Specialist Children's Occupational Therapist
The closing date is 04 November 2025
We are a specialist health service for children and young people age 0-19 years of age with mainly physical, communication, learning and developmental difficulties, affecting their health and well-being. The occupational therapist provides skilled assessment, advice and interventions for children and young people and offers support and guidance to families and carers.
Responsibilities
* To work as part of an interdisciplinary team in providing and contributing to the development of children's occupational needs.
* To be autonomously responsible for a caseload of children with complex and multiple needs.
* To provide occupational therapy assessment, intervention and evaluation for children requiring inpatient care, or within clinic or community settings and within local authority targeted provisions.
* To undertake complex clinic, community and school based assessments with intervention programmes that have a focus on improving occupational performance and maximising participation
* To work within allocated special schools that serve children with complex health and care needs and complete postural and functional assessments to maximise the child\'s occupational performance and participation.
* To work closely with children, families, carers and colleagues in partnership agencies, to identify individualised and meaningful goals that are measurable and achievable.
Main duties of the job
Provide Occupational Therapy to children and young people with varying and complex health care needs.
To undertake assessment, provision and review to children in local authority targeted provision across North Yorkshire Council (NYC) and to provide training to teachers and parents in these provisions and across NYC.
Take an active role in using outcome measures to ensure the quality and effectiveness of the service.
To work as an autonomous practitioner within the context of a multidisciplinary service.
Undertake statutory assessments regarding SEND provision.
To ensure high standards of service to the client group, their relatives and carers
To offer advice and training on areas of specialist expertise and make recommendations where appropriate.
To liaise with other professionals and agencies in the best interests of the caseload.
To be able to use the equipment required for the fulfilment of the role
To effectively use available systems
Work within organisational guidelines, HCPC standards and Royal College of Occupational Therapists guidance.
To apply national and local standards and monitor own quality of practice.
To be professionally and legally accountable for all aspects of own work, caseload and ensuring a high standard of care within the service.
* To manage clinical risk within own complex patient caseload
About us
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDFT) cares for the population in Harrogate and the local area, as well as across North Yorkshire, Leeds and parts of the North East.
At HDFT we provide outstanding care to both our patients and our staff and we value Kindness, Integrity, Teamwork and Equality. If you're looking for an interesting and rewarding career in the NHS, where you can make a real difference to patients\' lives, HDFT could be the place for you!
We offer colleagues:
* A supportive culture so colleagues can bring their whole selves to work.
* Staff Recognition - as well as regular appraisals, we recognise achievements with our Making a Difference & Team of the Month Awards, along with annual Colleague Recognition Awards.
* Employee Support and wellbeing - we offer a wide range of staff benefits including an Employee Assistance Programme, counselling service and a fast-track Physiotherapy service.
Please note:
* Due to high levels of interest, posts may close early if we reach a sufficient number of applications
* Visa sponsorship is only available for certain roles. Please ensure the role you are interested in meets the criteria for a visa before submitting your application.
* Please also be aware that the Trust does not offer relocation packages for Agenda for Change roles.
* All job offers are subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks.
Job responsibilities
For more information about this position please see the attached job description and person specification
Person Specification
* Registration with Health Care Professional Council
* Diploma/BSc (Hons) in Occupational Therapy
* Evidence of on-going professional development in area of specialism
* UK driving licence
* Evidence of CPD portfolio
* Paediatric occupational therapy practice experience.
* Experience of working within a community setting, &/or a multi-disciplinary team.
* Practice placement education experience in a related OT clinical speciality e.g. learning disability, physical disability, social services etc, with the ability to transfer OT core skills to the OT process with children & young people
* Previous experience working as a band 6 within a paediatric setting
* Membership of the British Association of Occupational therapy
* Introductory/speciality short courses/study attended
* Introductory knowledge/experience of current paediatric practice including specialist assessments, Postural assessment, child development, outcome measures, treatment approaches & models of intervention.
* Direct work experience with children e.g. youth worker, voluntary work, nursery experience
* Delegation of work to support staff.
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.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
£38,682 to £46,580 a year per annum pro rata
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