Children's Occupational Therapist

Job overview

Are you looking for an opportunity to kick-start your occupational therapy career in Paediatrics? Although based in East Sussex, we are employed by KCHFT which is an outstanding trust.

We are currently seeking a B5 Occupational Therapist with experience in paediatrics either prior to training or post-qualification or with an interest in working with children and young people with special educational needs and/or neurodiverse needs, physical disability. We are a community-based service; we work in clinics, nurseries, schools and in the home with an emphasis on working geographically smart and hybrid-working.

You will need to be initiative-taking, resilient and solution-focused to embrace new ways of working; with an emphasis on multi-agency working and driving improved outcomes for children and young people. Car-driver is essential. The post-holder will work closely within the Neighbourhood team including Speech and Language Therapy, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Adaptations and Integrated Therapy Assistants.

The service has a strong commitment to training and development with robust supervision and shadowing opportunities across the service.

Main duties of the job

The post holder is an autonomous practitioner, working with children aged 0-19 years with a range of disabilities. The post holder will be based in Chaucer clinic but work across East Sussex. To manage a defined caseload and provide occupational therapy assessments and treatments to children To assess, plan and deliver therapy and be able to evaluate and develop services for children To work as an integral member of the Children’s Integrated Therapy and Equipment Service (CITES) To maintain and uphold professional standards and adhere to professional codes of conduct To communicate effectively and develop negotiation skills with children, carers and colleagues to ensure the best outcomes for the child. Develop skills to motivate clients/carers to engage in the therapeutic process. To produce with support, comprehensive patient related reports for other disciplines or agencies relating to assessment findings and/or treatment management outcomes. To apply clinical reasoning in order to monitor and prioritise your own and the team caseload. To develop the ability to conduct, score and interpret specialist paediatric standardised assessments when appropriate with support. To develop the ability to evaluate therapy outcomes to ensure a high standard of clinical practice and patient care is maintained To achieve effective management of a caseload, prioritising clinical needs and balancing other patient related and professional activities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

As a community Trust, many of our roles require individuals to be able to drive to perform their duties. Where driving is a requirement of the role, you will be asked to confirm that you hold a full UK driving licence or a full driving licence issued by an EU country (not exchanged from a non-EU country) to proceed with your application. We are committed to supporting candidates with disabilities into employment. If you are unable to drive due to a disability, please contact the Recruitment Team via kentchft.recruitment@nhs.net, quoting the vacancy reference number, so we can support you further.

The job description and person specification gives you all the information you need about this role. Please look carefully at the criteria in the person specification and tell us what you have done that shows you meet this in your application. If you need an application form in an alternative format please let our recruitment team know. All information you supply on your application should, to the best of your knowledge, be true and accurate.

Still have questions? The recruiting manager would love to hear from you, their contact details can be found in the job advert.

We can get a lot of applications for some roles so to be in with the best chance of being shortlisted please make sure you apply as soon as possible. A vacancy may close early if there is a lot of interest in the job.

At KCHFT we strongly encourage colleagues in clinical and non-clinical roles who have direct or social contact with patients to be fully vaccinated. In this way we will be doing all we can to ensure your safety and that of your colleagues and the patients we serve.

Find out more about the community difference here.

Good luck! We can’t wait to meet you and welcome you to #teamKCHFT, #cometocommunity.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.