Band 7 Paediatric and TYA Occupational Therapist

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 7 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 post holder takes a lead role in planning, co-ordinating, delivering and evaluating the occupational therapy service within areas of advanced clinical practice.

The practitioner will be responsible for supervising and overseeing the professional development of the Band 6 Occupational Therapists. In addition, s/he will be involved in education programmes for staff within the hospital as well as externally.

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 individuals 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.
• Taking a lead in areas of advanced Occupational Therapy clinical practice in oncology and palliative care, and providing a consultative resource for other Occupational Therapists across the UK.
• Assessing and prescribing the complex wheelchair and specialist seating needs e.g. paralysis, dystonia, major surgery, extreme fatigue, pressure relief of patients with cancer.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

• Diploma/Degree in Occupational Therapy recognised by UK College of Occupational Therapists.
• State Registration with Health & Care Professions Council for Occupational Therapy.
• Significant post graduate clinical experience with a minimum of one year’s experience in oncology.
• Evidence of experience in clinical supervision and appraisal.
• Post-grad study days/courses in oncology/palliative care.
• Approved fieldwork supervisor course.

• Evidence of experience in leadership, project management, audit, outcomes measurement and clinical governance.
• Evidence of experience in presentation and teaching skills.
• Accredited wheelchair course.
• Accredited splinting and hand therapy course.

Experience

• Significant post graduate clinical experience with a minimum of one year’s experience in oncology.
• Evidence of experience in clinical supervision and appraisal.

• Evidence of experience in leadership, project management, audit, outcomes measurement and clinical governance.
• Evidence of experience in presentation and teaching skills.

Skills Abilities/knowledge

• Advanced 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).
• Ability to carry out risk assessments concerning patients and staff safety, including Manual Handling.
• Ability to assess risks associated with loneworking, 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.
• Expertise in group dynamics, planning, facilitating, running and evaluating therapeutic groups.
• Advanced clinical reasoning as well as analytical and creative problems solving skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills as required in an oncology and palliative care setting. Ability to deal with imparting bad news.
• Ability to produce professional reports and records including management reports, service development proposals, POMRs, multi-professional care plans, letters, assessments for hospital and external agencies.
• Ability to reflect on and make positive changes to own and departmental clinical practices.
• Ability to facilitate supportive team working to maintain efficacy, efficiency and morale
• Ability to work in a highly motivated self directed manner on clinical and departmental activities.
• Ability to prioritise workload and organise time effectively to manage multiple priorities.
• Ability to fulfill supervisory and mentor role for junior staff and undergraduate students
• 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.
• Ability to enter data, prepare reports, formal written documentation and multi-media presentations. Confident in the use of Microsoft Word, Power Point and Excel.

• Membership of a clinical interest group in occupational therapy

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.