Senior Occupational Therapist Reablement Service

Job overview

We are pleased to offer an opportunity for a Senior Occupational Therapist Reablement Service position within our new Community Reablement Project.

The  Social Care team are looking for an enthusiastic and experienced Occupational Therapist to join them in contributing to a caring and vibrant service working in the Baywide area.

The post holder will assist in supervising and co-ordination of the operational delivery of the Adult Social Care Reablement service Baywide.

The post holder will also triage and assess new referrals and identify new reablement goals for service users following referral to reablement service. This ensure that service users’ referrals, assessments and discharges from the service are managed effectively.

This post is also a supportive role to staff with advice and training relevant to the role (including support staff and referrers).

The Baywide Social Care Team are a small supportive team who enjoy mentoring team members and students and are passionate about delivering quality care to patients.  We are a motivated and caring team to both patients and colleagues. The team is flexible and promotes a healthy work/home life balance.

Main duties of the job

• The post-holder may have supervisory responsibility for a Band 5 post or Assistant Practitioner as appropriate
• The post-holder has responsibility for managing a community caseload

The post-holder will assess and treat patients in a variety of community settings, patient’s own home, nursing homes, residential homes

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Communication and working relationships

• Assess patients’ understanding of interventions, gain valid formal consent and jointly agree goals. To have the capacity to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment
• Communication will include imparting sensitive and comprehensive information relating to diagnosis, prognosis, physical and functional recovery, and potential lifestyle adjustments, to patients and their relatives. This may involve informing patients that they may be unable to return home or return to their previous level of activity/work/leisure
• To use, regularly and spontaneously, verbal and non-verbal communication tools to discuss complex information about underlying influences, prognosis, and support plans with patients and/or carers. This will include patients who may have difficulties with regard to complex emotional/ psychological/ physical conditions relating to the presenting complaint. This client group includes those who may be low in mood, hearing and/or visually impaired, and unable to accept their diagnosis, or have difficulty in understanding or communicating. Communication will involve the use of skills in motivating, negotiating, counselling, training, empathising and reassuring
• Maintain accurate, comprehensive and up to date documentation, in line with legal, departmental and RCOT standards of practice, and to monitor that of less experienced staff
• Effective communication with all members of multi-disciplinary team; Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Social work staff, Nurses, Paramedic, GP’s, and health and social care co-ordinators
• To communicate with Clinical OT Lead regarding service development issues and staff related issues such as staff sickness and grievances
• External communication may include discussion with employers and related agencies regarding return-to-work issues, and discussion regarding patient management with multidisciplinary/multiagency team members, including GPs, District Nurses, Residential home staff, Carer services, Council Services and Housing Associations

Analytical and judgement

• Plan, implement and review OT interventions for individuals in the placement settings and patients own homes. To include the assessment, provision and fitting of adaptive equipment, assessment for minor and Major adaptations (Disabled Facilities Grants)
• Carry out home assessment visits with patients from temporary places of safety, thereby contributing to the planning and facilitation of discharge to their own homes as appropriate
• Identify appropriate agencies and services for onward referral of patients, and liaise with them regarding continuing patient care e.g. mental health services, local falls clinics, orthotics
• Completion of falls assessments and pro-forma thereby contributing to the Falls Pathway
• Undertake specialist seating and postural management assessments

Planning and organisation

• Provide highly specialist advice to colleagues, other agencies on manual handling, risk assessment and the provision of hoisting equipment
• Undertake specialist wheelchair assessments
• Ensure all OT interventions are documented in an accurate and timely manner; prepare reports regarding more complex cases as indicated
• Contribute where required to applications for continuing NHS care funding
• Sensitive to pressures in the service and provide cover where appropriate
• To contribute to the development and standard operating procedures for the reablement services.

Patient and client care

• To work as part of a multi-disciplinary team contributing to joint decisions regarding the management of patients, including between acute and community environments.
• Be able to triage and prioritise work according to urgency and establishing presenting risks
• Working with a patient centred approach, taking responsibility for assessment and making autonomous decisions/recommendations regarding packages of care, equipment provision and ongoing treatment to maintain patients at home, thereby preventing hospital admission.
• To liaise closely with patients, carers and relatives regarding the development and implementation and outcome of individualised support plans
• Assist and prepare service users and carers to participate in case conferences and reviews. Also, where necessary represent their views
• Take an active part in adult protection duties
• To take an active part in safeguarding adult duties.

Policy and service development

• Deal with initial complaints from service users sensitively and appropriately; liaise with Lead and where complaints progress assists with their resolution in line with Trust policy
• Have good working knowledge of, and ensure compliance with, National and Local guidelines, policies and procedures. To keep up to date with clinical developments using clinical databases and electronic technology
• Practise in accordance with the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for Occupational Therapists; work within Torbay & South Devon NHS Trust OT standards
• Participate in clinical audit and research and service development within Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust OT service
• Comply with Torbay and South Devon Foundation Trust and locality policies and protocols and contribute to the development of local policies and protocols specific to area of service

People management and training

• An active member of the in-service training programme by attendance at, participation in and contribution to in-service training programmes, tutorials, individual training sessions, external courses and peer review
• Take delegated responsibility for the teaching, supervision and co-ordination of junior staff, and students (to graduate level) and support workers daily
• Responsible for organising and planning own caseload to meet service and patient priorities, readjusting plans as situations change/arise.