Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust

Senior Occupational Therapist

The closing date is 22 June 2025

Job summary

The Home First service brings together therapists, nurses, and health and therapy assistants to work in close partnership with acute hospital teams and Transfer of Care Hubs, supporting safe and timely discharges back home.

Our multidisciplinary team provides a 7-day service, 365 days a year from 8am to 8pm, delivering step-down intermediate care to patients in their own homes. As a therapist, you will carry out community-based assessments and rehabilitation interventions that promote recovery, monitor health, and reduce the risk of re-admission in the crucial early days post-discharge. Where required, Home First offers up to 10 days of acute reablement, helping patients regain function and independence in daily living.

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a wraparound recovery-focused service, where therapists play a central role in enabling individuals to achieve their goals and maximise independence. If you're passionate about delivering high-quality, person-centred care in the community and want to work as part of a supportive and innovative team, we'd love to hear from you!

Main duties of the job

Band 6 Therapist:

As a Band 6 Therapist, you will manage a complex caseload, delivering high-quality, evidence-based therapy interventions to patients in their own homes. You'll use your advanced clinical reasoning to complete holistic assessments, develop tailored treatment plans, and monitor progress, adapting interventions as needed.

This is a leadership role where you'll supervise and support colleagues from Bands 2 to 5, contribute to student education, and support appraisals and team development. You'll be actively involved in service evaluation, audits, and improvement initiatives, ensuring best practice is embedded across the team.

Working as part of a responsive multidisciplinary team, you will play a key role in planning patient pathways, managing clinical risk, and promoting patient independence. You'll also maintain accurate documentation, support equipment management, and engage in continuous professional development through training, reflection, and supervision.

About us

We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex, with 6,000 staff serving 1.3 million people. We deliver essential care to adults and children, helping them manage their health, avoid hospital admissions, and reduce hospital stays.

Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community. We offer opportunities across medical, clinical, support, and corporate services.

Why work for us?o Positive 2023 NHS Staff Survey results, highlighting compassionate leadership and wellbeingo Varied environments: community hospitals, patients' homes, and bases across Sussexo Flexible working options: part-time, flexi-time, annualised hours, and flexi-retiremento Excellent training, development, and research opportunitieso Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove, and Brightono Active EMBRACE, Disability & Wellbeing, LGBTQIA+, and Religion & Belief networkso Level 3 Disability Confident Leader and Veteran Aware Trusto Beautiful Sussex location near the South Downs and coast

Our values--Compassionate Care, Working Together, Achieving Ambitions, Delivering Excellence--guide everything we do.

We embrace diversity and encourage applications from all backgrounds, particularly from ethnically diverse, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. We aim to create an inclusive environment and support reasonable adjustments during recruitment.

This post may close early if sufficient applications are received.

Details

Date posted

11 June 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£37,338 to £44,962 a year Per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Reference number

150-OM1815-UPC

Job locations

Horsham Hospital

Hurst Road

Horsham

RH12 2DR


Job description

Job responsibilities

For further information on the roles available please see attached Job Descriptions and Person Specification.

Job description

Job responsibilities

For further information on the roles available please see attached Job Descriptions and Person Specification.

Person Specification

Criteria

Essential

  • IT Skills
  • Evidence of further education

Experience

Essential

  • NHS Experience

Desirable

  • Community Experience

Ability to travel between sites

Essential

  • UK Driving License

Desirable

  • Own Car

Essential

Essential

  • Degree in Occupational Therapy
  • Ability to Drive with UK licence
  • Experience of supervision and managing a team

Desirable

  • Community Experience
  • Evidence of effecting time management and triage
Person Specification

Criteria

Essential

  • IT Skills
  • Evidence of further education

Experience

Essential

  • NHS Experience

Desirable

  • Community Experience

Ability to travel between sites

Essential

  • UK Driving License

Desirable

  • Own Car

Essential

Essential

  • Degree in Occupational Therapy
  • Ability to Drive with UK licence
  • Experience of supervision and managing a team

Desirable

  • Community Experience
  • Evidence of effecting time management and triage

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Additional information

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Horsham Hospital

Hurst Road

Horsham

RH12 2DR


Employer's website

https://www.sussexcommunity.nhs.uk/work-with-us/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Horsham Hospital

Hurst Road

Horsham

RH12 2DR


Employer's website

https://www.sussexcommunity.nhs.uk/work-with-us/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Operational Team Lead

Ellen Gaine

ellen.gaine@nhs.net

07881380863

Details

Date posted

11 June 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£37,338 to £44,962 a year Per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Reference number

150-OM1815-UPC

Job locations

Horsham Hospital

Hurst Road

Horsham

RH12 2DR


Supporting documents

Privacy notice

Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust's privacy notice (opens in a new tab)