Senior Specialist Occupational Therapist

Senior Specialist Occupational Therapist Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

Are you a highly motivated individual with experience of working with children and families who would like to gain experience working in Evelina London Children's Hospital? We are looking for a Band 7 Occupational Therapist (OT) to join our inpatient paediatric OT team. This role is a 12 month full time fixed term post based at the St Thomas' Hospital site.

Occupational therapy can help babies, children and young people learn and play, so that they can develop, and reach their full potential and adapt to life with complex medical conditions. Occupational therapy enables them and their families to participate in daily life to improve their health and wellbeing.

Main duties of the job

Your role will involve working on the cardiac ward, critical care and Paediatric Intensive Care units, assessing infant and child development and occupational performance, working in collaboration with families to set goals and provide individualised advice and early intervention as required. You will provide neuro-developmental surveillance to these high risk infants and refer to community services to ensure children meet their developmental potential.

Your role will involve working closely with the occupational therapy and wider multidisciplinary inpatient teams and you will support with providing cover across other hospital wards. It may also require working across our hospital sites at the Royal Brompton Hospital.

The successful applicant will possess excellent verbal and written communication skills, as liaison with the multi-disciplinary team and with our community colleagues in health, education and social services, is essential.

About us

We are a friendly, welcoming and supportive team, offering a culture of ongoing professional development and learning. Alongside a focus on clinical excellence, ongoing improvement and innovation, our team wellbeing is also prioritised with regular opportunities to participate in social activities, team events and reflective practice. We offer opportunities to participate in departmental audits, service improvement projects or research projects. We have a monthly professional development programme for all staff.

You will receive individual supervision from one of the senior therapists within the paediatric occupational therapy team, and be further supported by the clinical lead paediatric OT and professionally managed by the trust's Occupational Therapy Lead.

Job responsibilities

This key responsibilities of this post is to provide a high-quality Occupational Therapy Service to a specialist caseload of children in inpatient services: Cardiology as outlined below. Please refer to the attached job description for full details.

• To manage a complex caseload within Children's Services using advanced clinical reasoning, critical thinking, reflection and analysis to support assessments using a client centred approach and current evidence base to assess, treat, implement, evaluate and document Occupational Therapy interventions.
• To support and advise colleagues within the hospital and community in the management of complex cases requiring advanced clinical reasoning.
• To lead and advise on clinical Occupational Therapy developments, audit and research within Children's Services and related Trust wide projects.
• To be responsible for maintaining awareness of current evidence base to assess, treat, implement, evaluate and document Occupational Therapy interventions.
• To be responsible for the maintenance and development of own CPD identifying and contributing to the evidence base of Occupational Therapy.
• To educate Occupational Therapy Students on practice placements.
• To support the management of the Occupational Therapy Service as required by the Heads of Service.

Person Specification Knowledge/Qualifications

• Diploma or Degree in Occupational Therapy
• HCPC Registration
• Masters level or equivalent training in specialist area or evidence of significant practical experience, research or publication in specialist area.
• Member of professional bodies - RCOT
• Member of relevant specialist interest groups, forums or networks

Experience

• Experience commensurate with a senior specialist paediatric occupational therapist role.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and post registration education and training.
• Ability to supervise junior staff and students.
• High standard of performance in general paediatric skills.
• Experience of Audit or quality improvement
• Experience of research
• Experience of working with children with complex neurological conditions
• Experience of working with children with disorders of posture and movement
• Experience of working in HDU or PICU settings

Skills

• Specialist knowledge, understanding and application to OT process relating to client centred practice in paediatrics
• Specialist knowledge, application and analysis of standardised and non-standardised assessment
• Ability to work autonomously, acting decisively on behalf of self and others
• Experience of working within multi-disciplinary team
• Ability to promote clinical excellence in self and others
• Ability to demonstrate clinical leadership
• Proven experience in training, teaching and supervision of others
• Knowledge of common paediatric neurological and cardiac conditions
• Knowledge of developmental care approach and interventions
• Experience of upper limb assessment and management

Personal Qualities

• Ability to work flexibly and adapt approaches in response to clinical needs and priorities
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to manage conflict positively

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.

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

12 months

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

196-LIS9266

Job locations

Evelina London Children's Hospital - Beckett House

Salary: £54,320 to £60,981 a year p.a. inc. HCA (pro rata)