Hand Therapist

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 6 Hand Therapist, to work within a well-established Hand Therapy team, working across two sites: Leamington Hospital and Stratford upon Avon Hospital. The post is to provide maternity cover for a fixed period of 9 months,starting in September 2024.

The post is based in an out-patient clinic setting, assessing and treating a wide variety of hand conditions, utilising both face to face and virtual methods. Previous experience of working in hand therapy is essential.

You will triage and manage a diverse case load of out-patients who require hand therapy following surgery, trauma and acquired conditions affecting the hand and wrist. Knowledge of anatomy, physiology and biomechanics of the hand, and the ability to fabricate splints for conservative management of a variety of conditions commonly seen in hand therapy is essential.

This post requires a high level of self-management, excellent communication and team working skills. You will be involved in developing and maintaining a high quality Hand Therapy service,Clinical Audit in line with Care Quality Standards and the RCOT professional standards, and meet recognised professional standards, therapy pathways and best practice to deliver the business objectives in line with Trusts policies and service protocols.

You will be assisting the Band 7 Hand Therapist in the professional leadership, operational management, supervision and appraisals of Hand Therapy staff within the speciality.

To provide an effective service delivery and to be responsible for junior Occupational Therapy staff within the speciality.

To manage an agreed caseload of patients within the service speciality area.

To assist senior staff in the designated area of speciality to implement and meet the recognised professional standards, the agreed therapy pathway and best practice.

Come and join a Trust rated Outstanding by the CQC. South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust have been rated as outstanding following our latest inspection by the CQC and we are recruiting new staff to come and help us improve even further.

We provide services across Warwickshire and beyond ranging from Hospitals in Warwick, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Royal Leamington Spa and Shipston-on Stour to Community Services across the county. We are a progressive, expanding organisation with great ambition around improving quality, integrating pathways and delivering high levels of productivity.

Our values can be summed up in one sentence. We are ‘Trusted to provide safe, effective and compassionate care’. Throughout the recruitment process you will be asked to think about how you demonstrate these values and how they impact on your work. It doesn’t matter what role you do, whether it is patient facing or not, we are all working in the same way with our values at the core.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

To deliver a high standard of Occupational Therapy intervention and maintain service delivery by flexible, effective and efficient prioritisation based on specialist clinical and professional judgement.

To negotiate with client / carer to identify and formulate client centred, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely (SMART) goals using the specialist assessment information and to complete designated outcome measures.

To plan, implement and review patient centred individual and/or group assessments, interventions, using meaningful graded activity based on specialist knowledge of best practice, clinical reasoning and knowledge of Occupational Therapy models of practice.

To interpret and analyse complex clinical, social and environmental factors to recommend the best course of intervention, and the development/review of treatment and discharge plans.

To have a detailed working knowledge of relevant external agencies eligibility criteria and Trust policies and procedures to be able to effectively refer the patient to these services.

To have a specialist knowledge and be safe and competent in the use of all equipment for daily living, evidenced in the individual Medical Devices Log and to be responsible for ensuring junior staff and clients / carers attain competency prior to use.

To have knowledge of appropriate legislation and comply with the Professional Code of Ethics, Conduct and Standards for Occupational Therapy and ensure that junior staff are aware of these.

Measurable Result Areas

To comply with Health and Safety guidelines, Medical Devices Policy and maintain safe environment, equipment and working practices, ensuring that junior and support staff within the specialist area are aware of their obligation to comply. To carry out the risk assessments and implement the outcomes in designated therapy areas.

To ensure verbal and non-verbal, written and electronic patient records, reports and activity data including those of junior staff are maintained, contemporaneous and reported back in appropriate forums, in accordance with professional and Trust