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Job summary
Band 7 | 22.5 hours per week | Permanent
Are you a passionate and experienced Occupational Therapist ready to provide specialist clinical leadership in Respiratory Medicine? Would you like to work in an internationally renowned cardiothoracic centre rated as Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission? If so, we would like to hear from you.
We are looking for a Team Lead Occupational Therapist in Respiratory Medicine to deliver, coordinate, and develop a highly specialist Occupational Therapy service for patients with complex respiratory conditions, prolonged hospital admissions, functional deterioration, complex discharge needs, and associated physical, cognitive, psychological, and occupational performance difficulties.
This is an exciting opportunity to provide clinical leadership within a specialist heart and lung hospital, supporting high-quality patient care, timely discharge planning, patient flow, staff development, education, service improvement, audit, and research.
The post has a strong clinical focus, with scope to lead and influence Occupational Therapy practice in Respiratory Medicine locally, regionally, and nationally.
Main duties of the job
*Delivering highly specialist Occupational Therapy assessment and intervention for patients with complex respiratory conditions.
*Providing advanced clinical reasoning in relation to breathlessness, fatigue, oxygen dependency, deconditioning, anxiety, cognitive changes, functional decline, and complex discharge planning.
*Developing tailored intervention plans using energy conservation, pacing, breathlessness management, functional retraining, adaptive approaches, environmental modification, and equipment provision.
*Supporting safe and timely discharge planning, including complex adaptive aid provision, care package recommendations, onward referrals, and liaison with community services.
*Providing clinical leadership, supervision, education, and competency development for rotational Occupational Therapists, students, therapy support workers, and assistant practitioners.
*Coordinating Occupational Therapy input within Respiratory Medicine and contributing to MDT discussions, board rounds, specialist pathway meetings, and patient flow processes.
*Identifying service gaps, escalating risks, and supporting the development of responsive, safe, and sustainable Respiratory Medicine Occupational Therapy provision.
*Leading or contributing to service evaluation, audit, research, quality improvement, and professional development initiatives linked to Respiratory Medicine.
About us
Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the UK's leading heart and lung hospital, delivering care to more than 50,000 patients a year in its new state-of-the-art hospital in Cambridge. We perform the most heart and/or lung transplants in the UK and carried out the UK's first successful heart transplant in 1979. It also offers emergency heart attack treatment, sleep centre care and is one of just five centres nationally for those in severe respiratory failure.
Based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe the Trust is at the heart of treatments of the future. Royal Papworth became the first hospital trust in the country to be rated outstanding in all five areas assessed by the Care Quality Commission - a rating it still holds today. The Trust holds its values of compassion, excellence & collaboration at its core, and all colleagues joining the team are expected to uphold these in their day-to-day roles & interactions. Royal Papworth is proud of its diverse workforce and encourages people to embrace their individuality.
The Trust values difference and welcomes all applications irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. Providing they meet the minimum post criteria, applicants with disabilities will be offered an interview.
For a street view tour: https://royalpapworth.nhs.uk/virtual-tour
Details
- Date posted: 17 June 2026
- Pay scheme: Agenda for change
- Band: Band 7
- Salary: £49,387 to £56,515 a year
- Contract: Permanent
- Working pattern: Part-time
- Reference number: 175-2627-PS1832
- Job locations: Royal Papworth Hospital, Papworth Road, Cambridge Bio Medical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0AY, United Kingdom
Job responsibilities
On this page you will find a Role Profile which provides information about the hospital and full details about the role. We recommend that you review this and refer to it as you complete your application. Please include how you will meet the Trust Values Compassion, Excellence and Collaboration. If you would like more information about the role or working at Royal Papworth Hospital, please get in touch with the contact for this role.
Person specification
Experience
Essential
- Clinical Pillar
- Specialist Occupational Therapy knowledge and advanced clinical reasoning in Respiratory Care and rehabilitation. Ability to support others to develop their knowledge.
- Evidence of significant experience in Occupational therapy management of patients with respiratory conditions and associated conditions and treatment options.
- Experience in conducting comprehensive
- Occupational Therapy assessments using standardised tools and protocols.
- Evidence of development of scope of practice with new skills and support others to also develop.
- Ability to work independently and prioritise own and others workload and delegate effectively to others.
- Leadership Pillar
- Evidence of excellent communication, leadership and management skills across the multi-professional team.
- Evidence of excellent communication skills, including verbal, nonverbal and written, in difficult and challenging situations
- Ability to problem solve and make complex clinical and non-clinical decisions and support the team to also do so
- Education Pillar
- Engagement in post-graduate education relevant to respiratory or general medical care; including attending, presenting and organising relevant courses, study days and conferences.
- Experience of teaching and presentation to peers, junior staff and students.
- Experience in education and advocacy Occupational Therapy across the multi-professional team
- Research Pillar
- Experience in leading team and department audit / service improvement/ research projects
- Utilisation of current evidence base to influence own and others clinical practice.
- Working knowledge of NHS and AHP priorities and initiatives
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Desirable
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Qualifications
Essential
- BSc/ Pre- Reg MSc/ Grad. Dip. in Occupational Therapy with HCPC registration
- Post graduate education in relevant specialism
- MSc level (or equivalent level) training relevant to respiratory care
- Active participation and engagement within specialist interest group membership.
- .
Desirable
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Additional Criteria
Essential
- As well as being able to demonstrate examples of how they work in a way that is consistent with our values of compassion, excellence and collaboration the successful candidate will be able to clearly demonstrate a commitment to driving culture change through equality, diversity and inclusion.
- Role model and support others in demonstrating professionalism, resilience and reflexivity
- Ability to undertake manual handling tasks.
- Ability to work flexibly in an enhanced seven day service.
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Team Lead Occupational Therapist in Respiratory Medicine with Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Cambridge, East of England, England. It is listed as a Band 7 Occupational Therapist role. The advertised salary is £49,387 to £56,515 a year. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 12 Jul 2026.
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