Senior Occupational Therapist
Job overview
An exciting opportunity for a full time Band 6 Occupational Therapist has arisen within the Therapies suite, providing input into the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in the Wigan directorate of Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH).
Wigan PICU is a 8 bedded female PICU based in Atherleigh Park Hospital in Leigh. The unit has 5 wards in total, one PICU, three adults of working age acute wards and one older persons ward.
The post holder will deliver holistic occupational therapy assessments and interventions to service users being cared for on the PICU establishing levels of function, identifying and engagement in their roles and meeting their values, evaluating and reducing risk and facilitating occupational performance to support recovery and enable the individual to prepare for discharge from PICU/hospital.This may also include completion of occupational therapy assessments to support applications for housing or alternative hospital settings and to identify any longer term occupational therapy/rehab needs that would require support from other statutory NHS services.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will join an established inpatient therapies team, comprising of occupational therapists, Physiotherapists and Psychological therapists, activities co-ordinators and AHP support staff. Your role will be delivered on the PICU ward, but based in the therapies suite, to provide appropriate assessments and interventions, whilst also being an integral part of the therapies site team.Our PICU team will welcome you into a supportive, creative and motivated multidisciplinary team that has a strong respect for and commitment to Occupational Therapy and practice development. Professional, clinical and managerial supervision is actively provided and development opportunities reflective of your professional development plan.
The post holder will be an active member of the Trust Network for PICU pathways and will be involved in developing and implementing OT pathways in this specialist service.
The successful candidate be an enthusiastic, committed and highly motivated team player with excellent communication skills, providing evidence based clinical assessments and recovery focused interventions.
You will have support from a therapies team on site, and at organisational level to enable you to develop and support the correct pathway for our service users.
Working for our organisation
Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122 locations.
We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford, Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.
Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options.
Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity.
Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.
At Atherleigh park, the team enjoy a great location, accessible on public transport or with accessible parking, and with an extensive retail and leisure park within walking distance. We are a strong therapies team - and although you will be based on PICU - you will be part of a fabulous supportive therapies team who will ensure you have profession specific support and guidance.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description and person specification
Staff benefits- Pay Enhancements
- 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years
- Excellent pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Salary sacrifice car scheme
- Wellbeing programme
- Blue Light Card Discounts
- fuelGenie Fuel Cards (for applicable roles)
Person specification
Education / Qualifications
Essential criteria- Degree in Occupational Therapy.
- Post registration training relevant to mental health.
- Documented evidence of post graduate CPD as per RCOT guidelines to meet HCPC registration requirements, throughout career relevant to mental health field, i.e., RCOT short courses, conference attendance, conditions management, theory updates, reflective practice etc.
- Post registration qualification in a clinically orientated area.
- Leadership or management qualification.
- Fieldwork Education qualification or obtaining the same within 6 months of appointment
Experience
Essential criteria- Significant clinical experience as an Occupational Therapist, in appropriate clinical area
- Experience of supervising others.
- Experience of working in a range of mental health settings
- Experience of working with clients with a range of physical health problems, including provision of equipment and minor aids
- Experience of audit and research procedures.
Knowledge
Essential criteria- Comprehensive knowledge and application of OT models, assessment and interventions relevant to client group.
- Extensive clinical experience including individual and group work
- Knowledge and application of standardised mental health assessments, outcome measures and specialist tools
- Ability to work autonomously and set own priorities in a demanding environment
- Ability to analyse and advice on professional and ethical issues
- Supervisory/ Appraisal skills
- Ability to reflect on and critically appraise own performance
- Ability to organise and respond to complex, sensitive and contentious information
- Computer literacy
- Ability to build and maintain effective working relationships
- Knowledge of legislation and current best practice
- Knowledge of the principles of clinical governance and to actively participate in quality initiatives
- Detailed knowledge and experience of risk assessment and management
- Good knowledge of Safeguarding and Best Interest procedures
- Extensive knowledge of current best practice in OT in mental health
- Contribute to the development and application of Health Safety and Security policies and procedures
- Ability to make day-to-day decisions relevant to role
- Training and presentation skills.
Skills and abilities
Essential criteria- Be able to represent Occupational therapy at service level, by contributing to and implementing managerial actions
- Indicate willingness and ability to support and assist the Lead OT in planning, development and evaluation of the OT service as a whole
- Initiate, plan and implement training sessions within the Trust
- Registration with HCPC
- Commitment to client centred, non-discriminatory practice
- Commitment to life-long learning
- Ability to work flexibly
- Have the flexibility to travel across the footprint of the Trust to complete role
- Self-awareness/self-management skills
- Have a sound working knowledge of the importance of assessing, formulating and managing risks
- Ability to work in unhygienic and hazardous home environments and respond to these appropriately
- Have experience of presentations to local/regional/national forums
- have ability to demonstrate ability to travel across trust footprint
other
Essential criteria- Understand all Trust Policies and Procedures
- Understand the Trusts Strategic Goals and how they can support them
- Understand the need to safeguard children and vulnerable adults
- Carry out all duties and responsibilities of the post in accordance with Equal Opportunities, equality and Diversity and dignity in care and work policies and principles
- Maintain high standards of quality in corporate and clinical record keeping ensuring information is always recorded accurately, appropriately and kept up to date
- Take care of the health and safety of yourself and other persons.
- Contribute to the control of risk and to report any incident, accident or near miss
- Protect service users, visitors and employees against the risk of acquiring health care associated infections
- Take responsibility for own learning and development
Important Information about working for GMMH:
All positions within the Trust are subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks, for further information on the checks required please visit the NHS Employers website www.nhsemployers.org
The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.
Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer.
The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities.If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications
A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application. The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges.
We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.
Sponsorship
We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website – click here.
If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.
The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it here.
Do you have experience outside the NHS?
We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.
We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment. Please contact our Recruitment Team for more information.
**Please note, this vacancy may be closed at any time if sufficient applications have been received**