Job summary
Do you have a passion for supporting patients to stay at home and avoid hospital admission? Are you committed to delivering a fast-paced, high-quality service? Do you want to be part of a caring, dedicated team?
We are looking for a Senior Occupational Therapist to join our Urgent Community Response (UCR) team. If you are ambitious, proactive, and experienced, and you want to help lead an innovative team providing excellent community care, we'd love to hear from you.
The Urgent Community Response service provides urgent support seven days a week to help prevent unnecessary hospital admissions. We achieve this by delivering a two-hour crisis response by a skilled multidisciplinary team who visit patients at home or in their usual place of residence. This service supports people experiencing a decline in health or mobility who are at risk of hospital admission.
Our teams work closely with local ambulance services to help divert category 3 & 4 patients from the ambulance queue, providing rapid assessment and care in the community so patients can safely remain at home.
We also provide a general virtual ward service, supported by digital technology and remote monitoring enabling patients to receive hospital-level care in familiar surroundings, helping speed up recovery and free up hospital beds for those who need them most. Care includes daily reviews by our clinical team, which may involve home visits or virtual consultations.
Main duties of the job
As part of the UCR Service, you will deliver urgent clinical interventions, including intravenous therapy, within multidisciplinary pathways designed to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions. This includes both the two-hour crisis response and the general virtual ward, aligned with national specifications.
Operating 365 days per year, the service receives referrals from a wide range of health and care professionals. Patients are triaged, assessed, and supported over several days to help them remain safely at home.
The successful candidate will:
- Provide direct clinical care to patients
- Offer clinical expertise and problem-solving support to colleagues within the team
- Help coordinate the multidisciplinary team, including allocating visits appropriately
- Identify patients suitable for early discharge from hospital or for admission avoidance pathways
- Contribute to service development through reflective practice, clinical supervision and audit
Our multidisciplinary team works flexibly to provide care 365 days a year, from 8am to 8pm.
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 2024 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.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- Work collaboratively within a supportive multidisciplinary team to deliver holistic care and rehabilitation in community, unit or home setting
- Plan, implement and regularly review individual treatment programmes, adapting to the changing needs of patients
- Undertake comprehensive, person-centred assessments, escalating concerns where appropriate
- Educate and empower patients and carers with advice and information to promote self-management and wellbeing
- Monitor and document changes in patient condition, adapting care plans in response to progress or changing needs
- Accept and manage referrals in line with service criteria and operational policies
- Assess and manage clinical risk within your caseload, adhering to health and safety regulations and the lone worker policy
- Maintain secure and accurate patient records in accordance with SCFT Information Governance requirements
- Provide clinical supervision, guidance and teaching to Band 5 therapists, assistants and students
- Support operational leads by contributing to annual appraisals for Bands 25 and helping colleagues with their career development
- Stay up to date with professional standards, guidelines and best practice to ensure safe and effective patient care
- Contribute to service development, audits and quality improvement projects that enhance patient outcomes
- Ensure equipment used for assessment and treatment is properly maintained, clean and safely stored
By bringing your clinical expertise, commitment to learning and passion for patient-centred care, youll help us deliver an outstanding community service.
For more details, please refer to the attached job description and person specification, or contact our team leads to discuss the role further.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- Work collaboratively within a supportive multidisciplinary team to deliver holistic care and rehabilitation in community, unit or home setting
- Plan, implement and regularly review individual treatment programmes, adapting to the changing needs of patients
- Undertake comprehensive, person-centred assessments, escalating concerns where appropriate
- Educate and empower patients and carers with advice and information to promote self-management and wellbeing
- Monitor and document changes in patient condition, adapting care plans in response to progress or changing needs
- Accept and manage referrals in line with service criteria and operational policies
- Assess and manage clinical risk within your caseload, adhering to health and safety regulations and the lone worker policy
- Maintain secure and accurate patient records in accordance with SCFT Information Governance requirements
- Provide clinical supervision, guidance and teaching to Band 5 therapists, assistants and students
- Support operational leads by contributing to annual appraisals for Bands 25 and helping colleagues with their career development
- Stay up to date with professional standards, guidelines and best practice to ensure safe and effective patient care
- Contribute to service development, audits and quality improvement projects that enhance patient outcomes
- Ensure equipment used for assessment and treatment is properly maintained, clean and safely stored
By bringing your clinical expertise, commitment to learning and passion for patient-centred care, youll help us deliver an outstanding community service.
For more details, please refer to the attached job description and person specification, or contact our team leads to discuss the role further.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Professional qualification such as a degree or equivalent in Physiotherapy or Occupational Therapy.
- Current registration with the Health and Care Professions Council
- Evidence of relevant postgraduate courses / CPD and reflective practice relevant to clinical speciality
Experience
Essential
- Substantial relevant post-qualification experience covering a broad range
- Experience of interdisciplinary working
- Experience of supervising junior staff, assistants and students
- Experience of independently managing a clinical caseload
Skills and Knowledg
Essential
- Able to demonstrate competency in a range of clinical skills
- Able to plan and prioritise own workload efficiently
- Able to delegate work to others
- Able to demonstrate leadership in practice
Other requirements
Essential
- Car driver (Valid Driving License for use in the UK)
- Access to a vehicle for work purposes
Desirable
- Flexible approach to working
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Professional qualification such as a degree or equivalent in Physiotherapy or Occupational Therapy.
- Current registration with the Health and Care Professions Council
- Evidence of relevant postgraduate courses / CPD and reflective practice relevant to clinical speciality
Experience
Essential
- Substantial relevant post-qualification experience covering a broad range
- Experience of interdisciplinary working
- Experience of supervising junior staff, assistants and students
- Experience of independently managing a clinical caseload
Skills and Knowledg
Essential
- Able to demonstrate competency in a range of clinical skills
- Able to plan and prioritise own workload efficiently
- Able to delegate work to others
- Able to demonstrate leadership in practice
Other requirements
Essential
- Car driver (Valid Driving License for use in the UK)
- Access to a vehicle for work purposes
Desirable
- Flexible approach to working
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.
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.
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).
