Paediatric Occupational Therapist

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose

To provide Occupational Therapy intervention to children (aged 0 to 19 years), with a wide range of conditions.

To work across the geographical areas within the borough.

To manage a defined caseload using evidence based/client centre principles to access, plan, implement and evaluate interventions.

To regularly supervise Occupational Therapy students on practice placement.

To provide leadership and clinical supervision for other staff as delegated.

To continue own professional development.

Duties and Responsibilities

Clinical

To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of your own work and to maintain overall accountability for delegated duties of treatment to junior staff for patients on your caseload.

To use a wide variety of Occupational Therapy assessment methods to identify clients who require Occupational Therapy intervention.

To prioritise referrals and caseload using local guidelines/care pathways.

To insure interventions take place in the most appropriate setting, e.g. hospital or clients homes

To plan, prepare and undertake client assessments for a designated caseload.

To identify areas of occupational performance and skill deficit in all functional activities of daily life.

To work with clients and/or carers to identify goals as part of an overall care plan in co-operation with the multi professional team.

To plan and implement individual and/or group interventions in collaboration with clients using graded activity to achieve therapeutic goals.

To monitor, evaluate and modify treatment for clients with multiple needs/pathology in order to measure progress and ensure effectiveness of intervention.

To demonstrate and apply a broad level of understanding of the effect of disability and recommend adaptations to the clients physical and social environment.

To justify own clinical judgments when differences of opinion occur

To act as an advocate for patients needs when necessary

To demonstrate effective communication skills with carers, team members, occupational therapy colleagues and other agencies.

To be able to take a lead in Multi-Disciplinary Team Meetings.

To maintain good working relationships.

To convey information on diagnosis, prognosis and treatment plans in a range of verbal and non-verbal forms that clients/relatives can understand.

Using a variety of skills gain consent and co-operation to treatment plans.

To educate children, parents/guardians and teachers in conditions and their effects in order to achieve maximum development.

To contribute to client related developments and activities within the multi-professional team.

To prepare reports for Education, Health and Care Plans within the appropriate timescale, and contribute written and verbal reports for IEPs, annual reviews and transition, contributing appropriately to development of young peoples Health Action Plans.

Record Keeping

To maintain accurate and comprehensive patient treatment records in line with Trust Policies and Royal College of OT Standards of Practice.

To maintain timely statistics and other records as requested by the Occupational Therapy Service and the Trust.

To monitor the quality of record keeping for support staff and students.

Professional Ethics

To comply with the Royal College of Occupational Therapy (RCOT) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Guidance and National and Trust Policies and Procedures.

To respect the individuality, values, cultural and religious diversity of clients and contribute to the provision of a service sensitive to these needs.

Service Responsibilities

To participate in the day-to-day organisation and development of the service.

To contribute to the Trusts clinical governance arrangements and quality agenda.

To demonstrate understanding of national and local guidelines and legislation relating to health and social care and their impact on service delivery.

Be responsible for the monitoring of materials and equipment and bring defects or deficits to the attention of the Team Leader.

To exercise good personal time management, punctuality and consistent reliable attendance.

To advise the Team Leader on resources required to carry out the job.

To review and reflect on own practice and performance through effective use of professional and operational supervision and appraisal.

To maintain a professional portfolio of Continuing Professional Development recording learning outcomes through participation in internal and external development opportunities.

To comply with annual PDR and appraisal system.

To plan and implement the induction of junior staff/students.

To receive, plan and deliver in-service training for own profession and others.

To undertake the supervision of junior staff as delegated by senior staff.

To regularly supervise, evaluate and assess Occupational Therapy students to include negotiating learning contracts and setting objectives.

To adhere to Health and Safety Policies and Procedures and carry out responsibilities accordingly.

Research and Development

To participate in the planning, evaluation and audit of practices, clinical pathways and protocols within your clinical area.

To undertake clinical training appropriate to the role

To participate with other team members in measurement of and evaluation of work and current practice through use of outcome measures and audit.

To contribute to the Trusts and Teams Clinical Governance arrangements and the quality agenda.

To demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate current research, apply them to practice and disseminate findings at a local level.

To broaden research and development skills through participation in local audit and research projects

Please see full Job Description attached.

Job Specific Requirements

Essential

• Excellent communication skills
• Problem solving skills
• Experience with moving and handling patients
• Experience of handling / issuing adaptive equipment
• The ability to travel independently across the Bridgewater Trust
• The ability to work flexibly in accordance with service needs

Desirable

• Experience using hoists and of patient transfers

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree/Diploma in Occupational Therapy.
• Health and Care Professions Council registration.
• Member of Professional Body.

Desirable

• Membership of Occupational Therapy specialist interest group relevant Special Interest Groups

Sponsorship

Essential

• Do you have the right to stay and work in the UK without sponsorship (share-codes will be checked if applicable)

Skills & Attributes

Essential

• Demonstrate underpinning theory of and ability to participate in education of other health care professionals including students.
• Evidence of clinical reasoning skills and ability to reflect on and critically appraise own practice.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a team.
• Knowledge of a childs normal/impaired development/function and disease processes and their implications on occupational performance.
• Effective communication skills with patients, healthcare professionals and other agencies.
• Knowledge of national policies and procedures (relevant to working with children).
• Good organisational, planning and time management skills.
• IT skills e.g word processing and data inputting.
• Ability to carry out risk assessments.
• Ability to assess physical social and environmental needs of a client.

Desirable

• Awareness of standards of record keeping
• Ability to work in a variety of positions kneeling sitting standing on the floor

Experience

Essential

• Experience with children.
• Experience of working with patients with a range of disorders such as motor coordination difficulties, Cerebral Palsy, learning difficulties.
• Experience of a variety of assessment and treatment approaches / models such as neurodevelopmental, biomechanical, behavioural.
• Experience of using both standardised and non standardised assessment tools.
• Experience of working under supervision and as an autonomous practitioner where suitable and acting appropriately on constructive comment.
• Experience of report writing.
• Experience of working collaboratively with other health / social care professionals.

Desirable

• Experience of work in a community setting such as a special school nursery school or sure start centre
• Experience of service delivery in a lone working environment

Relationships

Essential

• If you are related to a director, or have a relationship with a director or employee of an appointing organisation, please state the relationship:

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).