Recreational Therapy Assistant
Job overview
We are looking for an enthusiastic, empathetic Recreational Therapy Assistant to support & enhance the psychological wellbeing and reintegration of inpatients within the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre, Salisbury District Hospital.
You will work alongside the Therapy, Psychology and Nursing teams, to offer activities with the aim of helping to maximise the emotional health and functioning of our patients. You will ensure that all activities are patient centred and take into account the varying complex needs of our patients as they adjust to a life changing Spinal Cord Injury.
The ideal person would have some care-related experience, be able to work as part of a team as well as under their own initiative and be looking for a role where they can make a real difference.
Main duties of the job
To enhance the Psychological wellbeing and support the therapy goals of inpatients with Spinal Cord Injury, through recreational interventions.
This will include the responsibility for meeting with the patient shorty after in order to gain an understanding (through a triage process) of their individual recreational interests and emotional needs, taking into account the level of their injury and subsequent barriers to function.
To ensure patients in the Spinal Centre have access to a programme of wide-ranging and meaningful recreational activities planned as part of their rehabilitation.
With support from Therapy and Psychology teams, to plan and enable recreational activities in collaboration with patients and supporting them as appropriate to their goals.
This will be within and outside the Spinal Centre and will require you to be able to drive the Centre’s minibus (full clean driving licence required, but minibus training will be provided).
Full time hours (37.5 per week) available. Flexibility regarding hours/days worked (including evenings and weekends) is essential to meet the needs of patients and their chosen activities.
Part time or job share may be considered.
Working for our organisation
Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust (SFT) is an innovative hospital with a proud heritage and over 250 years of experience behind us. Here we’re driven to deliver an outstanding experience for everyone and have been well regarded for the quality of care and treatment we continue to provide for our patients and also our staff.
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We are an acute Trust, rated “Good” by the CQC, with a track record of high performance providing regional and super regional specialist services such as: Burns, Plastics & Reconstructive Surgery, Wessex Regional Genetics Laboratory, Wessex Rehabilitation, Spires Cleft Centre and the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre.We have about 470 beds and employ over 4000 staff.
We support flexible working and will consider requests taking into account the needs of the service. We think working here is pretty rewarding. You can access a range of NHS discounts, receive a minimum of 35 days paid holiday (pro rata), and we offer a generous pension scheme.On-site benefits include car parking (fee applies), leisure centre, day nursery and holiday play scheme.
Salisbury is an attractive place to live and work and really gives you the best of everything. With easy access to London and local airports, the city of Southampton is only a short train or car journey away or if you prefer the sea, Bournemouth is also accessible.Don’t just take our word for it, why not explore what Salisbury has to offer by visiting www.experiencesalisbury.co.uk
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached Job description and person specification for full details of roles and responsibilities.
Person specification
Experience
Essential criteria- Excellent organisational and communication skills
- To have had experience of event planning
Qualifications
Essential criteria- Clean Driving licence and willing to Drive a Minibus
- Experience/Qualification of driving a Minibus
Qualifications
Essential criteria- Knowledge of techniques and/or activities relevant to spinal cord injury; acquired through training, experience within a hospital or care setting to Level 3
- Previous worked with patients who have a Spinal cord Injury
Flexability
Essential criteria- Able to work daytime, evenings and weekends as the service requires
- Previous experience of Moving and Handling in a Healthcare setting
- Holiday starting at 27 days plus Bank Holidays rising to 29 days after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years for Agenda for Change staff
- Holiday entitlement for Medical and Dental staff starts at 27 days for Junior/Senior Clinical Fellows, Specialty Doctors and rises to 32 days after 5 years. Consultant entitlement starts at 32 days and rises to 34 days after 7 years
- An additional day's leave to celebrate your birthday (after 12 months & non contractual) pro rata
- Access to a career average revalued earnings pension scheme
- Life assurance if a member of the pension scheme
- An extensive Health and Wellbeing offer to help you deal with life's challenges
- Exclusive deals and discounts websites saving you money on everyday purchases, treats for the family, eating out and utility bills for home
- Cycle to work scheme
- Uniform provided (where required)
- On site Day Nursery and Holiday Play scheme
- On site health and fitness club
- On site car parking (fee's and restrictions apply)
- Opportunities to get on - take advantage of our ongoing learning opportunities and training, to help you achieve the job and career you want.
Please be advised that this vacancy may close earlier than stated if we receive a large number of applications. We will not accept any applications or queries via agencies, under any circumstances.
SEASONAL RESPIRATORY VACCINATIONS
We continue to encourage and support our staff to participate in the seasonal respiratory vaccination programme in order to protect themselves, colleagues and their patients.
GETTING TO WORK
We offer parking on site at Salisbury District Hospital, a daily charge applies. We encourage our staff to utilise other green methods of getting to work such as cycling or walking where possible, and our Trust is well connected through the bus services to the city centre and other areas.
OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUALITY
We are committed to making Salisbury an inclusive and welcoming place for every single staff member, regardless of who they are and where they come from. Equality sits at the heart of everything we do, and we ensure that all employees have equal opportunity to develop, to apply for promotions and to work flexibly.
The Trust actively promotes a work environment free from harassment and discrimination and provides training for staff to ensure this happens. We also closely monitor recruitment activity, training, development and employment practices to ensure equality of practice with regard to race, colour, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, disability, martial status and age.
OTHER INFORMATION
If this job requires you to have DBS check to enable you to properly fulfil the requirements of the job, on appointment, you will be required to replay the cost of obtaining a DBS check and this amount will be reclaimed in instalments from your salary.Many staff use the DBS update service at a cost of £13 per annum but you need to sign up for this via their website.
Please read the job description and person specification carefully and ensure that your application reflects the knowledge, skills and experience required.
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