Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 7 Occupational Therapist to join the Respiratory, Surgical and Vascular Team at Warrington and Halton Hospitals.

We are looking to appoint an individual successful candidate who has experience of working within a fast paced and dynamic clinical environment and will play a key role in advancing the service and promoting best practice.

The successful applicant will be responsible for a personal clinical caseload of complex patients and to provide clinical support and supervision to the wider integrated team of Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapists and Therapy Assistants who provide a therapy service to inpatient wards across both Warrington and Halton Hospitals.

Main duties of the job

The postholder will manage a complex caseload, working across the surgical and respiratory wards, including ICU, the acute respiratory unit, surgical and gastroenterology wards.

Collaborative working is key to the role, as the postholder will be working closely with Physiotherapists, the wider MDT and  community services.

The postholder will provide clinical supervision to junior members of the therapy team, and lead on service development initiatives.

Additionally, the postholder will have a comprehensive understanding of the ‘Home First’ approach to patient care, where health and care systems work together to provide a safe and timely discharge of people who no longer need to stay in hospital.

The working hours for this post will be 30.0 hours over 5 days Mondays to Fridays. In the future it will include supporting seven day working.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Patient / Clinical Care

• To manage your clinical caseload with autonomy, guided by policies, procedures, codes of practice and departmental working practices.
• To undertake a comprehensive assessment of patients including those with a complex presentation, using investigative and advanced analytical skills and clinical reasoning.
• Using developed knowledge and experience to make a therapeutic diagnosis of a patient’s condition and   interpret clinical findings and documentation to formulate a comprehensive specialised programme of care, including decision making about the most appropriate treatment options. For example, where self-referral occurs, clinical diagnosis is made and a programme of care is developed.
• To supervise less experienced staff and students in the provision of patient care.
• To provide planned and spontaneous advice to patients/clients, junior staff, staff of other disciplines, formal and informal carers and relatives.
• To have highly developed physical, dextrous and manipulative skills for the treatment of patients, which may involve the use of specialist equipment relating to the area of therapy.
• To be responsible for maintaining and managing accurate and comprehensive treatment records in line with professional and local standards for themselves and their team.
• To frequently exert physical effort in cramped conditions and sustained postures for periods of up to 40 minutes several times a day. This would include moving patients as part of their treatment or moving equipment.
• With every patient, concentration is required to listen, observe, evaluate, document, plan and act on information gathered. Work can frequently be unpredictable and interrupted.
• To deal frequently with distressing or emotional situations, such as dealing with patients and families who are distressed due to acute or a terminal illness, those who are elderly, those with special needs and those experiencing prolonged ongoing deterioration.
• To have daily contact with patients’ bodily fluids, odours, dust, etc.

Management Responsibilities

• To be the line manager for a multi-professional team managing referrals into the service, workload prioritisation and allocation within the team, taking into account the changing/competing demands.
• To be responsible for the day-to-day management of a team, including annual leave, sickness, initial handling of complaints, disciplinary issues and recruitment. This will also include dealing with staff who may be upset. This may be due to clinical and managerial issues.
• To play a key role in the coordination of activities with other agencies, such as discharge planning and case management.
• To propose and implement policy/procedures and service improvements, which may impact across the directorate as a whole.
• To be responsible for the safe and competent use of equipment and resources by staff and patients and ensure that equipment is monitored and maintained in good condition.
• To ensure that accurate management information is collected and collated for the team.
• To act as an authorised signatory for the team, including the signing of travel expense sheets, locum and overtime time sheets and equipment purchases, totalling more than £1000 per month. Communication and Relationships
• To communicate effectively with patients and carers/relatives to progress specific rehabilitation and treatment programmes. This would include providing and receiving complex information, using a range of verbal and non-verbal communication skills, particularly persuading/influencing – to ensure compliance with treatment. This will include patients who have difficulties in understanding or communicating, e.g., patients who may be dysphasic, depressed, visually impaired, hard of hearing, or may be unable to accept their diagnosis.
• To communicate effectively with a range of professionals within the team, within the directorate and within the trust and in external agencies, including primary care, social services, voluntary organisations and others.
• To regularly make presentations to groups and individuals both within the trust and external to the trust.
• To provide support to patients, relatives or staff who may be upset, angry or aggressive. This may include clinical and managerial issues.
• To regularly provide training to own discipline, multi-disciplinary/other professionals and students.

FULL JOB DESCRIPTION ATTACHED