:

• To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of your own work and to maintain overall accountability for delegated duties of treatment to junior staff/assistant staff and students for patients on your caseload.
• To plan, prepare and undertake client interventions for a designated caseload in line with professional and national standards and guidelines.
• To maintain a professional portfolio of Continuing Professional Development recording learning outcomes through participation in internal and external development opportunities.
• To use clinical judgement in order to prioritise caseload in line with clinical guidelines and protocols.

Planning and Organisational Duties:

• To use clinical reasoning skills to identify patients who require occupational therapy intervention.
• To ensure interventions take place in the most appropriate setting, e.g. ward, therapy assessment area, department, virtually, in client’s home.
• To identify areas of occupational performance and skill deficit in all functional activities of daily life.
• To work with patients and/or carers to formulate goals as part of an overall care plan in co-operation with the multi-professional team using recognised goal setting system.
• To plan and implement individual and/or group interventions in collaboration with patient and/or carers using graded activity to achieve therapeutic goals.
• To monitor, evaluate and modify treatment for clients with multiple needs/pathology in order to measure progress and ensure effectiveness of intervention.
• To demonstrate and apply a broad level of understanding of the effect of disability and recommend adaptations to the client’s physical and social environment.
• To justify own clinical judgements when differences of opinion occur.
• To contribute to patient-related development and activities within the multi-professional team.
• To identify and implement service and practice development within own area of clinical specialism in conjunction with supervisor and/or manager.
• To comply with the Royal College of Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Health Professionals Council Guidance and National and Trust Policies and Procedures.
• To demonstrate understanding of national and local guidelines and legislation relating to health and social care and their impact on service delivery.
• To review and reflect on own practice and performance through effective use of professional and operational supervision and appraisal.
• To maintain accurate and comprehensive patient treatment records in line with Trust Policies and RCOT Standards of Practice.
• To maintain timely statistics and other records as requested by the Therapy Service and the Trust.
• To monitor the quality of record keeping for support staff and students.
• To participate in the day-to-day organisation and development of the Therapy Service.
• To exercise good personal time management, punctuality and consistent reliable attendance.
• To advise the Therapy Lead on resources required to carry out the job.
• To prescribe wheelchairs and equipment for patient use within resources available in Health, Social Services and Education.
• To plan and implement the induction of junior staff/students.
• To demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate current research, apply them to practice and disseminate findings at a local level.
• To broaden research and development skills through participation in local audit and research projects.

Communications and Key Working Relationships:

• To demonstrate effective communication skills towards patients, relatives/carers, team members, occupational therapy colleagues and other agencies.
• To be able to organise and take a lead in multi-disciplinary team/inter-disciplinary team meetings and case conferences.
• To maintain good working relationships.
• To convey information on diagnosis, prognosis and treatment plans in a range of verbal and non-verbal forms that clients/relatives can understand.
• Use a variety of skills to gain consent and co-operation to treatment plans.
• To act as an advocate for patients' needs when necessary.
• To be a key worker for clients.
• To respect the individuality, values, cultural and religious diversity of patients and contribute to the provision of a service sensitive to these needs.
• To handle sensitive or private information regarding a patient or team member with sensitivity, compassion and confidentiality.

Responsibility for Human Resources:

• To undertake the supervision of junior staff as delegated by senior staff.
• To regularly supervise, evaluate and assess occupational therapy students to include negotiating learning contracts and setting objectives.
• To comply with annual PDR and appraisal system.

Responsibility for Health & Safety:

• Compliance with the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 – the post holder is required to fulfil a proactive role towards the management of risk in all of their actions.
• This entails the risk assessment of all situations, the taking of appropriate actions and reporting of all incidents, near misses and hazards, and a statutory duty of care for their own personal safety and that of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions.
• To be aware of Health and Safety aspects of your work and implement any policies which may be required to improve the safety of your work area, including the prompt reporting and recording of accidents to senior staff, and ensuring that equipment is safe.
• To be responsible for the monitoring of materials and equipment and bring defects or deficits to the attention of senior staff.
• To contribute to the Trust's clinical governance arrangements and quality agenda.

Responsibility for Teaching:

• To educate patients, relatives and carers in conditions and their effects in order to adapt to an appropriate lifestyle.
• To receive, plan and deliver in-service training for own profession and others.
• To participate in the planning, evaluation and audit of practices, clinical pathways and protocols within your clinical area.
• To participate with other team members in measurement of and evaluation of work and current practice through use of outcome measures and audit.

Work Circumstances & on-call:

• To contribute to seven day service provision by participating in weekend working.
• To work flexibly across a number of wards on the hospital site.

Person specification:

• Qualifications: Diploma/Degree in Occupational Therapy, HCPC Registration.
• Experience: Range of experience of treating patients within an acute setting, experience of managing own clinical caseload including ability to prioritise and delegate when appropriate, advising and supporting junior staff and/or students, experience of working as an autonomous practitioner, experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team and contributing to ward meetings/handovers, experience of assessing and treating patients with more complex needs, NHS experience.
• Skills: Understanding of the core skills of Occupational Therapy within the elective orthopaedic setting, supervisory skills, able to maintain judgement under pressure, effective written, verbal and non-verbal communication skills, able to manage own workload and determine priorities, able to reflect and critically appraise own performance and utilise self-directed learning, effective overall personal time management, comprehensive clinical reasoning skills relevant to caseload, ability to work flexibly, good IT skills.
• Knowledge: Post graduate training/CPD in relevant area of practice, knowledge of current best practice in acute Occupational therapy, comprehensive knowledge of a range of relevant medical clinical conditions, knowledge of a range of assessment tools, comprehensive knowledge of relevant Occupational Therapy interventions, knowledge of relevant ADL equipment and their application, understanding of Health, Safety and Risk Management Policies, documented evidence of continuing professional development, knowledge of the principle elements of Clinical governance.
• Additional: Clear vision of Professional role, clear interest in this area of practice, knowledge and/or specific training in relevant moving and handling techniques, access to transport for work purposes, participation in 7 day service provision, speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to their role.