Occupational Therapist - Paediatrics, Teenagers and Young Adults

Job overview

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a leading Cancer Hospital in London, and the Occupational Therapy Department is recruiting to a full time, Band 6 role in our Sutton hospital (which attracts outer London weighting) to work across Paediatrics and Teenagers and Young Adults.

You will be joining a supportive and friendly team of qualified Occupational Therapists working in an acute setting to support needs of children, teenagers and young adults undergoing cancer treatment. There is excellent internal and external CPD opportunities, generous support for study leave, parking onsite, and comprehensive staff benefits via Vivup.

We encourage you to contact us to discuss the role if you are interested in applying. Please contact Denise Pessoa on [email protected] or 0208 661 3090.

Main duties of the job

The Band 6 Occupational Therapist is an active member of a team that provides a high quality, evidence based occupational therapy service for children, teenagers and young adults with cancer.

As a skilled practitioner, the post holder is a source of knowledge and expertise for patients, relatives and colleagues of all disciplines.

With the support of the Band 7 Occupational Therapist, they will organise occupational therapy activities within a defined clinical area and will also liaise closely with all members of the multi-professional rehabilitation team in the provision of a specialist input to a variety of education programmes.

Working for our organisation

We employ over 4,500 staff in a diverse range of careers including nursing, medical, science, radiography, pharmacy, occupational therapy, finance and administrative services. We have two hospitals – one in Chelsea, London, and one in Sutton, Surrey – as well as a Medical Daycare Unit in Kingston Hospital.

At The Royal Marsden, we deal with cancer every day, so we understand how valuable life is. When people entrust their lives to us, they have the right to demand the very best. That's why the pursuit of excellence lies at the heart of everything we do.

We are looking for employees who aspire to excellence, share our values and can play a crucial role in our on-going achievements.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Working autonomously in ward and outpatient settings to provide complex clinical assessment of the biomechanical, sensory, psychological, cognitive, perceptual and interpersonal deficits affecting the functioning of children, teenagers and young adults with cancer, their families and carers through the use of advanced clinical reasoning.
• Developing and implementing individual specialised therapeutic rehabilitation programmes specific to patient’s needs based on activity analysis using a client-centred, problem solving approach.
• Developing and implementing treatment and educational groups for people with cancer and their carers such as Health & Well Being groups.
• Assessing and prescribing the complex wheelchair and specialist seating needs for example paralysis, dystonia, major surgery, extreme fatigue, pressure relief of patients with cancer.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Diploma/Degree in Occupational Therapy recognised by UK College of Occupational Therapists.
• State Registration with Health Care Professions Council for Occupational Therapy

Experience

• At least one year’s experience in general physical field with children and / or teenagers

• Evidence of experience of dealing with oncology patients and their families / carers.
• Evidence of experience in clinical supervision and appraisal.
• Evidence of experience of principles and practice in audit, outcomes measurement and clinical governance.

Skills

• Knowledge of functional assessment and treatment techniques for oncology and palliative care patients, including physical, cognitive, psychosocial functional assessments and treatment, as well as specific symptom and lifestyle management techniques (e.g. relaxation, anxiety, breathlessness and fatigue management)
• Risk assessment: Ability to carry out risk assessments concerning patients and staff safety, including Manual Handling.
• Ability to assess risks associated with lone working, take responsibility for reporting to colleagues and ensuring self and patient are safe at all times.
• Ability to assess potential risks with regard to patients’ discharge from hospital.
• Developed clinical reasoning as well as analytical and creative problems solving skills.
• Communication skills: Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills as required in an oncology and palliative care setting. Ability to deal with imparting bad news.
• Reflective Skills: Ability to reflect on clinical practice.
• Team skills: Ability to work as part of a supportive team.
• Autonomous working: Ability to work in a highly motivated, self directed manner on clinical and departmental activities.
• Organisational skills: Ability to prioritise and manage time effectively.
• Supervisory skills: Ability to fulfill supervisory role for undergraduate students.
• Educational skills: Ability to teach both patients and carers in areas relating to rehabilitation.
• Proven ability to prepare and deliver presentations and education sessions to health care colleagues and members of public.
• IT skills: Ability to enter data, prepare reports, formal written documentation and multi-media presentations.

The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment.

All applicants will be contacted by email to the address supplied on your application. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly and to ensure that email filters are set to allow our emails.

Flu Vaccination – What We Expect of our Staff

At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease.

The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.