Clinical Specialist Paediatric In-Patient Occupational Therapist

Job overview

Band 7 Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist – Inpatient Paediatrics

University Hospital of Leicester, Leicester Royal Infirmary

30 hours per week/permanent contract

Are you a passionate and experienced Occupational Therapist with a strong background in paediatrics? Are you ready to take the next step in your career and lead clinical practice in a specialist inpatient setting?

We are excited to offer an excellent opportunity for a Band 7 Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist to join our dynamic and supportive multidisciplinary team working within our inpatient paediatric services and alongside our inpatient physiotherapy team.

The Paediatric Team provide a service to the Children's and Women's Services and the successful applicant will provide care within the following areas: General medicine, High Dependency, Orthopaedics, Oncology, Long Term Ventilation, Neurology, and neurodevelopmental needs.

Join us and make a meaningful difference in the lives of children and their families every day.

Main duties of the job

Serving the population of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, Leicester Childrens Hospital is one of the busiest acute and general paediatric centres in the United Kingdom. Our Children's Assessment Unit currently sees around 14,000 children a year ad this is in addition to the children who attend our Paediatric Emergency Department.

The majority of our wards have recently undergone a full or partial refurbishment and we have benefitted from the constriction of a brand new Paediatric Theatre Reception, paediatric Recovery area, Paediatric Emergency Department and a paediatric Observation ward.

Main Duties

• Act  as the clinical lead for Occupational Therapy within the inpatient paediatric unit.
• Provide highly specialist assessment and intervention for children with complex medical, Long Term Ventilation, Orthopaedic, Oncology neurological, and developmental needs.
• Work closely with families, carers, and the wider MDT to deliver person- and family-centred care.
• Support and develop junior staff through supervision, training, and mentoring.
• Contribute to service development and quality improvement initiatives.
• Be involved in audit, research, and evidence-based practice projects.
• Develop and implement individualized treatment plans based on clinical reasoning and best practice guidelines.
• Utilise a range of therapeutic techniques to address fine motor skills, sensory processing, self-care abilities, play skills, and environmental adaptations.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Clinical Specialist will:- Provide clinical and professional leadership to Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy colleagues in the speciality area

Lead, evaluate, and develop clinical practice within a specialty ensuring compliance with national and local guidelines and frameworks

Be responsible for the clinical standards, evidence based practice and quality metrics within the speciality

Work as an autonomous practitioner to provide specialist therapy assessments, diagnose and develop individualised treatment programmes based on the patient need, using advanced clinical reasoning skills

Be responsible for a clinical caseload; which will include complex cases within their area of specialty

Undertake an active role in developing and promoting Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy within the specialty

Be responsible for the day to day management of the delivery of the Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy specialist team in an efficient and effective way within a fast and pressurised environment

Participate in the planning, development and evaluation of Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy within the specialist team holding responsibility for defined projects

Work alongside the Therapy Specialty Lead / Therapy Clinical Team Leader to develop links between the specialist Therapy team and relevant CMG’s within UHL

Ensure the training and development of staff within the Therapy speciality Team Liaise with colleagues and work across site/cross specialty if appropriate in order to ensure the provision of a seamless equitable service

Deputise for the Therapy Clinical Team Leader as appropriate  Develop the evidence base for practice through audit, clinical effectiveness and research activity

Assist and support the Therapy Leadership team within the service in the improvement and transformation of Therapy services

To be responsible for the advancement of personal skills and knowledge in a clinical and leadership context and to attend post registration training in order to maintain own and others’ CPD  Maintain up-to-date knowledge and understanding of the best available evidence for practice for the specialty