Occupational Therapist - Front Door Therapy Team Band 6

Job overview

Are you passionate about working with people in a fast-paced environment preventing unnecessary hospital admission and assessing patients presenting to hospital? Are you an Occupational Therapist looking for the next step in your career? Or maybe you’re looking for an opportunity to make a difference in a large teaching trust as part of a friendly team.

Join the Front Door Therapy Team based at the Bristol Royal Infirmary as a Band 6 Occupational Therapist, where you will work as part of an integrated therapy team to deliver an effective and co-ordinated specialist service across the front door and frailty services of Emergency Department (ED), Medical Assessment Unit (MAU) and Older Person’s Assessment Unit (OPAU).

Our team is made up of Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Apprentice Occupational Therapists and Therapy Technicians, who pride themselves with the support we provide each other and the care we provide to our patients.

Main duties of the job

Your day-to-day will involve working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, incorporating a comprehensive assessment to identify a patients’ needs in the clinical settings of the Emergency Department, the Medical Assessment Unit and the Older Person’s Assessment Unit. You will play a key role in encouraging positive risk taking to avoid unnecessary hospital admission and supporting early discharge from hospital with a focus on patient’s with frailty.

In addition, you’ll have access to benefits and incentives such as:

• Supportive, integrated team working
• IST/journal clubs/ research opportunities
• Protected and regular Clinical supervision from a Team Lead OT/Clinical Specialist OT
• Service development and QI projects
• Cake rotas

The Front Door Therapy team provides a 7-day service. You will be expected to work a regular weekend pattern and be part of the bank holiday rota.

Want to hear more about the benefits of working at UHBW? Click here for more staff benefits: https://www.uhbwcareers.nhs.uk/staff-benefits

We encourage you to get in touch with Front Door Team Lead Occupational Therapist Katie Byrne for an informal chat on 0117 3427353 or email [email protected]. Fancy meeting in person? Please get in touch and ask for a tour of the department!

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To independently assess, plan and evaluate therapeutic programmes for patients referred for occupational therapy. Including the use of standardised and non-standardised assessments.
• To complete holistic assessments which include clinical, functional, social, cognitive and emotional elements, completing comprehensive geriatric assessments as appropriate. This includes gaining substantial collateral, social history from a variety of sources, understanding past medical history from patient’s, family, care providers and other community services involved in the patient’s care.
• To utilise assessment outcomes to provide high quality and evidence-based interventions to ensure patients’ needs in occupational performance are being addressed, utilising all treatment approaches within scope of practice.
• To undertake dynamic risk assessments to determine appropriate management, including manual handling & equipment and the effective handover/communication of this to the MDT and local health and social care organisations.
• Use advanced clinical reasoning skills to initiate and facilitate discharge plans in collaboration with relevant MDT members to ensure patients’ ongoing needs identified and addressed.
• Utilising positive risk management skills to facilitate timely discharges
• To effectively employ advance communication skills to work with patients, carers, and the MDT. Taking into consideration the needs of patients and carers who may have difficulties in understanding or

Please see Job description for more information on main responsibilites