Job overview
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is pleased to be supporting the provision of Occupational Therapy on the PIPE at HMP Hindley, working in close partnership with custodial staff and North West Psychology Services who are the lead providers of the service.
HMP Hindley is Category C male prison located in Wigan.
Main duties of the job
We are recruiting a Specialist Occupational Therapist to join the team at HMP Hindley. The candidate will ensure the delivery of a high-quality Occupational Therapy service within the PIPE.
This is a unique and autonomous role, with the post holder as the sole Occupational Therapist on the PIPE, working alongside a multi-disciplinary team of operational staff and forensic psychology colleagues. They will deliver specialist occupational therapy assessment, formulation and intervention, including individual and group work, supporting those with complex clinical and risk presentations.
The role focuses on promoting occupational engagement, psychological wellbeing and pro-social functioning through therapeutic, recreational and supportive activities. The post holder will also contribute across the PIPE and wider prison, enhancing psychologically informed workforce capacity and supporting a relational approach to care and risk management.
The successful candidate will have experience working with individuals with complex needs who may struggle to engage, ideally in secure or institutional settings. They will be confident managing professional, ethical and organisational challenges in a complex environment and able to work both autonomously and collaboratively.
The post holder will be professionally supported and line managed by the OPD service at HMP Garth, which has an established Occupational Therapy team with extensive experience delivering services in similar settings.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- To provide leadership and highly specialist clinical expertise in the provision of an Occupational Therapy service for service users who have mental illness related needs within a custodial setting. To provide an Occupational Therapy service which is inclusive of best practice, evidence-based practice and outcome focussed. To work as a member of the multidisciplinary team in providing and coordinating a therapeutic, person centred treatment and care pathway. To provide clinical expertise to guide and influence the integrated therapeutic approach from an Occupational Therapy perspective to registered nurses, psychology, medical staff, speech and language therapists and support/direct care staff in the development and provision of meaningful occupational / recreational / educational facilities.
Person specification
Skills
Essential
- Leadership Qualities
- Ability to provide training, advice and guidance to staff/service users
- Ability to complete assessments and clinical reports in line with the CPA process and Royal College of Occupational Therapy guidance
- Demonstrates depth of clinical skills and implementation Occupational Therapy clinical practice and ability to hold a complex caseload
- Ability to identify and implement clinical and service developments
- Ability to work autonomously as well as effectively with team members and other agencies
- Managerial Skills
- Ability to be an effective role model
- Clear effective written & verbal communication
- Basic IT skills
Desirable
- • Designing and implementing research projects
- • Ability to reflect and critically appraise own and others performance
Qualifications
Essential
- Diploma/Degree or equivalent Occupational Therapy qualification
- Evidence of post-qualified study/short courses and Continuing Professional Development
- Health and Care Professions Council Registration
Desirable
- Post Graduate qualification in relevant area to role
- Fieldwork Educator Training
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Current legislation and national initiatives related to mental illness
- Clinical and environment assessment & management of clinical risk
- Knowledge of Mental Health Act 1983 (as amended by Mental Health Act 2007)
- Knowledge of Mental Health Capacity Act 2005
- Knowledge of relational security ‘See Think Act’ (DoH, 2010)
- Minimum of three years post- qualifying experience as an Occupational Therapist
- Supervision of staff and students
- Development of Occupational Therapy services
- Application of Occupational Therapy Models of Practice and Standardised Assessments & Outcome Measures
- Involvement in research and clinical audit
Desirable
- AMPS training
- Personality Disorder
- Autism
- Dialectal Behavioural Therapy
- Sensory Integration
- OCAIRS
- MOHOST
- VQ
- ACIS
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Psycho-Social Intervention
- Experience of working in forensic services
- 12 months in learning disabilities/mental health services
- Line-manage non-OT staff
- Familiar with Electronic Patient Records (EPR) system
- Understanding and use of the Model of Human Occupation and its associated assessment tools and outcome measures
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist with Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust in Prescot, North West, England. It is listed as a Band 7 Occupational Therapist role. The advertised salary is £49,387 - £56,515 per annum. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 26 Jul 2026.
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