Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist - CRS Team

Job overview

BAND 7 CLINICAL SPECIALIST OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST - CARDIO-RESPIRATORY AND SURGERY THERAPY TEAM

Permanent | Full Time (37.5 hours per week)

Come join our forward thinking, committed and driven Cardio-Respiratory and Surgery (CRS) Therapy Team who constantly put patient care and your professional and personal development to the forefront.  We are looking for a positive, proactive clinician with specialist skills to help us build a strong future for therapy and increase the profile of Occupational Therapy within the team.  You will have your own clinical caseload, providing advanced specialist assessments and interventions to a wide range of patients with multi-pathological conditions including respiratory, cardiac, palliative care, neurology, bariatric, dementia, frailty and/or have had surgical procedures.  You will also provide clinical support to team members and students as well as assist in their training and development.  You will also play an integral role in quality improvement projects to guide service development and work closely with the Team Leader in the leadership of the team.  Good prioritisation, organisational and time management skills will be needed to balance clinical and non-clinical duties.  We are a truly integrated department inclusive of occupational therapists, physiotherapists, dietitians and support workers and have great relationships between the different disciplines and teams.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will act as a Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist in the CRS Therapy Team.  You will be responsible for ensuring the use of advanced effective assessment skills to identify appropriate patients and to formulate, implement and evaluate individualised treatment and rehabilitation plans, some of which will be specialist in nature, based on expert analytical and clinical reasoning skills.  You will need advanced communication skills to ensure a successful multidisciplinary approach to patient care and will be in regular discussions with patients, carers, JPUH colleagues and community partners etc.  You will be responsible for non-clinical duties such as leading on team meetings, in-service development ideas, quality improvement, training/supervision of students, therapy assistant practitioners,  Band 5 and 6 colleagues, as well as other multidisciplinary team members.  This will include the use of formal appraisal documentation and attendance and wellbeing meetings.  You will be key to being actively involved in the measurement and evaluation of your work and current practices through the use of Evidence Based Practice projects, audit and outcome measures.  Through this being able to make recommendations for and assist with change.

The core hours for this post are 08:00-16:00, however, flexibility can be discussed; this will also include being rostered on a seven-day service/shift pattern.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached Job Description for more details of the main duties and responsibilities of the role which include:

• The post-holder will act as a Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist in the Cardiology, Respiratory and Surgery Therapy Team at the James Paget University Hospital
• The post-holder will be required to work autonomously and carry a clinical caseload, taking a lead role in the advanced assessment and treatment of patients who may have complex pathology and social issues, in order to determine a clinical diagnosis and formulate an intervention plan
• To provide highly specialist advice and teaching to occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and therapy assistant practitioner colleagues and to other members of the multidisciplinary team
• To support the education of students in an educator role as required
• Ensure the team’s workload is appropriately prioritised and work is effectively distributed and coordinated across the team on a day-by-day basis
• To work closely with the multidisciplinary teams in order to receive referrals and use patient information to help prioritise the workload
• To be proactive in service development and individual development within the teams, implementing changes as and when appropriate including policy changes
• To provide clinical leadership to physiotherapy and occupational therapy staff in the therapy team
• Clinical/professional supervision takes the form of direct observation of practice or formal training/clinical reasoning sessions (at least monthly).  Advice and support are always available
• To work a rostered seven-day service/shift pattern within the James Paget University Hospital

Please watch the following videos for an insight into our Integrated Therapies Department:

Landscape version:  https://youtu.be/tklpzav7UrU.

Portrait version:  https://youtube.com/shorts/U4lwU9T1wKA?feature=share