R1 (AJM) Specialist Occupational Therapist

Job details

• Job reference: 260289
• Salary: Band 6 (£43,231 - £52,679)
• Job closing date: 06/10/2026
• Job Type: Allied Health Professions
• Location: Royal Edinburgh Hospital
• Employment type: Permanent
• Hours Per Week: 28.19
• Job posted date: 21/09/2026
• Employer (NHS Board): NHS Lothian
• Department: Occupational Therapy

AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot can be great for planning and preparing your application—but your answers must be your own.

• Show us the real you: Your application should reflect your skills, experience, and motivations authentically.
• Use AI wisely: It’s fine to use AI for ideas or to check spelling and grammar, but don’t let it write your answers.
• Why this matters: Applications that rely on AI-generated content may be withdrawn. By applying, you confirm your responses are based on your own knowledge and achievements.

Tip: Think of AI as a helper, not a substitute. We want to understand you—not an AI tool.

Specialist Occupational Therapist

Royal Edinburgh Building, REH

We have an exciting opportunity to join our Occupational Therapy service within the Royal Edinburgh and Associated Services (REAS). The post will be based within the Royal Edinburgh Building in the mental health assessment wards for older adults. This post focusses mainly on the Dementia Assessment wards to provide specialist assessment and treatment to people admitted for assessment.

Clinical work focuses on conducting a variety of occupation focused assessment and utilising both standardised/non standardised tools to contribute toward MDT assessment.

Interventions include individual or group based sessions to maintain or enhance functional skills, manage distress and promote a sense of wellbeing. These may include sensory based work, cooking, gardening or music based activities designed to meet individual needs.

Working within well-established multidisciplinary teams, where Occupational Therapy is well integrated and valued, you will have opportunities to develop your skills in clinical decision-making, leadership, risk management and service development. The post is permanent and is 28.19hrs/week. It offers great development potential whether this is a change of speciality or an opportunity to work in a more senior role for either an experienced Band 5 or a Band 6. It is not necessary to have previous experience in the speciality, and candidates with skills that could compliment the skills of the existing team would be welcomed.

Regular clinical and professional supervision are valued and prioritised within the service and the successful candidate will be supported to take up a range of training and professional development opportunities. A passion for quality improvement and innovative practice is welcomed and is actively supported through our quality improvement team.

Have you seen our AHP Innovation, Research and Improvement intentions? Our exciting AHP strategy aims to cultivate AHP potential in NHS Lothian: https://weare.nhslothian.scot/hcprofessionsresearch/building-research-capacity-and-capability/allied-health-professions-research/

For further information on what is included in the role and what skills/experience are being looked for, click on the links at the bottom of the screen to the job description and person specification. Informal enquiries and visits are encouraged: Morna Russell, OPMH Occupational Therapy Team Lead on 0131 286 9620 or email Morna.Russell@nhs.scot

Please note: As this post is part-time, the salary will be pro-rata.

To work in the United Kingdom, there is a legal requirement for an individual to demonstrate that they have the relevant permission to work in the country. This permission is, without exception, granted by the UK Visa and Immigrations Service. Further information on what NHS Scotland Boards are required to do to check this as well as what your responsibilities include can be found in the further information for this vacancy.

Please note: we anticipate a high level of interest in this position and may close the vacancy early once a sufficient amount of applications are received. Therefore, please make sure you complete and submit your application at an early stage.

This post requires the post holder to have a PVG Scheme membership/record. If the post holder is not a current PVG member for the required regulatory group (i.e. child and/or adult) then an application will need to be made to Disclosure Scotland and deemed satisfactory before they can begin in post.

We will fully support disabled candidates, and candidates with long-term conditions or who are neurodivergent by making reasonable adjustments to our recruitment policy and practices.