Senior Specialist Neonatal Occupational Therapist
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
This is an exciting role for a Band 7 Occupational Therapist to help develop and deliver the Neonatal Occupational Therapy Service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
Neonatal OT promotes infant neurodevelopment on the neonatal unit by empowering parents/caregivers to provide developmentally supportive care, considering adaptations to the environment to promote an optimal sensory experience for brain development with the aim to support improved outcomes babies and families.
The level 3 NICU is one unit that is divided into three areas:
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) – provides support for babies with breathing problems and other specialist treatment needs
- High Dependency Unit (HDU) – provides support for babies who require less intensive care than babies in NICU, but are still not stable enough for care in the SCBU
- Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) – provides support for babies who need tube feeding, additional oxygen support and light therapy (phototherapy).
You will be working closely with our AHP colleagues in Physiotherapy, Speech & Language Therapy, Dietetics and Psychology, as well as the wider MDT, to deliver a comprehensive Neonatal service.
Main duties of the job
To take a lead role, as an autonomous practitioner, in the advanced assessment and treatment of acutely ill neonatal patients, with cardiac, respiratory, orthopaedic, neurology, and neuro-developmental problems who may have complex multi-pathology/ chronic presentation.
- Provide specialist Occupational Therapy assessments and interventions to infants and their families.
- Able to demonstrate the value of occupational therapy for neonates, helping to establish OT as a key profession within the MDT.
- Supervise and teach students, and the wider neonatal multi-disciplinary team.
- Undertake evidence-based projects, including recommendations for change in practice and may participate in departmental research and audit.
- Deputise for Occupational Therapy team leaders in operational management.
Working for our organisation
This post sits within the Paediatric Occupational Therapy service at Evelina London Children’s Hospital. You will contribute to service development alongside your colleagues in the neonatal service as well as the Paediatric OT team. You will be supervised by the Neonatal Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist and professionally managed by the Trust Head OT.
Evelina London is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. We are the second largest provider of children's services in London. Our vision is to be the world leading centre of life changing care for children, young people and their families.
We care for more than 104,000 children and young people each year at our hospital and community sites. Our neonatal unit cares for around 800 babies a year, and has some of the best survival rates in the UK. The neonatal unit provides 24-hour specialist care for premature and sick infants who are born in South East London and southern England.In addition to medical care for problems such as extreme prematurity, breathing difficulties and infection, they care for babies with neonatal surgical problems, heart conditions, brain, eye, airway, kidney and metabolic problems. There are 20 intensive care cots, 12 high dependency care cots and 14 special care cots.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description for full details of the roles and responsibilities of the post.
Person specification
Knowledge/Qualifications
Essential criteria- Diploma or Degree in Occupational Therapy
- HCPC registration
- Masters level or equivalent training in specialist area or evidence of significant practical experience, in specialist area
- Completion of HEE modules
- Completed further study neonates: NBO/NBAS, FINE I/II, Sensory beginnings
Experience
Essential criteria- Experience commensurate with a Senior Specialist Paediatric Occupational Therapist role
- Minimum 2 years clinical experience in neonates/early years paediatrics
- Evidence of continuing professional development and post registration education and training
- Ability to supervise junior staff and students
- Experience in collecting data, quality improvement and evaluating audit
- Experience of working on a neonatal unit
- Experience of working with babies and families
- Experience of research
Skills/Knowledge/Ability
Essential criteria- Specialist knowledge, application and analysis of standardised & non- standardised assessment tools
- Experience of working within multi-disciplinary team
- Demonstrate clinical leadership skills and excellent team building skills
- Demonstrate ability to motivate and manage teams through change positively
- Ability to work autonomously, acting decisively on behalf of self and others
- Knowledge and application of FICARE
- Knowledge of developmental care approach and interventions
- Experience of working within or across a clinical network
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria- 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
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.
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