[ref. v67501200] Occupational Therapist
South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We provide a full range of local mental health services to the Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth London boroughs, as well as specialist forensic mental health services, including specialised services such as national deaf adults and CAMHS inpatients and OCD.
We are committed to providing high quality integrated health and social care for local people with mental health problems in South West London and more specialist mental health services for people throughout the UK. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’ however we aim to be ‘outstanding’.
Our Values
We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values; being consistent, compassionate, collaborative, respectful and open is at the heart of everything we do. Our mission is "making life better together".
When you join us, you’ll be part of something special – an innovative and rapidly growing organisation that is helping to redefine the Mental Health, education and social care landscape in the UK.
As a Trust, we are happy to talk flexible working.
Job overview
We are looking for an Occupational Therapist with expertise in older persons care to provide services and support to care homes for people with dementia and challenging behaviour. The Challenging Behaviour Service is a specialist service which provides assessments and treatment for people with Dementia who are living in care homes in Sutton and Merton and who are demonstrating the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.
This dedicated provision within the Sutton and Merton Challenging Behaviour Service is led by the Band 7 nurse with consultative input from a Clinical Psychologist and a Speciality Doctor. The Challenging Behaviour Service is based within the Sutton Older People’s Community Team whilst visiting Care Homes within both Sutton and Merton.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will need to provide close liaison and expert knowledge to assist care homes in managing complex cases. The role also requires input into the local NHS mental health ward. The post holder will be required to hold generic cases and use their OT skills and expertise.It will be advantageous to have prior knowledge of both relevant medicines and non- pharmacological approaches to managing symptoms of dementia. It would also be desirable for the person to be a driver with access to a car during working hours.
We require knowledge and experience of managing dementia and other mental and physical health difficulties commonly found in older people in long term care.
Working for our organisation
We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust.
We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’ - we aspire to be ‘outstanding’.
This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world.More developments are planned across our sites and services as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.
We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.
We offer flexible working, career development and a variety of benefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.
Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities- Person centred assessment of occupational performance – including how the person explores activities, achieves participation in activity, and balance in activity (personal care, domestic, leisure and productive activity)
- Provision and/or recommendation of therapeutic activities/interventions to promote health and wellbeing, and improve or maintain function (in particular to help reduce behaviours which may challenge)
- To promote equality of outcome for service users that reflect their mental health needs and those of ethnicity, gender, culture physical health and age.
- To promote social inclusion and physical and mental well-being using evidence-based practice. This is underpinned by the principles of hope and recovery, health promotion and relapse prevention.
- To independently manage a clinical caseload of service user with Dementia.
- To identify occupational therapy goals as part of the overall care plan, using specialist mental health and occupational therapy assessments. The Trust works within the MOHO model and uses a variety of the models assessments, the POOL activity Level Instrument would also be relevant to this area.
- To exercise clinical professional judgement in complex clinical cases and difficult clinical situation, referring to senior staff when necessary.
- To consider both physical and mental health needs as part of the occupational therapy assessment.
- To plan and implement specialist individual and/or group interventions collaboratively, to enable service users to achieve valued goals and satisfactory occupational performance outcomes.
- Assessment of environmental impact on function as relates to mental health including recommendation of environmental adaptation and related strategies
- Specialist advice, support, consultation and collaborative joint working on how mental health problems are impacting on occupational performance
- To identify any significant risk factors in line with local policies, with support from senior staff
Person specification
Experience
Essential criteria- Experience of carrying a caseload in a mental health setting
- Experience of working in a multidisciplinary team
- Experience of maintaining a written record of continual professional development
- Experience of working with people with dementia and other conditions affecting cognition.
- Experience of working with older people with mental health problems
- Experience of participating in a service development project
- Experience of working in a range of mental health settings
- Successful completion of preceptorship
- Experience of being a practice placement educator
Qualitification
Essential criteria- Diploma or degree in Occupational Therapy
- Registration to practice in the UK
- Evidence of post registration training relevant to mental health practice
- Practice placement educators course within one year of appointment
- Apple registration
Knowledge & Skills
Essential criteria- Developed interpersonal skills enabling therapeutic alliances to be developed & maintained with service users who have multiple & complex needs
- Basic word processing and IT skills
- Proficient standard of written communication skills
- Ability to reflect upon and critically appraise own performance
- Ability to work in a way that minimises risks to health, safety & security of self, service user & members of the public
- Ability to monitor work areas & practices to maintain a healthy, safe and secure working environment.
- Audit skills
- Working knowledge of model of human occupation tools
We are Members of Stonewall Diversity Champions and Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion.
As part of the Trust's commitment to Equalities and Diversity, the Trust supports the establishment of Staff Networks groups to promote diversity in the workplace:
- BME (Evolve) Staff Network
- Christian Staff Network
- DiverseAbility
- Deaf Staff Network
- Mental Health Staff Forum
- Women's Staff Network
- LGBTQIA+
We are committed to supporting the Armed Forces Community and has signed the Armed Forces Covenant.
We provide reasonable adjustments to the interview process for any candidates with a disability.
Please note:
- That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received
- That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3^rd party e-recruitment system
- That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not successful
- That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
- That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
- That your employment is offered subject to successful completion of a Probationary Period depending on your Band (except medical roles)
- That we are a smoke-free Trust