Senior Occupational Therapist

Overview

Go back Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Senior Occupational Therapist

The closing date is 21 September 2025

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a motivated and dynamic individual band 6 Occupational Therapist to join our team. The North West Regional Spinal Injuries Centre at Southport hospital provides specialist care for spinal patients from across the North West, North Wales and the Isle of Man. We invite applications for a permanent post within the spinal cord injury/neurological rehabilitation therapy team.

The candidate will be an experienced Occupational Therapist who has a keen interest in working with patients who have had spinal cord injuries and neurological conditions.

Southport Hospital is a small and vibrant place to work with lots of forward-thinking initiatives and projects. There are excellent opportunities for personal development. You will receive support and clinical supervision from experienced Occupational Therapists and have opportunities to attend internal and external training linked with your personal development plan.

A keen interest in service development and involving/encouraging more junior staff is essential as is the need to be innovative.

Previous applicant need not apply.

Main duties of the job

• To assess and treat patients within Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust including home visits when required.
• To assist senior therapist in service development and the provision of a quality service.
• To take responsibility for members of staff and delegate duties as necessary, providing appropriate level of support at all times.
• To meet the Occupational Therapy/Rehabilitation Service objectives.
• To cover for absence when required.

The JD & PS are currently under AfC review and are subject to change

About us

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Job responsibilities

KEY DUTIES

• To assess and identify the individual needs of patients and their carers, planning and implementing appropriate treatment programmes within both hospital and community settings.
• To record and report findings appropriately following the standard procedures used by the department to maintain high levels of written/verbal communication.
• To share skills/knowledge with other disciplines and patient/carers.
• To liaise with hospital/community-based staff as appropriate to ensure continuity of treatment and provision of equipment/adaptations to facilitate hospital discharge/prevent re-admission and support resettlement/re-enablement into the community.
• To ensure treatments offered to patients are based on the best available clinical evidence
• To attend ward rounds, case conferences and goal planning meetings

CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• To assess and identify the individual needs of patients and their carers, planning and implementing appropriate treatment programmes within both hospital and community settings.
• To record and report findings appropriately following the standard procedures used by the department to maintain high levels of written/verbal communication.
• To share skills/knowledge with other disciplines and patient/carers.
• To liaise with hospital/community-based staff as appropriate to ensure continuity of treatment and provision of equipment/adaptations to facilitate hospital discharge/prevent re-admission and support resettlement/re-enablement into the community.
• To ensure treatments offered to patients are based on the best available clinical evidence
• To attend ward rounds, case conferences and goal planning meetings

ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES

• To be responsible for a designated area of work, as agreed with the occupational therapy team Leader to plan and organise efficiently and effectively with regard to patient management and use of time.
• To decide priorities for own work area, balancing other patient related and professional demands, and ensure that these remain in accordance with those of the department as a whole.
• To maintain accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date documentation, in line with legal and Trust requirements, and communicate assessment and treatment results to the appropriate multi professional groups in the form of reports and letters.
• To be actively involved in the collecting of appropriate data and statistics for the use of the Trust.
• To be aware of Health and Safety aspects of your work and implement any policies, which may be required to improve the safety of your work area, including the prompt recording and reporting of incidents via the Datix system, informing the occupational therapy team leader.
• To comply with the organisational policies and procedures, with involvement in reviewing and updating these as appropriate.
• To undertake any other duties that may be considered appropriate by the occupational therapy team leader.
• Develop and improve information sheets and booklets for patients, in line with trust policy as directed by occupational therapy team leader.

TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES

• To provide professional practice education of O.T. students on placement and to assist in the education and development of other health professionals.
• To actively assist in the promotion of Occupational Therapy through professional practice and delegated activities.
• To ensure continued professional development including attendance at relevant postgraduate training and actively participating in in-service training.
• To keep an up to date Personal Development Plan and Professional Development Portfolio.
• To participate in activity around clinical audit and work towards initiatives within department/service/directorate as appropriate.

LINE MANAGEMENT/SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

• To ensure treatments offered to patients are based on the best available clinical evidence.
• To take reasonable care for the health and safety of yourself and other persons who may be affected by your acts/omissions.
• To ensure that any equipment, furniture or building in need of repair is reported in line with Trust procedure.
• To take advantage of clinical network opportunities and working parties within and outside the organisation. In close liaison with senior staff, to identify and contribute towards service development to address quality issues.
• To operate systems of supervision/appraisal for junior staff members.
• To develop own clinical knowledge and leadership skills and to share expertise for the improvement of patient care.
• To undertake research and ensure compliance with all Trust Research governance procedures.
• To be aware of and identify changes in service demand and report to senior staff.
• Contribute to the ordering and maintaining of materials / equipment / resources to facilitate patient care.
• In the absence of senior staff to take responsibility for the daily running of the department.
• To attend/participate in O.T. briefing sessions and to feedback and inform others as appropriate.

Person SpecificationQualifications

• Diploma/Degree in Occupational Therapy
• Current HCPC registration
• Evidence of relevant post-graduate courses/CPD

Knowledge & Experience

• Substantial clinical experience since qualifying which amount to several rotations at band within a variety of medical and surgical areas or at band 6
• Experience in the specialist field as a band 5
• Membership /participant of a special interest group
• Have up to date knowledge of NHS issues and relevant policies/standards

Skills

• Excellent communication skills, and ability to share information at MDT including case conference experience
• Ability to deal with conflict and resolve issues
• Ability to work autonomously independently and with the MDT
• Have excellent time management, prioritisation and self-management skills
• Ability to manage change in a flexible, diplomatic and positive manner
• Ability to maintain own clinical role and have awareness of boundaries with other professionals
• Have a wide range of excellent clinical reasoning skills for assessment, treatment and be able to problem solve and make decisions
• Ability to delegate appropriately and supervise junior staff
• Be able to be reflective and demonstrate good personal development of self and others
• Effective teaching and presentation skills

Other

• To be able to assess complex patients by carrying out full assessments that often require physical strength and dexterity including standing and sitting
• Be able to deal with distressing situations on the and support more junior staff to manage these situations
• To be able to impart distressing information to patients/carers or relatives in a sensitive and supportive way where targets are not met, or a patient has deteriorated
• To work in a pressured environment that is busy and maintain excellent working relationships with the MDT team.
• Ability to fulfil the travel requirements of the post

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.

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

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