Band 6 Paediatric Occupational Therapist
Job overview
We are delighted to be able to offer a committed and experienced clinician the opportunity to join our children’s community service. This is a community post, across the large city of Birmingham, with a caseload of children and young people with neurological and developmental conditions.We would like to recruit an individual who has a keen interest in working with children and families within the community and as part of a multi agency team.
The work will primarily involve a combination of clinic based assessments delivering intervention in the form of prescribed Packages of Care.
The successful candidate will contribute to the development of the OT service alongside colleagues and the Service Clinical Manager for Paediatric OT. You will also have responsibility for supervision of designated staff.
We work across the whole City, within a range of community/educational settings, thus requiring successful applicants to demonstrate a high level of flexibility.
We value our OTs within the team and advocate career progression internally. We encourage our OTs to contribute to service development, and we value new ideas and experiences.
We offer a supportive working environment with access to specialist clinical support, and an emphasis on sharing good practice through effective team working.
Access to reliable transport or means of travel is essential. The post-holder may be required to transport items of therapy equipment on a regular basis.
Main duties of the job
Main duties of the job
To be responsible for the assessment and on-going therapeutic management of children in a designated community area/ clinic. The post holder will competently assess and deliver OT programmes to children in the service without the need for direct supervision and will be accountable for their own clinical work as well as to their nominated supervisor.
To provide Occupational Therapy intervention at a specialist level to schools, functioning as an integral member of multi-professional team to support in the holistic assessment, diagnosis and intervention of children and young people according to agreed contracts
They will act as a source of clinical expertise/advice and guidance for families, carers and other members of the multidisciplinary team, including health, education and social care staff.
Working for our organisation
Be Part of Our Team...
BCHC has more than 5000 staff working across Birmingham and the West Midlands in a wide range of community nursing and specialist healthcare roles. BCHC delivers over 100 clinical services, in people's homes, health centres, clinics and inpatient facilities.We deliver a wide range of services for children, young people and families as well as adults and community services, two community hospitals, services for people with learning disabilities, the internationally recognised West Midlands Rehab Centre and one of Europe’s leading Dental Hospitals and School of Dentistry.
We deliver all of this with a commitment to integrated, personalised care that is rooted in our local communities. We have an ambition to deliver outstanding, integrated care as one of the key NHS providers in the West Midlands.
If you want to ‘Be Part of Our Team’ and work with a Foundation Trust which is continuously striving for best care and healthy communities, we want to hear from you
Detailed job description and main responsibilities- To be responsible for a clinical caseload, monitoring own, and others workload/ treatment methods, in order to maintain high professional standards, advising Professional Lead Occupational Therapist of related issues.
- To be professionally accountable and responsible for all aspects of own work, including the management of children on the caseload
- To support the Professional Lead to clearly differentiate between the core and traded service offers and contribute to working through any issues and process matters that need to be addressed
- To assess and reassess the needs of the child, analysing and interpreting the information gathered to provide a diagnosis or contribute to the diagnosis and formulate a treatment plan.
- To provide care plans to meet goals and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions using appropriate outcome measures and make any necessary modifications
- Develop intervention packages to be delivered as group therapy and/or one to one sessions in line with core and traded models of care.
- To work closely with the Clinical Lead to develop packages of intervention and to produce materials as appropriate to support these packages.
- To carry out nursery/school and/or home visits as appropriate teaching others to carry out activities as appropriate to support treatment goals.
- To provide specialist OT advice and suggestions to other professionals involved e.g. education staff, doctors, physiotherapists, and speech and language therapists, etc.
- To assess, provide and monitor the use of aids and appliances, liaising with Occupational Therapists from the Disabled Children’s Social Care team and teach the parents/carers and education staff about health and safety issues surrounding the equipment.
- To supervise OT students on practice placement.
- To communicate effectively and sensitively with children and carers to maximise rehabilitation potential and ensure understanding of the condition and its implications, at times where English may not be the first language. This will involve the use of a range of communication skills including persuasion, motivation, explanation and an understanding of alternative communication systems that may be used by the child, including sign language, gestures and other non-verbal methods.
- To communicate user-related information effectively to the multi-disciplinary team, including colleagues in Education, Social Care and Health and acute services to ensure the delivery of a co-ordinated service.
- To use highly developed negotiation and interpersonal skills when working with professionals, children and young people within an education environment, showing sound understanding of the drivers and outcomes required with the education system
- To contribute to the development of new service delivery model in order to facilitate the effective use of resources and meet the current demands and changes.
- To work closely with the Professional Lead to develop relationships with schools and other settings and to promote and develop new areas of the business
- To support the development of traded services in the OT department, including the promotion of new areas of business and actively seeking new business opportunities
- To be involved in different service development and clinical governance activities e.g. may lead clinical audit, undertake research etc. specific to setting
- To work in accordance with the College of Occupational Therapists Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct 2021.
- The post holder will be required to competently use the email and IT systems for correspondence, and maintain office systems such as spread sheets and data bases.
- To complete timely accurate written and electronic records of patient’s care, maintaining service standards and following departmental clinical record keeping guidelines. The post holder will also be required to input activity into the IT systems.
- To deal with incoming and outgoing correspondence, telephone calls and enquiries in an appropriate manner.
- To attend and contribute to Paediatric Occupational Therapy and Inclusion Services Staff Meetings, and in-service Training Sessions.
- To be able to use Trust IT systems to ensure up to date written and electronic records and activity data are maintained in accordance with Professional and Trust standards and provide specialist occupational therapy records relevant to education and community setting.
- Develop and empower all members of your team to perform to high standards and innovate.
- Ensure supportive staff management arrangements are in place and carry out personal development reviews for direct reports. Ensure all staff in your team/s have annual PDR’s resulting in specific objectives and effective personal development plans in line with the Knowledge and Skills Outline Framework.
Person specification
Qualifications / training
Essential criteria- Occupational Therapy Diploma or Degree.
- Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council
- Evidence of recent relevant CPD
- Full Membership of the College of Occupational Therapists.
Experience
Essential criteria- Must have significant post registration experience
- Must have relevant neurological/rehabilitation experience
- Experience of working with children within an educational setting/multi professional team
- Knowledge of the use of special seating and ability to assess requirements.
Skills/knowledge
Essential criteria- Proven ability to liaise and work with other professionals and agencies
- Knowledge of the National Curriculum, Ofsted frameworks and LA drivers for SENCOs and School Leadership Teams
- Highly developed negotiation and influencing skills with emerging clinical leadership.
- Strong analytical and planning skills
- IT literate and competent in the use of Microsoft office
Personal qualities
Essential criteria- Can prioritise own workload
- Able to reflect on own clinical practice and initiate appropriate changes.
Other job requirements
Essential criteria- Evidence of Continuing Professional Development
- Understanding of the relevance of the principles of clinical effectiveness
- Is able and willing to travel around the city.
Disability Confident Employer and Guaranteed Interview Scheme
BCHC offers a guaranteed interview to any candidate who is Disabled, Neurodiverse, has a hidden or long term health condition as recognised under the Equality Act 2010, providing they meet the essential criteria of the job role, as set out in the person specification.We encourage applicants to submit their applications and to request any reasonable adjustments where required.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Birmingham is a fantastic place to live and we serve a wide range of people and communities. BCHC are an advocate of diversity and strive to mirror the community we serve as much possible.
We are committed to and actively promote equality of opportunity for all staff and applications from individuals from all areas of the community who meet the specific criteria are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage/civil partnerships.
Promoting Workforce Equality
In response to data held by BCHC which demonstrates that individuals from particular protected characteristics are under-represented, BCHC are striving to redress these imbalances. In order to do this, the Trust is committed to the employment and career development of individuals with these protected characteristics.As part of this commitment and given this under-representation, the Trust guarantees an interview to any applicants from under-represented groups for positions at Band 8a and above whose application meets the essential criteria for the post as detailed on the Person Specification.
The Trust is currently under-represented in terms of people who identify as Black, Minority Ethnic (BME) and welcomes applicants from these communities. Selection will be on the basis of merit. In order to ensure the diversity of our workforce and understand the differing needs of our communities, the Trust is committed to the principles of Positive Action.
Flexible Working
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHC) supports a variety of flexible working practices and, where possible (given our range of services and community settings) dependent upon the requirements associated with the role, will actively consider requests made and support these where practically possible.This may include hybrid patterns of working to enable colleagues to request the flexibility of a mixture of home/base working.
In accordance with the NHS People Promise, the Trust is committed to facilitating a healthy work/life balance that is essential to health and wellbeing and to making BCHC a ‘Great Place to Work’. We will be happy to discuss and consider all requests relating to working patterns and hours at your interview so please do ask!
Benefits of working for us:
- Full NHS terms and conditions including extensive holidays, Agenda for Change pay with enhancements
- Attractive relocation payment if you relocate to the local area.
- Discounts for local and national retailers
- Dedicated well-being services for all employees
- Flexible working where possible