Occupational Therapist Specialist (Mental Health Liaison Team)

Job responsibilities

Use the Occupational Therapy process autonomously in various settings, including lone working in the community in service users care home place of residence.

Manage a defined caseload in providing specialist mental health assessment, for people referred to the Mental Health Liaison Team.

Use evidence based practice/patient centred principles to assess, plan, implement and evaluate further intervention requirements in hospital and community settings.

Maintain clinical records according to local and professional guidelines.

Develop expert skills and knowledge through an agreed personal development plan.

Provide leadership for junior and support staff through supervision and allocation of work.

Supervise students as an accredited practice educator who adheres to the requirements of the defined standards of practice and supervision.

Provide evidence based training and delivery of competency-based practice to the support staff.

Collaborate with the multi-disciplinary team involved with the provision of Mental Health Liaison Team patients. This will include hospital staff, intermediate Care Managers, care managers, Single Point of Access.

Contribute to the review and development of secondary and local authority physical and mental health therapy services.

Develop local networks with other teams providing similar services, contributing to the wider professional network.

The post holder will work within a close multi-agency team to deliver assessment and discharge planning, within the hospital and community.

Use a range of verbal and non-verbal communication techniques to communicate effectively with individuals and/or their family or carers and care home staff in order to elicit co-operation and establish an appropriate intervention plan. This may include potentially difficult or stressful situations or where there may be barriers to understanding e.g. cognitive problems, hearing, visual, or speech impairment, confusion, anxiety, cultural, or language barriers.

Create an environment that promotes effective communication with individuals and their family/carers, and the multidisciplinary team by establishing effective communication networks and demonstrating skills in empathy, reassurance and the ability to motivate others. This includes education and behavioural change approaches using suitable media.

Communicate complex assessment and treatment plans to individuals and their family/carers; dealing sensitively with distressing or emotional issues which are potentially emotive and respecting the dignity and rights of the individual and their family/carers e.g. encountering resistance, anger or aggression from carers/family.

Establish and maintain excellent communication networks with members of the multiagency team, statutory organisations, private and voluntary sector as appropriate when assessing a patients safe discharge.

Be a point of reference for the team concerning complex patient cases within the specialised area.

Take a lead role in education and development of competencies of support staff via formal talks, on the job evaluation and competency-based assessments.

Contribute to educating individuals, carers, health professionals, about the management of health impairment and management within the patients social and physical environment.

Maintain good working relationships with individuals, their family/carers, colleagues, and personnel from statutory and non-statutory agencies.

Deal appropriately and professionally with general enquires regarding the rehabilitation programme in accordance with local authority and health board procedures and the operational policies: this may involve a pro-active approach to dealing with complaints.

Provide education/training to other health and social care professionals internal and external to the team; statutory and non-statutory agencies and the public.

Prepare presentations and handouts for these sessions.

Use supervision and/or consultation in order to promote personal effectiveness.

Utilise specific therapeutic communication strategies to maximise outcomes with patients.

Maintain the highest possible clinical and professional standards; abide by national guidelines and standards relevant to clinical caseload, and to take into account current evidenced based practice.

Take responsibility for maintaining own competency to practice through Continuous Professional Development (CPD), and maintaining a professional portfolio in accordance with guidelines from the HCPC, which is required for professional registration.

Develop specialist skills and expertise within the field of Mental Health Liaison.

Undertake reflective practice and to contribute to the debate on a range of clinical issues relating to the delivery of services for across organisation boundaries.

Contribute in the development of standards and outcome measurement for good practice for service users.

Proactively engage with other Occupational Therapists and staff of other professional groups to progress innovations and improvements in practice.

Be able to balance professional issues such as confidentiality and duty of care in a multi-disciplinary/agency setting in order to work effectively.

Promote professionalism for Occupational Therapy, both internally and externally.

Engage in regular supervision with the Clinical Lead.

Acknowledge limitations in own practice and seek help to develop professional competencies/practice.

Participate in performance appraisal reviews as an appraisee and appraiser.

Be actively involved in peer support, development groups and occupational therapy specialist sections for the defined clinical area and other professional development activities, as appropriate.

Identify and be responsible for own learning relevant to the clinical area and apply this specialist knowledge.

Be responsible for keeping up-to-date with own mandatory training.

Maintain and develop knowledge of evidence based practice in the areas of expertise, developing specialist knowledge of assessment, rehabilitation and discharge services.

Be an active participant in the in-service training programme including: tutorials, individual training sessions, journal clubs, external courses and peer review.

Contribute to the local training programme, demonstrating a willingness to learn.

Provide an effective and efficient discharge planning and rehabilitation programme.

Contribute to the development and planning of the multi-agency team.

Work jointly with the Clinical Lead in identifying methods or changes in practice to remediate deficiencies.

Be responsible for and facilitate a safe environment, recognising individuals requirements for privacy and dignity.

Be responsible for organising and planning a frequently fluctuating clinical workload.

Contribute to planning and evaluation of the service through use of audit and research projects.

Use advanced clinical reasoning skills and assessment techniques to identify barriers to improved health status and functional independenc

Formulate individual discharge/ intervention plans for patients based on a sound knowledge of evidence based practice and intervention options using clinical assessment, reasoning skills and knowledge of treatment intervention

Use validated patient cognitive functional outcome measures e.g. LACLs, RTI.

You will be able to find a full Job description and Person Specification attached within the supporting documents or please click Apply now to view in Trac.

Qualifications/Knowledge

Essential

• Degree/Diploma in Occupational Therapy
• Post graduate training/ accreditation in fieldwork education
• Registered member of the Health and Care Professions Council
• Evidence of commitment to CPD

Desirable

• Membership of professional body
• Post-graduate training in motivational interviewing, goal planning
• Management qualifications e.g. ILM

Aptitude/Abilities

Essential

• Able to present and interpret data
• Excellent interpersonal skills and communication skills
• Ability to reflect and critically appraise own performance
• Well developed written and verbal communication skills and the ability to communicate in a way which will neither offend nor antagonise
• Autonomous practitioner with excellent personal orgaisational skills for caseload management, including time management and prioritisation skills
• Ability to work independently with individuals
• Computer literate and able to use software packages/ internet
• Demonstrate clinical reasoning skills, and able to make effective clinical decisions following assessment of complex cases
• Ability to negotiate with others where opinions differ

Desirable

• Evidence of effective teaching skills
• Evidence of delivering competency based learning

Experience

Essential

• Post graduate clinical experience with time within older persons mental health
• Evidence of service delivery in a variety of different clinical mental health settings
• Experience of effective one-to-one and group interactions
• Experience of research and audit
• Experience of delivering training and education to support staff
• Experience of applying professional theory to practice
• Experience of supervision

Desirable

• Awareness of current professional issues
• Ability to use reflective practice based on current evidence
• Experience of advising/ teaching other professions
• Experience of presenting information to a variety of audiences
• Experience in an acute setting and/ or the community
• Experience of cross organisational working

Knowledge

Essential

• Knowledge of broad range of mental health conditions
• Knowledge and understanding of factors which can influence discharge planning including: cognitive, physical, psychological and cultural
• Knowledge and application of principles of clinical governance and risk management
• Knowledge of the roles and other professionals and the principles of partnership working
• Detailed knowledge and understanding of professional ethics/standards and code of conduct, and their application in practice
• Health and safety awarness
• Knowledge of issues relating to health records and the ability to apply this (e.g. Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act)
• Evidence of critical appraisal/ analytical thought
• Knowledge of graded therapeutic interventions

Desirable

• Knowledge of standardised and non standardised assessments that can be used with service user group
• Knowledge of national drivers for health provision for service user group e.g Setting the Direction, Together for Mental Health, Living well with Dementia, Mental Health Measure, NICE Guidelines, NSF
• Interest and involvement in quality, audit and service evaluation
• Understanding of the theory and practical application goal orientated approach

English

Essential

• Ability to be mobile around geographical patch

Other

Essential

• Commitment to service user centered, non discriminatory practice
• Able to undertake duties e.g. moving service users/ equipment

Skills

Essential

• Willingness to embrace innovation working practices e.g. cross Organisational boundary working
• Ability to appraise own performance and identify areas for own personal development
• Able to make positive use of clinical supervison
• Professional confidence and ability to work autonomously
• Approachable and considerate
• Reliable, conscientious and hard-working
• Ability to establish rapport quickly with service users
• Embrace change and new developments
• Enjoys using own initiative and is self-motivated, innovated and creative
• Ability to work flexibly and respond to unpredictable, challenging work environments to help the needs of the service

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).