Paediatric Occupational Therapist

Job Overview

We are seeking an experienced and motivated Occupational Therapist to join our team at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust. The successful candidate will provide specialist occupational therapy services for children and young people with severe and complex learning difficulties.

Main Responsibilities

• Provide specialist occupational therapy services for children and young people with severe and complex learning difficulties.
• Contribute to the development of the occupational therapy service for children and young people.
• Plan and provide specialist occupational therapy assessment, advice, and treatment to a defined caseload of children and young people with severe and complex needs.
• Work in partnership with children and young people, their families, and other professionals and agencies to reduce the impact of difficulties on social and emotional development, learning, and daily life.
• Work autonomously and without direct supervision, being accountable for own actions.

Clinical Responsibilities

• Provide a specialist level of clinical skill in paediatric occupational therapy.
• Be responsible for a clinical caseload of children and young people attending Perseid special schools, managing the defined caseload independently and prioritizing own workload to ensure effective service provision.
• Use standardized and non-standardized assessment, interview, and observation skills to interpret a range of factors relating to the client's condition, determine needs, and effectively set goals and plan intervention.
• Contribute to the development of material that enables clients to understand and self-manage their condition, whenever possible, and supports continuation of programs in the client's environment.
• Recommend, provide, and advise on provision of equipment within the scope of the role and take responsibility for demonstrating and training clients/carers in its usage.
• Undertake risk assessments in complex moving and handling situations where appropriate.
• Have a full understanding of the workings of any equipment and ensure regular checks are completed to maintain safety.
• Communicate complex assessment findings and treatment plans with service users, dealing sensitively with distressing or emotional circumstances and being realistic about clients' and families' expectations.
• Provide written, typed, and/or verbal reports to referrers and other agencies involved in client care and keep accurate up-to-date records.
• Monitor the effectiveness of intervention through goal setting, outcome measurement, and evaluation of practice and communicate this information to relevant parties.
• Liaise and establish communication networks with the multidisciplinary team and external voluntary and statutory organizations, as appropriate, in planning for each client's treatment.

Management Responsibilities/Professional Leadership

• Assist the Team Leader in planning and providing the commissioned occupational therapy input to clients attending Perseid schools, including attendance at appropriate meetings, developing guidelines and protocols, and reviewing service provision.
• Keep the Team Leader updated with service provision issues and report promptly any untoward incidents, clinical or non-clinical, cooperating with any investigation undertaken.
• Actively review efficacy of service delivery and facilitate setting up of new standards or amendment of existing ones, in close liaison with the Service Manager.
• Actively contribute to formulating policies for specialist areas and proposals for general service changes.
• Support the development of the occupational therapy service in the special schools, facilitating development and implementation of effective client/care pathways and outcomes for clients in conjunction with the Team Leader.
• Keep up to date with the Department and Trust standards and policies and facilitate dissemination of this knowledge to colleagues.
• Develop good working relationships with multidisciplinary teams, outside agencies, and voluntary agencies to ensure professionalism and service delivery are maintained.
• Provide support and supervision to other occupational therapy staff, where appropriate, monitoring the standard of treatment and giving training and instruction as appropriate.

Education, Training, and Personal Development

• Be responsible for training/education of families and school staff to ensure understanding and need for treatment advised.
• Be aware of changing trends in treatment and promote evidence-based practice within own specialist area of work in order to provide the highest standard of care to service users.
• Participate in clinical audit, service development activities, and research programs as required.
• Carry out continual professional development as identified through supervision and PDR, including in-service training and courses as agreed.
• Participate in own supervision on a regular basis and work towards objectives set in PDR.
• Take responsibility for identifying suitable courses and training programs to enhance own professional development, keeping abreast of new developments within relevant clinical fields.
• Actively participate in delivering in-service training, tutorials, individual training sessions, external training, and peer review. To demonstrate own willingness to learn.
• Participate in the clinical education of students on placement.
• Comply with the SHC/ESTH and occupational therapy service mandatory training requirements.
• Be actively involved in peer support and relevant specialist section support groups.

Clinical Governance

• Ensure that statistics and notes are kept in accordance with local and national policies.
• Work in accordance with the standards and policies issued by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, Health and Care Professions Council, the Trust, and speech and language therapy department and to meet legal requirements.
• Keep up to date with clinical developments and changing trends in practice, including National Service Frameworks and Special Interest Groups.
• Be responsible for the safe use of equipment by other staff and outside agencies.
• Be involved in monitoring and evaluation of occupational therapy intervention as part of the multidisciplinary service and to liaise as necessary with other departments/disciplines and with the wider occupational therapy service.
• Undertake specific projects as necessary, support clinical governance, and quality initiatives and assist in developing audit tools within Integrated Therapy.

Managing People and Resources

• Ensure that satisfactory systems are in place to maintain effective communication within your area and be responsible for ensuring that any Trust communication systems are utilized.
• Observe and comply with the Trust's policies and procedures for health and safety ensuring the environment in which you and your staff work is safe, clean, and tidy.
• Comply with standard infection control precautions to prevent or minimize the spread of micro-organisms and communicable diseases to clients, staff, and surrounding community.
• To observe and continually promote equal opportunities in compliance with the Trust's policies on Equality and Diversity and Dignity at Work.
• Ensure that benefits to clients are maximized through careful economical and appropriate use of NHS resources including equipment, property, money, time, etc.

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