Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust

Specialist Occupational Therapist - Stroke & Neurology

This job is now closed

Job summary

Are you passionate about supporting the recovery of patients through Occupational Performance following a stroke?

We would like to recruit someone who shares our values of commitment to quality, being the best we can be, treating people with compassion, dignity and respect and having trust and respect for all members of the team.

If you share these values then this could be the job for you.

An exciting opportunity has become available for a dynamic Occupational Therapist with an interest in stroke and neurology.Are you looking for something different that will offer you a unique opportunity to further develop your activity analysis skills in stroke and neurological practice?

You will have the opportunity to undertake holistic, patient centred assessments and rehabilitation to address cognitive and physical impairments impacting on occupational performance. This will include environmental assessment, the prescription of specialist equipment and manual handling assessments and rehabilitation expertise.

Providing therapy across the Stroke pathway, you will have completed your core rotations and have experience of supporting more junior staff. You will have evidenced experience of working within the field of Stroke/Neurology and Rehabilitation and some experience in the completion, interpretation and management of cognitive deficits.

Main duties of the job

As part of this role you will be be required to utilise specialist level neurological assessments and treatments to inform and develop individual rehabilitation and discharge plans for our cohort of patients.

Excellent knowledge of Stroke and other neurological conditions are essential to both deliver care for our patients and support the learning and development of more junior staff.

Alongside this, effective leadership skills will be required to direct others as needed and deputise for the band 7 OT lead in their absence.

In return, we can offer you access to structured clinical supervision with our most experienced team members to ensure both your clinical development needs and leadership aspirations are a focus. Regular time for training and development -both internal and external - to meet your individual needs and support you to achieve your learning goals with be provided.

To understand the full extent of this role, you are advised to arrange a visit, and / or gain further information by contacting Clair Finnemore on 07970956170 or email clair.finnemore@nhs.net

About us

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust is a dedicated to improving the lives of local people, maintaining an outstanding reputation for teaching and education, and embedding innovation and research into every day practice. Our vision is to be renowned as the best Integrated Care Organization within the NHS.

This is an exciting time for the Trust, and our services, as we look towards the opening of our new single-site acute hospital - Midland Metropolitan University Hospital - in 2022. Alongside this, and accelerated changes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, service redesign is moving at pace to deliver integrated healthcare services which are fit for the future.

Date posted

10 January 2022

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£32,306 to £39,027 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time, Flexible working

Reference number

381-CT-3748865-A

Job locations

SWB NHS Trust

Lyndon

West Bromwich

B71 4HJ

Job description

Job responsibilities

Be professionally and legally accountable for all aspects of own work, including the management of patients in your care.

Undertake specialist assessments of patients with diverse or complex medical presentations and multi-pathologies using analysis, clinical reasoning skills, and manual assessment techniques and listening skills to receive complex & sensitive details from patients to provide an accurate prognosis of their condition. This will include assessment and interpretation of Cognitive function and its impact on performance.

Assist in the responsibility for the delivery of the therapy service to the area coordinating, allocating and organising the work of junior and assistant colleagues to meet service priorities on a daily basis and ensure a high standard of clinical care.

Formulate comprehensive individual Occupational Therapy treatment programes based on specialist knowledge of evidence based practice and treatment options using clinical assessment, analysis and reasoning skills and knowledge of a range of treatment options & outcome measures.

Discuss treatment options and recommend best course of intervention to patients and carers using negotiating, persuasive, and motivational and reassurance skills. This may include dealing with situations which are potentially hostile or highly emotive when patients and/or carers are unable or unwilling to accept the outcomes of their rehabilitation.

Assess patient understanding of treatment proposals, gain valid informed consent and have the capacity to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment.

Be responsible for organising and planning own caseload to meet service and patient priorities, readjusting plans as situations change.

Demonstrate highly developed dexterity, co-ordination and palpating senses for assessment and manual treatment of patients

Use a range of verbal and non-verbal communication techniques to communicate effectively with patients to progress rehabilitation and treatment programes. This will include the communication of information to patients who have difficulties in understanding or communicating e.g. where English is not the first language, dysphasic, depressed, unmotivated, deaf, blind patients and those unable to accept the outcomes of rehabilitation or prognosis. This may also include those who have been subjected to extremes of physical and mental abuse.

Communicate complex and sensitive patient-related information effectively to ensure collaborative working with MDT colleagues across health & social care sectors to ensure delivery of a coordinated multidisciplinary service and assist in developing comprehensive discharge plans.

Contribute to safe and competent use of all appropriate equipment & patient appliances & aids by patients, junior and assistant staff and undergraduate therapy students through training, teaching and supervision of practice. This includes the assembly and demonstration of equipment for patient use.

Regularly evaluate patient progress and ensure set goals are met. If goals are not met evaluate possible causes, reset objectives where appropriate to progress patients rehabilitation and where necessary inform opinion for discharge planning.

Manage clinical risk within own patient caseload and working environment following Trust Health & Safety Policy including incident reporting.

Contribute to the development and implementation of policy and service changes within Stroke/Neurology Services to ensure delivery of best practice and in line with the RCP guidelines for Stroke.

Maintain accurate and comprehensive written & electronic patient treatment records in line with departmental standards and the Royal College of Occupational Therapy (COT) Standards of Practice and HCPC.

Supervise juniors, support workers and student therapists record keeping according to professional and Therapy Service Standards.

Represent the therapy service and/or individual patients at multi-disciplinary meetings to ensure the delivery of a co-ordinated multi-disciplinary service integrating therapy treatment into the programme. This will include discussion of patient care, patient progress and the implementation of discharge planning. Completing access and/or home visits when indicated.

Adhere to lone working policy in the delivery of Access or Home Visits.

Be responsible as required, in liaison with senior colleagues, for teaching undergraduate therapy students to graduate level on therapeutic skills and knowledge within core clinical areas during student placements.

Assist in clinically educating and evaluating the clinical competence of junior therapists and support staff, providing support and guidance and delegating tasks appropriately.

Maintain and develop specialist knowledge of evidenced based practice. Critically evaluate own work and current practices through the use of evidence based practice projects, audit and outcome measures.

Contribute to the development of improvements in service delivery and clinical practice using evidence based practice to recommend and implement changes in liaison with the team leader.

Be an active member of the in-service training programme participating in and leading sessions and feeding back information from appropriate external courses.

Be actively involved in professional clinical groups such as the trust journal club, COT clinical interest groups, peer review groups and other professional development activities.