Are you passionate about Occupational Therapy and thrive on utilising all your clinical skills to treat patients with multiple pathologies? Are you looking to develop your skills in a band 6 role? We have an exciting opportunity for a Specialist Occupational Therapist in the Acute Medicine Therapy Team
The team covers a range of 7 inpatient medical wards, with specialties including respiratory, gastroenterology, haematology and general medicine, treating patients with a wide variety of conditions, and outpatient respiratory clinics. You will get the chance to work in all areas and extend your knowledge and skills. There are also exciting upcoming plans of an additional specialty of Cardiology.
Current HCPC registration is essential
From 1st April 2023, Southport & Ormskirk Hospitals NHS Trust will be joining together with St Helens & Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as part of a TUPE process to form a new collaborative NHS Trust. We are currently awaiting confirmation of the name of the new Trust.
Any applicants who secure an offer of employment and/ or are due to commence their new role from 1st April 2023 onwards are advised that their conditional offer and contract of employment will be issued as per our normal recruitment process but will be under the new name of the organisation. All the details of the offers of employment and contracts of employment will remain as advertised and these changes will not affect your employment with us.
• To perform specialist assessment of patients with diverse presentations and complex physical and psychological conditions.
• To provide a diagnosis and develop and deliver an individualised treatment programme
• To hold responsibility for own caseload and be responsible for a defined area of service or patient type without direct supervision
• To work in secondary care in a variety of hospital settings and the patient’s own homes.
• To demonstrate as appropriate to role highly developed physical skills for assessment and treatment of patients eg dexterity, co-ordination, palpatory and other senses
• To participate in bank holiday, weekend and evening working if required, following appropriate training, without direct supervision
The ideal candidate will have previous experience relevant to this post with the specialist knowledge and skills to enable clinically reasoned decision making. You should have effective communication skills and be committed to the delivery of quality care as part of the multi-disciplinary team, as well as being open in treatment approach to provide holistic patient intervention.
A flexible approach to day to day tasks is essential to meet demands. The service operates over 7 days per week and the successful candidate will join the roster providing weekend cover
In return for your hard work and dedication we can offer a very friendly and welcoming team, and support with continuing professional development.
St Helens & Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is the only acute Trust in Cheshire and Merseyside and one of the few in the country to achieve OUTSTANDING rated by the Care Quality Commission.
We provide a full range of acute adult services to our local population of circa 360,000 and provide tertiary services across the North West, North Wales, and Isle of Man. We are a Major Trauma Unit and the Mersey Regional Burns Unit.
Our ‘5 Star Patient Care’ strategy is at the heart of what we do; supporting our vision to provide world class services for all our patients by getting it right for every patient, every time.
Our latest achievements include:
• Acute Trust of the Year HSJ Awards November 2019
• Trust rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• Best acute Trust in the North West for quality of care (NHS Staff Survey 2021)
• Best place to work in the North West (NHS Staff Survey 2021)
• Awarded National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for our Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
In the NHS Staff Survey 2021 the Trust scored the highest marks in the North West for the following areas:
• Standard of care
• Best place to work
• Care of patients being the Trust’s priority
• Staff engagement
• Staff morale
• Compassionate & inclusive
• Providing safe environments for staff
Please see attached Wellbeing & Benefits booklet for more information on our benefits for staff. Accessible version available upon request.
KEY DUTIES
• To be professional and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of your own work including the management of patients/clients in your care.
• To ensure a high standard of clinical care for the patients/clients under your care, and support more junior staff to do likewise.
• To undertake a comprehensive assessment of patients/clients including those with diverse or complex presentations/multi pathologies; use specialist clinical reasoning skills and appropriate assessment techniques to provide an accurate diagnosis of their condition
• Formulate and deliver an individual treatment programme using assessment, reasoning skills and treatment skills based on a sound knowledge of evidence-based practice and treatment options. Formulate an initial diagnosis and prognoses in order to recommend best course of intervention and develop comprehensive discharge plans
• To take delegated responsibility from the Band 7 clinician for managing patients/clients with particular conditions and be responsible for providing specialist assessment and treatment plans for patients with these conditions.
• Evaluate patient progress, reassess, and alter treatment programmes as required
• To have the ability to undertake self-directed/lone working in a variety of locations
CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
• To maintain Professional Registration
• To work within Trust clinical guidelines, HCPC and Registrant Body guidelines and to have a working knowledge of national and local standards and monitor own and others quality of practise against these
• To be responsible for a designated area of work, as delegated by a senior clinician. Plan and organise efficiently and effectively patient/client caseload, and use of time for self and more junior staff
• To be responsible for equipment used in carrying out clinical duties, and to adhere to policy, including competence to use equipment and to ensure the safe use of equipment by others through teaching, training, and supervision of practice
• To provide spontaneous and planned advice, teaching and instruction to relatives, carers, and other professionals to promote understanding of the aims of treatment and to ensure a consistent approach to patient care
• To provide specialist clinical advice to colleagues working within other clinical areas
• To provide specialist clinical advice, teaching, and training to other members of the MDT regarding the management of patients
• To train, supervise and performance manage more junior staff and students. This will include the use of formal appraisal documentation
• To communicate effectively with patients and carers to maximise potential and to ensure understanding of their condition
• To assess capacity, gain valid informed consent and have the ability to work within a legal framework with patients/clients who lack capacity to consent to treatment
• To communicate highly sensitive information effectively with all patient groups/clients/carers where there may be difficulties in accepting or understanding information
• To maintain tact and diplomacy and use highly developed communication skills when working in situations which may become hostile/antagonistic including potential complaints as per Trust Policy
ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES
• To maintain accurate, comprehensive, and up to date documentation, in line with legal and local requirements, and communicate assessment and treatment results to the appropriate disciplines in the form of reports and letters
• To undertake as directed the collection of appropriate data and statistics for the use of the department
• To communicate effectively and work collaboratively with the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) to ensure delivery of a co-ordinated multidisciplinary service. This will include participating in a variety of MDT, internal and external agency meetings, and forums plus other forms of verbal/written communication as necessary including report writing and referrals to other agencies
TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSBILITIES
• To maintain own clinical professional development (CPD) by keeping abreast of any new trends and developments and incorporate them as appropriate into your work. To support junior staff to do likewise
• To be an active member of relevant training programmes attending and delivering presentations and training sessions at staff meetings, tutorials, and by attending external courses and being a reflective practitioner
• To participate in the supervision scheme as supervisor and supervisee
LINE MANAGEMENT/SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
• Delivering change within sphere of practice, when and where indicated, to improve service delivery.
• Influencing, motivating, supporting, and enabling others to contribute towards the effectiveness and success of the Therapy Team
• To provide specialist advice and guidance in working with colleagues locally to ensure best practice across all disciplines in the assessment, treatment, and long-term management of patients/ clients within sphere of practice.
• To deputise for the band 7 in terms of operational issues
• To take responsibility for their own specialist and complex decision making and the decisions of their team which effect service delivery
• To undertake any other duties that might be considered appropriate by senior staff
• To participate in working parties developing policy changes within speciality which will impact on all service users
CLINICAL GOVERNANCE, RESEARCH & AUDIT
• To adhere to the appropriate Registrant Body code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and facilitate compliance of staff with local and national standards of practice
• Implement policy and service development changes as directed
• To demonstrate a sound understanding of clinical governance and risk management and apply to work situation
• To undertake the measurement and evaluation of your work and current practices through the use of evidence-based practice projects, audit, and outcome measures under the guidance of senior staff. Make recommendations for change and to implement change
• To comply with the organisational and departmental policies and procedures and to be involved in the reviewing and updating as appropriate
• To support research activity within the Service
• To engage actively in practice development, evaluation, audit, and research activities relevant to service to promote evidence-based practice
This advert closes on Tuesday 11 Apr 2023
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