Occupational Therapy Assistant

Job overview

The Regional Hyper-acute Rehabilitation Unit is a 24-bedded unit offering multi-disciplinary assessment and rehabilitation to patients with complex neurological needs.

We are looking for an enthusiastic person to join our dynamic team of Occupational Therapy staff. Your work will involve assisting the Occupational Therapy Team in the rehabilitation and management of complex patients who have been admitted to hospital following a severe brain injury.

Patients are often not able to move or care for themselves and the ability to participate in manual handling tasks is crucial. Competence and capability in undertaking personal care, such as assisting patients with dressing and toileting, is needed.

You will work as part of the Occupational Therapy Team within a larger multi-disciplinary team.  Experience of working within a team and contributing to its function is essential. You need to be well motivated and able to take initiative, with a passion to improve your own skills and knowledge. Opportunities for training and development are available through in-service training and appraisal.

Experience in working in a rehab setting and a significant interest in pursuing a career in healthcare is desirable. The post would particularly suit applicants with experience working within Healthcare with adults with disabilities.

Main duties of the job

• To work with patients with cognitive, sensory, communicative, physical and psychosocial disabilities .
• To work holistically to encourage optimum patient abilities
• To assist with cognitive, functional, physical, communicative, emotional and behavioural aspects of a patient’s rehabilitation
• To supervise under the guidance of OT the preparation of hot drinks and meals.
• To support patient’s rehabilitation outside the unit i.e. shopping / travel training / recreational access within the community
• To deliver/assist patients in carrying out individualised exercise programmes.
• To support patients in the use and education around electronic assistive technology (EAT) such as powered wheelchair training.
• To establish an effective working relationship with each patient.
• To liaise with and communicate effectively with carers, and members of the interdisciplinary team in a timely manner, including feedback regarding the implementation of rehabilitation and care programmes.
• To respect the patient’s dignity and rights to privacy and individuality.
• To attend fortnightly MDT in-service meetings.
• To maintain patient’s clinical records in accordance with the agreed RHRU and Trust record keeping system and Documentation Policy,
• To maintain and monitor levels of OT stock.
• Report changes noted in patients condition and any concerns expressed by patient/families to the registered nurse and key therapist involved in the patients rehabilitation.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To view the main responsibility, please see the attached the Job Description and Person Specification