Main area Perinatal Mental health Grade Band 6 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday 9am-5pm (happy to discuss flexible working)) Job ref 437-7326383
Employer Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Laureate House Town Wythenshawe, Manchester Salary £38,682 - £46,580 pro rata per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 18/08/2025 23:59
Perinatal Occupational Therapist
Band 6
Job overview
Andersen Ward is a 10 bedded Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) which covers the entire North West. The unit's core purpose is to provide a consistently high level of quality specialist mental health care to both women who are pregnant and mothers following child birth.
Central to the philosophy of the MBU is to promote the mother and baby relationship within a secure and supportive environment while incorporating evidence based practice drawn from the fields of both peri-natal and general mental health knowledge.
The time around childbearing may make some women vulnerable to recurrences of, or new mental health problems. In cases of depression, puerperal psychosis and other mental disorders, the separation of mother and baby can create a secondary disturbance of bonding.
The unit provides comprehensive advice, medical and psychological assessment and treatment for women with previous or current mental health problems who have recently given birth or who are pregnant.
The unit is run by professionals who have longstanding experience in perinatal psychiatry and work as a cohesive and highly motivated team. The team includes a Consultant Psychiatrist, In-patient Mental Health Nurses, Nursery Nurses, an Occupational Therapist, a Social Worker, a Health Visitor and a Clinical Psychologist and also has access to Physiotherapists and Dieticians.
The involvement of partners, family members and friends is encouraged and the unit offers support and education for all who visit.
Main duties of the job
Work as an Occupational Therapist in the Specialist Perinatal Service, on Andersen Ward, Greater Manchester's Mother and Baby Unit. .Providing an efficiently administered and professionally competent occupational therapy service for women and birthing people and their babies who are admitted to the Mother and Baby Unit based at Laureate House in South Manchester.
Manage a caseload of women in the perinatal period with complex, severe and enduring mental health needs, offering occupational therapy interventions where mental health difficulties have a marked impact on their occupational functioning and who have complex occupational needs.
Offer specialist occupational therapy assessments and interventions to a case load of clients of complex needs. Assessments and interventions will identify barriers and support clients to achieving functional goals.
Provide occupational therapy advice to the multi-disciplinary team and supported by the wider Specialist Perinatal Service occupational therapy service.
Contribute to the planning, development, provision and evaluation of the Occupational Therapy Service within the Specialist Perinatal Service as well as contributing to audit, standard setting, research, and development.
Provide professional supervision of students as well as training to students, staff colleagues and other agencies. Opportunity to provide clinical and line management supervision to occupational therapy assistant.
Working for our organisation
Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122locations.
We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford,Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.
Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options.
Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity.
Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description and person specification
* 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years
Person specification
Education and Qualifications
* Diploma/Degree in Occupational Therapy.
* Fieldwork educator’s qualification within 1 year of appointment.
* Post registration training relevant in mental health.
* AMPS Training.
* Model of Human Occupation training.
* Training in sensory integration
* training in perinatal mental health
Experience
* A demonstrable experience working as a qualified Occupational Therapist, including experience working in mental health.
* Experience providing occupational therapy in a mental health setting.
* Experience providing occupational therapy in mental health inpatient setting
* Experience of working with perinatal mental health clients.
* Experience of working in a community setting.
* Experience of supervising occupational therapy assistants
Skills and abilities
* Be able to provide robust packages of care to service users in liaison with multiple stakeholders to safely manage mental health and risk management needs.
* Can work on own initiative and plan workload effectively responding to changing priorities.
* Can demonstrate involvement in and contribution to implementation of change in response to service need.
Important Information about working for GMMH:
All positions within the Trust are subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks, for further information on the checks required please visit the NHS Employers website www.nhsemployers.org
The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.
Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer.
The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities. If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications
A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application.The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges.
We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.
Sponsorship
We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website – clickhere .
If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.
The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it here .
Do you have experience outside the NHS?
We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.
We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment. Please contact our Recruitment Team for more information.
**Please note, this vacancy may be closed at any time if sufficient applications have been received**
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Name Jacqui Goodchild Job title Specialist Perinatal Lead Occupational Therapist Email address jacqui.goodchild@gmmh.nhs.uk Telephone number 07818527153
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