Senior Occupational Therapist

Job overview

The Croydon Locality Teams cover working age adults aged 18-65 and a mixture of mental health conditions needing secondary care level community support.

This is an OT core skills-based role (not Care Coordination) and carries a caseload of clients to which they provide OT assessment and OT individual and group interventions. The OT works alongside Care Co-ordinators and the MDT to support needs led care planning, Care Act Assessments and provide interventions to support recovery.

The three Locality teams include support workers, IPS, Psychology, Medical, Social work and Nursing roles. Each team has two OT roles.

The OTs link with inpatient and HTT OT colleagues and liaise with external providers in the voluntary and Social Care sector. There are already links in the borough with OT colleagues working in Primary Care and physical health teams.

There is an established Croydon Community OT network and regular monthly Peer Group and OT supervision is also provided to support the development of the role. OTs can link in with the wider OT network within SLaM and all it has to offer including regular training and CPD.

All Locality teams are based at Jeanette Wallace House in Croydon which has good public transport links.

Main duties of the job

• To manage a caseload of community clients with complex needs, using evidence based and client-centred principles to assess, plan, implement and evaluate OT interventions in both community and home settings.
• Routinely provide recovery-based group interventions appropriate to the clients on the team caseload in collaboration with other professionals in the team.
• Liaise with Croydon Social Services departments and other external agencies to facilitate clients access to activities and resources to support their physical disabilities, social support, occupational needs and discharge planning.
• Work as part of the Multidisciplinary Team. Support Care Co-ordinator’s with appropriate work to contribute towards Care Act Assessment and CPA activities.
• Carry out some generic and risk assessments and undertake duty responsibilities.
• Provide leadership, supervision and appraisal for OT students and junior OT staff and participate in the planning, development and evaluation of OT / MDT services, holding responsibility for defined projects and activities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

• ·       To select and apply Occupational Therapy assessment and interventions for a designated caseload, addressing occupational performance and skill deficits, enabling the service user in areas of self-maintenance, productivity and leisure.
• ·       To demonstrate and apply a broad / high level of understanding of the effect of disability and recommend adaptations to the service users physical, occupational and social environments.
• ·       To plan and implement individual and/or group interventions, in collaboration with the service user, using graded activity to achieve therapeutic goals.
• ·       To liaise with Croydon Social Services departments and other external agencies to facilitate clients access to activities and resources to support their physical disabilities, social support and occupational needs and discharge planning.
• ·       To communicate with service users in a way that respects their values, autonomy and culture and provide support to engage them in meaningful therapeutic activities that promote recovery and well-being.
• ·       To collaboratively work as a member of the multi-disciplinary team by contributing to and implementing core decisions with regard to service users risk management and care/ recovery plans.
• ·       To apply a comprehensive range of communication skills with service users and carers, team members, OT colleagues and external agencies to achieve effective networking and outcomes.
• To apply clinical leadership skills by undertaking the regular supervision and appraisal of junior OT staff and others as delegated by the Team Leader or Professional Head of OT.
• To actively participate in the governance, delivery and review processes of the Community Services and Community Mental Health Teams development plans.
• To actively participate in and be responsible for relevant planning, evaluation and audit of practice, clinical pathways and protocols within service area and corporate OT as required.
• To review, reflect and change own practice through effective use of professional and operational supervision, appraisal and continued professional development and learning opportunities.
• To demonstrate the ability to reflect on complex ethical issues and to provide guidance to junior staff as necessary and appropriately adapt clinical practice.

General

This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities, and the post holder may be required to undertake other duties which fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with the manager.