Occupational Therapist

Job summary

We are looking for an Occupational Therapist to help us deliver a holistic and patient centred care for our inpatient Mental Health service. This is an exceptional opportunity to work in a multi AHP environment within an established, collaborative and supportive team.

Parklands Hospital is a recovery focused in-patient adult mental health unit and older person mental health unit situated in Basingstoke. It has 82 beds including: Acute, Ministry of Defence and Psychiatric Intensive Care (PICU) facilities.

You will be working as part of a supportive and committed Allied Health Team and will have opportunity to access Preceptorship programme within the trust. You will also complete occupational assessments, group and individual work required to support service users in their recovery.

Are you committed to putting meaningful occupation at the heart of engaging with patients and their support network? If so, we would love to hear from you. We believe our staff are our most valuable asset; and excellent, well trained and motivated staff will help us deliver this transformation, creating a culture of compassion, collaboration and continuous improvement.

Further details are set out in the Job Description. For additional information, please contact Joan Co (Inpatient AHP Lead) to talk things through or head over for a visit.

Main duties, tasks & skills required

To work closely with the Allied Health Therapy Team Lead, and the wider nursing and therapy staff, as well as Consultants and medics to provide services for patients with acute mental health and organic conditions ensure a tailored delivery of treatment, care planning and discharge planning where appropriate.

To manage autonomously a defined caseload from the wards, using evidence based/patient centred principles to assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions. The plan of care, which has been developed in conjunction with the patient, carer and relevant others, should be outcome based and ensure appropriate pathways of care.

To plan and implement appropriate discharge and to work closely with community mental health teams and other care partners to enable smooth transition of care for service users from hospital to the community or to a suitable placement for their needs.

To delegate appropriate tasks to nursing and therapy colleagues, Associate Practitioners, activity coordinators, and Health Care Support Workers and offer clinical supervision to support them in their role.

Promote health and prevention of illness and disease by providing information to individuals where possible. Recognise situations that may be detrimental to health for example housing, social and economic factors and liaise with appropriate team members.

To contribute to the maintenance and development of the hospital-wide Occupational Therapy Service.

To participate in the supervision and appraisal process.

About us

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides joined-up mental and physical healthcare for around two million people across our communities. With over 13,000 staff working in the community and local hospitals, we deliver care at every stage of life, helping people live their best and healthiest lives.

Our mental health services include community-based support and early intervention in psychosis (EIP) for both adults and young people, alongside a network of specialist inpatient wards covering forensic, learning disability, eating disorder and older person's care.

We deliver extensive physical health services too, from urgent community response teams helping frail and older patients remain safely at home, to hospitals at home teams providing acute-level care in familiar surroundings. Our neurological services offer rehabilitation and treatment for conditions including Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Motor Neurone Disease, Head Injury, Cerebral Palsy and Stroke. Across Hampshire, our community hospitals provide inpatient rehabilitation as a step down from acute care, and our dedicated teams also staff Treetops Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Portsmouth, offering expert, compassionate support.

Everything we do is underpinned by our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect and excellence

Job description

Clinical

*To select and apply Occupational Therapy assessments for a designated caseload, addressing occupational performance and skill deficits, empowering the service user in areas of self-maintenance, productivity and leisure.

*To carry out core assessments and risk assessments for clients newly screened to the team.

*To work with service users to identify Occupational Therapy goals as part of the overall care plan, using specialist mental health and Occupational Therapy assessment tools. Including review of the effectiveness of clinical care provided ensuring that patient safety is maintained and care delivery meets the standards required by the Trust and the Care Quality Commission

*To manage a caseload of service users with complex mental health needs, including evaluating screened patients for interventions and priorities for treatment.

*To plan and implement person centred individual and/or group interventions, in collaboration with the service user, using graded activity to achieve therapeutic goals.

*To actively participate in discharge planning, supporting carers and service users to successfully transition home.

*To demonstrate and apply a high level of understanding of the effect of disability, provide training, and advise on lifestyles changes and adaptations to the service users social and physical environment.

*To assess the occupational needs of a defined client group and establish and evaluate appropriate treatment programmes. Also ensuring we maintain, upheld and follow the standards within the HCPC code of conduct at all times ensure safe and effective delivery of patient care

*To remain up to date and within guidelines for re-registration as required by professional bodies at all times.

Communication

*To establish robust communication networks with service users, carers, team members and other health workers and agencies.

*To promote awareness of the role of Occupational Therapy within the team, negotiating priorities where appropriate.

*Ability to communicate sensitively in situations where there are complex needs/issues.

*To comment on local service procedures/guidelines as part of the Therapy team.

Documentation

*To ensure that written documentation and electronic records are contemporaneous in accordance with Professional and Trust standards. This includes providing feedback to junior staff on the quality of their clinical documentation. To initiate and act on patient feedback following interventions and provide Occupational Therapy reports.

*To oversee, provide feedback and advise on potential amendments to existing templates, handouts and paperwork used by the Occupational Therapy service.

Service development and delivery

*To plan and evaluate own practice.

*To contribute to the delivery of the Trust and Division's objectives.

*To seek feedback from service users and carers about their experiences of occupational therapy and use feedback to inform service design and delivery.

*To contribute to the process of quality improvements.

Professional development

*To demonstrate ongoing personal development through participation in internal and external development opportunities, recording learning outcomes and clinical reflections in a portfolio.

*To keep up to date with current best evidence and implement developments within own specialist field of occupational therapy

Research & Practice Development

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

*To undertake research and/or audit projects relevant to Occupational Therapy and/or service area, disseminating findings at local level.

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

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

Qualified Occupational Therapist

HCPC registration

Desirable

Post-graduate training in one or more additional specialised areas of practice.

RCOT membership

Experience

Essential

Experience working with people living with Acute and Organic Mental Health conditions both working age and older person.

Good knowledge of health and safety and risk management

Computer literate including emails and spreadsheets.

Effective written and verbal communication skills

Experience of supervision

Desirable

Experience of delivering group programmes

Ability to form good working relationships with others in a multidisciplinary and multi-agency setting

Additional Criteria

Essential

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

Broad range of clinical skills relevant to both physical and mental health needs of patient.

Ability to advocate for patient issues

Demonstrates organisational skills:

including the ability to make decisions and to prioritise.

Desirable

Ability to demonstrate leadership skills

Current knowledge of relevant legislation and ethical issues e.g. Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults.

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.

UK Professional Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.

For help with your application, contact: 

Joan Co 

joan.co@nhs.net 

02382317715