Specialist Occupational Therapist

Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust

The closing date is 11 May 2025

Job summary

The post holder will work alongside a fellow Band 6 Physiotherapist, a Rehabilitation Assistant and an administrator to ensure the service provides the best possible care to patients. The post holder will be required to provide clinical triage, assessment, planning, intervention and evaluation of individual and groups of palliative patients. They will undertake all duties as an autonomous practitioner and act as a case manager within the Wellbeing team. The caseload is diverse and patients can have complex physical and psychosocial needs. The post holder will provide individualised holistic enablement focused palliative rehabilitation within their scope of practice. The post holder will be required to offer supervision for wellbeing team members, support for volunteers, organisation of rotas (with colleague), completion and implementation of required audits and clinical governance.

The service is a dynamic and developing service, the role would suit someone who is innovative and keen to develop their skills as wells as move the service forward to effectively meet the needs of palliative patients. This also includes leading the promotion of the service with support from service manager and the team. There can be emotionally challenging aspects of the role and the post holder will need to be resilient and have their own coping mechanisms.

Main duties of the job

Autonomously manage and hold responsibility for own patient caseload with complex palliative and end of life care needs.

Provide practical advice and support to patients and carers to maximise independent living.

Contribute by leading on delegated projects within the team, acting as a senior clinician and sharing best practice and knowledge across the whole Multidisciplinary team.

To support the patient in reaching their maximum physical potential, setting realistic goals and timeframes for achievement

The post holder will offer advice and support to carers at home in managing a relative whose condition is deteriorating.

To facilitate patients to maintain energy levels and energy conservation.

To work without direct supervision themselves but take responsibility for supervising junior colleagues.

Advanced communication skills are a must to ensure that other professionals involved with patient care are updated in a timely manner.

Demonstrate sensitivity and respect for patients and families from different religious and cultural backgrounds.

Recognize and escalate palliative care emergencies appropriately.

Provide support to Occupational Therapy students in the role of clinical educator.

About us

Wellbeing at Cynthia Spencer is a therapy led service which aims to enable and support adults across Northamptonshire who have a palliative diagnosis. It is based at Cynthia Spencer Hospice in Northampton and is part of the wider specialist palliative care service. The service uses a palliative rehabilitative approach to provide assessment and interventions to individuals mainly through group sessions. The service aims to support people to maintain their physical function, independence, quality of life and self-manage their symptoms / condition as long as possible.

NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools. We also provide health services to various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

Date posted

25 April 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£37,338 to £44,962 a year pa pro rata

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

12 months

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

270-TG039-ACS

Job locations

Cynthia Spencer Hospice

Kettering Road

Northampton

NN3 6NP

Job description

Job responsibilities

For further information on the advertised role, please refer to the job description located under the Supporting Documents heading. The full person specification can be accessed under the About You Section of the document.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Person Specification

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

Qualified Occupational Therapist
Registered with the HCPC
Relevant and extensive post qualification experience including within a range of settings including palliative care/ respiratory/neurology/ oncology/ mental health
Experience assessing complex situations and patients, often with conflicting information that requires analysis
Sound knowledge of O.T. models of practice and frames of reference
Experienced student educator

Desirable

Member of Major Health Conditions specialist section of RCOT
In-depth experience of a broad base of O.T. clinical skills within a physical Health setting
Knowledge of patient related outcome measures in palliative care

Skills and Abilities

Essential

Ability to provide detailed advice to clinical and non-clinical specialists regarding O.T. intervention.
Advanced communication and problem solving skills.
Ability to carry out in-depth O.T. assessment of complex clients with a diverse range of pathologies.
Ability to formulate specialist programmes of intervention, implement and evaluate treatment for complex patients
Ability to applying counselling skills and demonstrate a deep understanding and appreciation of patients situation and to respond in an appropriate manner.

Desirable

Day to day supervision; clinical supervision; Allocates work to junior OT staff; provides regular clinical supervision to one or more junior OTs; provides practical training to other care staff

Person Specification

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

Qualified Occupational Therapist
Registered with the HCPC
Relevant and extensive post qualification experience including within a range of settings including palliative care/ respiratory/neurology/ oncology/ mental health
Experience assessing complex situations and patients, often with conflicting information that requires analysis
Sound knowledge of O.T. models of practice and frames of reference
Experienced student educator

Desirable

Member of Major Health Conditions specialist section of RCOT
In-depth experience of a broad base of O.T. clinical skills within a physical Health setting
Knowledge of patient related outcome measures in palliative care

Skills and Abilities

Essential

Ability to provide detailed advice to clinical and non-clinical specialists regarding O.T. intervention.
Advanced communication and problem solving skills.
Ability to carry out in-depth O.T. assessment of complex clients with a diverse range of pathologies.
Ability to formulate specialist programmes of intervention, implement and evaluate treatment for complex patients
Ability to applying counselling skills and demonstrate a deep understanding and appreciation of patients situation and to respond in an appropriate manner.

Desirable

Day to day supervision; clinical supervision; Allocates work to junior OT staff; provides regular clinical supervision to one or more junior OTs; provides practical training to other care staff

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.