Specialist Occupational Therapist

We are the Mental Health & Learning Disability NHS Trust for County Durham and Darlington, Teesside, North Yorkshire, York and Selby.

From education and prevention, to crisis and specialist care —our talented and compassionate teams work in partnership with our patients, communities and partners to help the people of our region feel safe, understood, believed in and cared for.

We nurture the recovery journey of anyone in need of our help. In Our Trust, everyone has a say in how they are supported and treated because we listen to every person in our care until they feel understood. Our patients, their families and carers work together with us towards better mental health.

We’re committed to new thinking that improves the wellbeing of our region. We connect with our communities and partners to get mental health care right, in areas that really need it.

We won’t rest until everyone in our region has the mental health care they need, to lead their best possible life.

Job overview

As a Specialist Occupational Therapist in TEWV you will manage a complex caseload independently, assessing occupational performance and delivering specialist occupational interventions, demonstrating adherence to the Trust Values at all times and operating as a leader in the team, service and organisation

• To be responsible for receiving referrals for occupational therapy, triaging and prioritising these, completing evidence-based assessments and interventions to address key occupational areas of self care, productivity and leisure.
• To use client-centred approaches to co-producing negotiated occupational goals and evaluate these with service users collaboratively.
• To participate in clinical/professional and management supervision
• To contribute to multi-disciplinary team working
• To contribute to and lead on service improvement and quality initiatives
• To use the Trust electronic patient record system
• To abide by all Trust policies and procedures
• To be able to respond flexibly and creatively to challenges

Working for our organisation

A new opportunity has arisen for a flexible configuration to cover both the Durham & Darlington IPBS team and the Teesside IPBS team. This could be 1 full time post covering both teams, or it could be 2 x part time posts working approx. 3 days a week in a pattern that works for you as well as the team.

The Intensive Positive Behaviour Support teams work with young people that have a learning disability, and their families, to provide 12-18 weeks high intensity, high fidelity behavioural support following the positive behaviour support (PBS) framework; reducing behaviours of concern and enhancing quality of life.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We are looking for an OT who can work flexibly to meet service need and has the vision, energy and inspiration to develop creative, imaginative solutions to working with young people and families.

It is advantageous for the postholder to have experience of working with people with a Learning Disability.

The postholder will access wider support from the occupational therapy network in CAMHS in TEWV, to develop a way of delivering a high quality, needs-led OT service, utilising core occupational therapy skills to ensure all of the young people have a robust occupational therapy assessment and intervention plan in place.

Clinical/Professional supervision is provided by the Lead Occupational Therapist Lead for CAMHS for the Trust. The postholder will attend OT Learning and Governance Networks to ensure fidelity to core occupational therapy delivery, enhance CPD and contribute to the wider OT service developments.

All team members must be committed to providing the best possible care for the young people and their families/carers.

The successful candidate will be delivering occupational therapy working flexible hours across the entire week.

The ability to engage and communicate with children and young people across the developmental spectrum as well as the parents/carers and system around them is essential. They must be able to demonstrate experience of delivery of occupational therapy, keenness to continually develop themselves and others, and a particular interest in this field of OT.

For further information please contact Jo Evanson, Lead OT, CAMHS email [email protected]

Additional Contact for the Tees IPBS team: Sarah Watson - Team Manager

[email protected]

Person specification

Specialist Occupational Therapist

• Degree in Occupational Therapy or equivalent
• Registration with HCPC
• Successful completion of preceptorship year as a graduate occupational therapist (or equivalent in non-NHS sectors)
• Clinical Supervisory Skills course (or willingness to undertake within agreed timescale)
• Trust training in Appraisal and Recruitment (or willingness to undertake within an agreed timescale)
• Numeracy, Literacy and ITQ level 2 (or equivalent)

• Accredited Practice Placement Educator (APPLE)
• Post-graduate qualification in a relevant area

Experience

• Significant experience of delivering Occupational Therapy including experience working with service users in mental health or learning disabilities with complex needs
• Experience of supervising students on placement
• Experience of participation in quality improvement activities
• Experience of participation in quality improvement activities
• Experience of developing and delivering training

• Day to day supervision of staff

Knowledge

• National guidance and key standards in own specialist area
• Health and Safety legislation and its application in practice
• Legal aspects of Moving and Handling
• Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act and its application in practice
• Clinical Risk Assessment and Management and its application in practice
• Clinical Governance and its application in practice
• Care Programme Approach and its application in practice
• Safeguarding and its application in practice
• Significant knowledge to post-graduate level of the needs and difficulties of service users in designated specialist area
• Significant knowledge of evidence based practice in designated specialist area
• Research and development methodology
• Knowledge of the Trust’s Quality Improvement System (or willingness to learn in agreed timescale)

If the contract type on the vacancy states 'Fixed Term' this would mean the vacancy is being advertised to address a temporary need for the duration stipulated on the advert, however, in the event that permanent funding is secured for the post the successful applicant will be confirmed in post on a permanent basis.

Internal applicants must ensure that prior to applying they have agreement from their current line manager that they can be released on a secondment basis.

Trust Welcome Day

Here at Tees, Esk and Wear Valley Foundation NHS Trust we want you to have a positive experience when you start your new role with us. To ensure you have great welcome, for all new starters joining the Trust, we offer two start dates per month on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of that Month.

For certain clinical roles, your Welcome Day could then be followed by up to 9 days face to face training. If this is applicable to you, further information will be provided ahead of your Welcome Day.

Right to Work in the UK

Non UK / RoI candidates wishing to apply can self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship here Browse: Work in the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Your current immigration status will not be considered as part of the shortlisting or interview process.

Please note that not everyone needs a ‘Skilled Worker’ visa. If you are applying for a vacancy in health or adult social care, you may be eligible to apply for the Health and Care Worker visa instead.

We are able to offer sponsorship for a Health and Care Worker or Skilled Worker visa, subject to candidate and position eligibility. Please review the job eligibility guidance for skilled workers here: Skilled Worker visa: Your job - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and for the Health and Care Worker visa here: Skilled Worker visa: eligible healthcare and education jobs - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you are in the UK already on a visa, please ensure you have no restrictions that would prevent you from taking this post.

AI in Recruitment

This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Newly Qualified Nurses

All band 5 nursing positions are only open to those candidates who already have their NMC registration in place and have successfully completed a preceptorship programme. Please note: Newly qualified applicants or those due to qualify will be recruited via a separate process, for more information about this process please contact: [email protected]

TEWV encourages and supports all staff to be vaccinated as this remains the best line of defence against COVID19.

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust is committed to the protection of staff, service users and visitors to the Trust from second hand smoke and currently operates a no smoking policy which ensures all buildings and grounds are smoke free.

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from individuals who have experience of mental ill health or learning disabilities. Our service users and carers tell us our staff should be consistently concerned with maintaining and improving care with pride, empathy and compassion.

This job advert may close as soon as sufficient suitable applications have been received. If interested please apply for this post as soon as possible.

If this section is not fully completed your application may not be processed.

If your application is successful, the information you give on your application form will be used to create and be retained on your electronic staff record and to provide access to core Trust systems.

Please note that if the post you are applying for requires a DBS check, you will be required to also subscribe to the DBS Update Service, if successful, and thereafter renew your subscription each year. The Trust will reimburse the subscription fee.

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, that as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e-mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has been unsuccessful.