Senior Occupational Therapist/Physiotherapist - Urgent Care

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a proactive individual to join our Urgent Care and Frailty Therapy team as a band 6 Occupational Therapist or Physiotherapist at Northampton General Hospital, part of the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire. This is a fixed term contract for 3 months starting in December 2026 to support with winter pressures.

This role will help you to strengthen and further develop your core and specialist clinical skills, as well as allowing you the opportunity to be involved in staff development, audit and service improvement.

The Urgent Care and Frailty Team consists of Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Therapy Support Staff. The Team covers the Emergency Department, Nye Bevan Assessment Unit and the Frailty Assessment Unit. We also work very closely with the extended multidisciplinary team.

Previous experience of working as an Occupational Therapist or Physiotherapist across a broad range of specialities including acute medicine, care of the elderly, respiratory and orthopaedics would be beneficial in this field. If you are looking to develop your career in urgent care and enjoy working in a fast-paced and stimulating environment, this is an excellent opportunity.

Main duties of the job

As a Band 6 clinician within a joint therapy service, you will be required to take part in delivering a quality Occupational Therapy/Physiotherapy Service working closely with other members of the Multidisciplinary Team including Therapy Technical Instructors, Nurses, Medics and the Hospital Complex case discharge Team. You will need to have an enthusiastic attitude, be forward thinking and have a problem-solving approach to patient management. The ability to work within a fast paced and pressured environment is essential, along with having excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and demonstration of the ability to support other team members. The post holder will be responsible for the provision of Occupational Therapy / Physiotherapy assessment, intervention, and discharge planning of patients with multiple, sometimes complex diagnoses. You will also need to work in collaboration with other members of the multi-disciplinary team in order to provide a patient-centered service, working to identify patient needs to facilitate a safe and timely discharge from hospital.

You will have the opportunity to contribute and lead on our new preceptorship program including bootcamp training sessions for preceptees and service development projects. Robust peer support from fellow Band 6s is encouraged. You will also supervise Band 5 staff and Therapy Technical Instructors colleagues to provide clinical support and guidance.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To Perform a specialist Physiotherapy or Occupational Therapy role within the directorate clinical speciality, for patients on own caseload, many complex/highly complex needs.
• To perform more advanced and detailed assessments of patients presenting with a wide range of complex conditions and comorbidities; providing a plan and goals to develop, and to deliver an individualised treatment programme to our patients in ward areas.
• To work closely with Therapy colleagues to provide joint Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy assessments and treatment plans enabling efficient use of Therapies Team resources.
• To manage a caseload and be responsible for a defined area of the service, working without direct supervision, managing attendance of board rounds and ward meetings to contribute significantly to patient flow when ward based.
• To pro-actively contribute to the timely and efficient discharge planning process for patients by selecting and implementing appropriate assessments and interventions, promoting a joint therapies approach with Physiotherapy colleagues.
• To be highly skilled in identifying pathways of patient care and to have awareness of discharge plans and suitable discharge locations.
• Provide clinical support and access to advice and supervision for junior staff
• Day to day management and supervision of ward/ therapy teams including Band 5 therapists and band 3/4 therapy support workers as well as Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy students
• To constantly improve clinical and professional practice and performance within the therapy services
• To act as a source of expertise, demonstrating advanced knowledge and skill in the role and educate other healthcare professionals as to the therapy role.
• Support to band 7 and 8 Therapy colleagues in the day-to-day running of the urgent care team including staff appraisals, clinical projects, benchmarking, teaching and service evaluation.
• Undertake evidence-based audit and research projects to further own and teams’ clinical practice.
• To promote the achievement of Northampton General Hospital’s vision and values:

Our therapy service covers 7 days per week, including bank holidays. The successful candidate will be expected to be part of the weekend service rota.

Compassion. Accountability. Respect. Integrity. Courage.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.