Band 6 Occupational Therapist

Job overview

We are looking for an enthusiastic Occupational Therapist to join our established Occupational Therapy Service which is part of the Older Adults Intensive Home Treatment Team.

The purpose of the IHTT is to assess and intensively treat older people at home, to prevent admission to hospital or to facilitate timely discharge from inpatient care.

Occupational Therapists, along with the multidisciplinary team, are responsible for the clinical care pathway of service users by undertaking evidence-based assessment, intervention and discharge planning.  The post holder will work as a senior member of the multidisciplinary team and be responsible for assessing, treating, rehabilitating and evaluating client care within the IHTT.

Main duties of the job

• To undertake new assessments and co-ordinate crisis interventions which will ensure the older person is supported at home whilst meeting their mental health needs.
• To manage a complex clinical caseload, which will involve positive risk taking and managing high risk/crisis situations within a range of settings.
• To work as a member of the MDT providing specialist OT advice and occupational and generic risk assessment and management.
• To support the development of evidence-based OT practice.
• To provide OT specific assessment & interventions via groups & individual work related to self-care, work and leisure.
• To carry out generic initial screening and assessments.
• To contribute to service development.
• To work independently without direct supervision as an autonomous practitioner.
• To ensure that up to date electronic [RIO] and paper records are maintained in accordance with Professional and Trust standards.
• To participate in research/audit activities.
• To supervise the work of OTAs, OT students and volunteers.
• Contribute to and carry out risk assessment & risk management plans.
• To provide specialist OT advice to the MDT.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Role

• To plan & implement service user led individual and/or group interventions, using graded activity to achieve therapeutic goals.
• To manage effective discharge ensuring service user and all relevant agencies are given relevant information.
• To contribute to and carry out risk assessment & risk management plans.
• To work with service users to identify OT goals as part of the multi-disciplinary care plan, using specialist mental health & OT assessment tools & treatment techniques.
• To work with service users in a variety of settings in order to provide the most effective assessment & interventions.
• To plan & implement service user led individual and/or group interventions, using graded activity to achieve therapeutic goals.
• To ensure service users health, social, cultural and spiritual needs are considered at all times.
• To assess for and provide equipment to enhance independence in daily living skills for service users with a physical disability in addition to their mental health needs.
• To monitor, evaluate and modify treatment in order to measure progress and identify outcomes.
• To apply a high level of understanding of the effect of disability and provide training and advice on life skills to maximise functional ability.
• To assess the occupational needs of service users and establish and evaluate appropriate treatment interventions for home environment.
• To identify appropriate & inappropriate referrals and prioritise workload.