Occupational Therapy Assistant/Assistant Practitioner

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

This job is now closed

Job summary

We are looking for an Occupational Therapy Assistant for the Woodview Unit, Whalley.

Are you a person who enjoys working with people and is an excellent communicator? Are you looking for an opportunity to be involved with a team comprising of people who care passionately about a good patient experience and enabling recovery? Are you the kind of person who enjoys challenges, learning and developing you skills?

If so we have a rare opportunity to recruit an Occupational Therapy Assistant to join our team at Whalley. The successful candidate will work within the occupational therapy service alongside a strong multidisciplinary team helping people with acute mental health issues to achieve a successful and timely discharge from hospital. We are looking for someone with a compassionate nature who can communicate successfully with people who have different abilities and presentations.

The Occupational therapy team consists of qualified Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Assistants, and Recovery Support Workers, all of who focus on enabling patients to achieve optimum independence as part of recovering their ordinary lives.

If you feel you have a genuine caring nature, enjoy challenges and are enthusiastic about providing the best possible service for people to live satisfying, independent lives we would be very keen to meet you.

If you require any more information please contact us on the details provided.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will be working with a friendly team and have access to good facilities and support from managers.

You will be a team-player who can undertake some duties independently and at times act upon their own initiative.

Knowledge of social inclusion would be an advantage, alongside having excellent workload management skills. Experience of leading groups, working individually with people and using activity to help promote independence would also be a desirable ability.

"Occupational therapy aims to improve health and wellbeing through enabling participation in occupation (the activities, roles and routines of everyday life). Occupational therapists recognise that engagement in meaningful occupation can promote good mental health, assist recovery and help people achieve personalised outcomes such as being able to care for themselves, engage in work and leisure activities, and participate within the community.

Royal College of Occupational Therapy (2017).

Working directly with service users for at least 70% of the time, this post holder will support occupational therapists to achieve this aim through supporting the assessment and analyse of strengths and needs, providing interventions, reporting on progress, and supporting service users to care to achieve their personal goals and aspirations.

Service requirements may involve some flexibility of work hours and the post holder is expected to respond to service user need relating to this.

About us

Opening in 2023, the Woodview Unit is a newly refurbished building on the Whalley site which will have a total of 32 beds including 12 Male, 12 Female and an 8 bedded Male PICU unit. These additional beds will complement those on the Pendleview Unit, Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care.

The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area.

Lancashire & South Cumbria Foundation Trust encourages flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, flexi-time and career breaks. We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview.

For more information please visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT

Date posted

18 April 2024

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£25,147 to £27,596 a year per annum

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

12 months

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

351-PEN733-EB-A

Job locations

Woodview

Whalley

BB79PE

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see attached the job description and person specification for more information about this role.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see attached the job description and person specification for more information about this role.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

GCSE/level 5 or above in English and Maths or equivalent.
Qualification in health or care e.g. NVQ LEVEL 4, Training to Diploma or foundation level, Assistant practitioner qualification
Evidence of continued professional development

Knowledge

Essential

Ability to demonstrate understanding of, Occupational Therapy, The client group with which the post holder will work e.g. Mental health difficulties, The importance of being able to do the things, they want or need to do to people's mental well being, The concepts of recovery
A knowledge of benefits, accommodation and community resources
Adult and social learning theories

Experience

Essential

Previous experience of working in a support worker role with people who experience mental health difficulties with an understanding of the roles of other professions within the multi-disciplinary team
Experience of working with people with a broad range of Mental Health conditions and people who have cognitive, physical, learning disability or challenging behaviour
Previous experience working in therapy/care settings e.g. inpatient settings or social services agency/department

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

GCSE/level 5 or above in English and Maths or equivalent.
Qualification in health or care e.g. NVQ LEVEL 4, Training to Diploma or foundation level, Assistant practitioner qualification
Evidence of continued professional development

Knowledge

Essential

Ability to demonstrate understanding of, Occupational Therapy, The client group with which the post holder will work e.g. Mental health difficulties, The importance of being able to do the things, they want or need to do to people's mental well being, The concepts of recovery
A knowledge of benefits, accommodation and community resources
Adult and social learning theories

Experience

Essential

Previous experience of working in a support worker role with people who experience mental health difficulties with an understanding of the roles of other professions within the multi-disciplinary team
Experience of working with people with a broad range of Mental Health conditions and people who have cognitive, physical, learning disability or challenging behaviour
Previous experience working in therapy/care settings e.g. inpatient settings or social services agency/department

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.