Job responsibilities
CLINICAL
1. To organise and manage the specialist provision of acute services and rehabilitation to patients admitted within trauma and orthopaedics.
2. To work at an advanced clinical level within the trauma and orthopaedics, particularly in the assessment, diagnosis and management of complex patients.
3. To use analytical and judgement skills to diagnose occupational difficulties (physical, cognitive, perceptual and emotive impact on functional performance), understand complex situations and formulate appropriate solutions.
4. To develop programmes of care to meet the highly specialist and complex needs of patients that includes meeting the needs of patients and their extended support system. This practice should be evidence based and be in accordance with current research.
5. To manage a clinical caseload to a high standard, including assessment, interventions and discharge planning. To carry out this care in accordance with research findings and evidence based practice.
6. To plan and co-ordinate complex multi-disciplinary activities e.g. case conferences; discharge planning and other keyworker activities.
7. To work within local policies and procedures, national standards and guidelines and adhere to the Royal College of Occupational Therapy professional standards and ethics.
8. To fulfil requirement to exert moderate physical effort to provide manual physical therapy within occupational therapy practice. To be able to manoeuvre patients and specialist equipment safely and effectively.
9. To supervise, train and provide day-to-day management to occupational therapists and assistants working within trauma and orthopaedic services.
10. To provide advice/support to occupational therapy colleagues on clinical practice issues and service development initiatives.
11. To propose and action changes, develop, organise and manage trauma and orthopaedic occupational therapy services.
12. To consult with occupational therapists within the trust and external to the trust regarding occupational therapy, in trauma and orthopaedics.
13. To work across disciplines and services to develop protocols and procedures.
14. To liaise with the service manager, therapy lead and trauma and orthopaedic service consultants to agree protocols/care pathways for the assessment and management of patients.
15. To work with the head/ deputy head of occupational therapy and service managers, therapy leads and consultants to develop a service for patients with complex presentations.
COMMUNICATION
1. To establish robust communication networks with patients, carers, multidisciplinary members and other agencies.
2. To ensure a quality service for patients by maintaining a high standard in relation to communication with patients, liaison with referrers and other team members, and documentation of intervention.
3. To promote awareness of the role of occupational therapy within the team, negotiating priorities where appropriate.
4. To ensure that up to date written and electronic records and activity data are maintained across the trauma and orthopaedic occupational therapy service in accordance with professional and trust standards and provide reports relevant to practice setting.
5. To write good quality occupational therapy functional and discharge reports for social services, onward inpatient services and community services.
6. To represent occupational therapy at ward, departmental and service level meetings, including delegation for the clinical lead occupational therapist.
MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
1. To keep comprehensive records of activity in accordance with local and national requirements.
2. Ensure ongoing evaluation of the service provided against agreed outcomes.
3. To provide occupational therapy input to service planning, developments and operational management, as required.
4. To provide input into clinical governance, risk management and quality programmes.
5. To ensure management across trauma and orthopaedics of student placement offers and individually supervise and complete yearly appraisal with staff and/or students.
6. To be aware of the importance of staff wellbeing, accessing trust support as required and raising any concerns.
7. To evaluate the service requirements for occupational therapy input in order to maximise the potential for rehabilitation.
8. Attend and contribute to relevant trauma and orthopaedic services and occupational therapy department meetings.
9. To be actively engaged in relevant professional networks.
10. To be aware of, interpret for specialist area and implement codes of practice, local and national guidelines.
11. To be responsible for the safe use of equipment and be responsible for encouraging the team reporting of defective equipment.
12. Responsible for maintaining stock control systems.
13. Authorised signatory for small petty cash payments, social services small equipment (up to value of £300) and locum timesheets.
14. To be actively involved in recruitment of new staff.
15. To abide by clinical governance agenda and responsible for appropriate risk management.
TRAINING, EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
1. Prepare and participate in lectures, seminars, specialist training programmes and demonstrations to occupational therapists and members of other disciplines both within and external to the trust.
2. To provide practical training and clinical supervision within discipline to students on clinical placement and staff within the service.
3. To participate in the occupational therapy preceptorship provision within the trust and encourage participation by the team.
4. To take responsibility for keeping own specialist knowledge up to date and maintaining evidence based clinical expertise, acting as a resource in this clinical area.
5. To participate in and develop as appropriate occupational therapy or multidisciplinary research, and actively participate in any evaluation or research projects within the unit as appropriate and as agreed.
6. To undertake clinical audit and service evaluation both within the trust and on a national level, taking the lead role where appropriate.
People Management and Performance
- Lead, coach and manage the performance of the team in line with good people management practices. Ensuring excellence is recognised and underperformance is addressed.
- Participate in regular performance appraisal meetings and ensure each member of the team has a clear set of objectives and development plans.
- Ensure the team is compliance with all statutory, mandatory training together with any professional training requirements, ensuring they are up to date and fully compliant.
- Manage team absences including sickness in line with Trust policy ensuring the appropriate return to work meetings occur, e-roster is updated and productivity is at keep to the highest possible level.
- Identify and fill any vacancies that arise within the team in line with the Trusts recruitment policy and process.
- Identify talent and support the internal talent management process in order attract and retain and succession plan for your people.
- Review skills mix at regular intervals in order to identify any potential opportunities to maximise resource utilisation / allocation, ensuring job descriptions are kept up to date.
- Ensure overall wellbeing of the team is maintained. Continuously support in improving the morale of the team and implementing a culture of zero-tolerance for bullying and harassment.
General
The post holder has a general duty of care for their own health, safety and wellbeing and that of work colleagues, visitors and patients within the hospital, in addition to any specific risk management or clinical governance accountabilities associated with this post.
- To observe the rules, policies, procedures and standards of King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust together with all relevant statutory and professional obligations.
- At Kings we are a kind, respectful team.
- To observe and maintain strict confidentiality of personal information relating to patients and staff.
- This job description is intended as a guide to the general scope of duties and is not intended to be definitive or restrictive. It is expected that some of the duties will change over time and this description will be subject to review in consultation with the post holder.
- All employees must hold an 'nhs.net' email account which will be the Trust's formal route for email communication.
- Everyone is responsible for promoting inclusion no matter their role or team. At Kings, we want to create an environment where everyone feels valued, respected and welcomed
Safe Guarding
The Trust takes the issues of Safeguarding Children, Adults and addressing Domestic Abuse very seriously. All employees have a responsibility to support the organisation in our duties by;
- attending mandatory training on safeguarding children and adults
- familiarising themselves with the Trust's processes for reporting concerns
Infection Control Statement
The post holder has an important responsibility for and contribution to infection control and must be familiar with the infection control and hygiene procedures and requirements when in clinical areas.
