London - Senior Specialist Community Children Occupational Therapists
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it.Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’.Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS.We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
We have an exciting opportunity for you to join our team. We are looking for two highly specialist experienced band 7 children's occupational therapists, to join our dynamic Evelina London Community Children Occupational Therapy team. We have a part time as well as full time positions available.
The successful candidates will have the opportunity to work in collaboration with families to deliver occupations focussed therapy to children and families in clinics, home and school as well as work alongside colleagues in the multidisciplinary/multiagency team.
The post holders will be experienced with working with children with Autism Related Disorders as well as other developmental difficulties - preferably in community settings. All post holders will work under the supervision of experienced clinical specialists/ team leaders .
Interviews will take place on 11th June 2025
Main duties of the job
The post holders will have the opportunity to work alongside the Occupational Therapy leadership team and support service development and quality improvement and participate in transformation work within their roles.
You will have the opportunity to provide various models of care ranging from direct intervention including groups, parent intervention and advice & consultation. The post holder will be professionally supported through supervision and given the opportunity to further develop and build on their specialist clinical skills and knowledge with the support of Evelina Healthcare Community Children's Occupational Therapy Services.
As well as supervising band 6 Occupational Therapists, the post will also provide you with the following opportunities:
- To both lead and participate in service training
- To participate in service evaluation and design to support efficiency in care
- To lead on care pathways, service developments and service innovation projects
Working for our organisation
You will working within a large team of Occupational Therapists that truly believe in putting children and their families at the centre of what we do.
You will be supporting babies, children, young people (0-19 years), with a wide range of health, physical, learning or development difficulties and/or disabilities. We aim to enable a child’s participation within their own environment, and as such your work will be across home and education settings, as well as in our child development centres.
You will be an integral part of the multidisciplinary team, including Paediatricians, Speech and Language Therapists, Physiotherapists, Dietitians, School Nurses, Health Visitors, and the administrators which support the this team.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Job Description for full details of duties and responsibilities.- To carry out advanced Occupational Therapy assessments and treatments of children referred to the service who have a range of special needs particularly children complex social and communication disorders such as Autism.
- To manage a highly specialist caseload independently
- To use advanced clinical reasoning skills to analyse and interpret complex assessment findings, from both standardised and non-standardised assessments in order to help contribute and formulate uni-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary outcomes.
- To identify and select from a wide variety of therapeutic interventions which is evidence based using a client centred approach taking into account any clinical risk.
- To teach and demonstrate specific therapeutic techniques to parents/carers and education staff to enable them to carry out an Occupational Therapy programme designed specifically for their child.
- Evaluate client intervention and progress using appropriate outcome measures and evaluation tools. Modify treatment programmes as appropriate and discharge clients when the need for Occupational Therapy is no longer indicated.
- To provide the Occupational Therapy services to children in schools. This will involve the management, co-ordination and delivery of therapy on site, supervising more junior occupational therapy staff. The therapist will liaise directly with the Head Teacher and staff on issues such as setting of priorities and teacher training.
Person specification
Experience
Essential criteria- Experience of multidisciplinary team working and multi agency working.
- Previous experience of working in community and/or education settings
- Evidence of advanced clinical reasoning skills in relation to treatment and assessment of paediatric clients.
- Experience of managing other occupational therapists/ support staff.
- Evidence of advanced clinical reasoning skills in relation to treatment and assessment of paediatric clients.
- Knowledge and experience of a wide range of assessment and treatment techniques for paediatric neuro development.
Skills
Essential criteria- Able to organise and manage own caseload, and delegate to less senior members of staff.
- Have a understanding of the Special Education Needs Legislation
- Show evidence of being selfmotivated and remaining updated with professional practice and new research.
- Able to formulate care programmes, and identify goals.
Knowledge
Essential criteria- Recognised training course for an Occupational therapist.
- State registered Occupational Therapist (Health Professional Council)
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service.We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.
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