Senior Specialist Occupational Therapist - Leeds
MAIN TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Clinical / Professional Practice
* Work within a specialist clinical area as an autonomous professional with advanced skills in neurological rehabilitation, potentially as the sole clinician, under supervision (which may be remote) of a more senior OT.
* Accept professional accountability and responsibility.
* Manage and prioritize a caseload of service users with complex mental/physical health needs and/or challenging behaviour.
* Complete the OT process using evidence-based, service user-centered principles and clinical reasoning to assess, formulate treatment plans, implement, and evaluate interventions, bringing specialist knowledge to complex cases.
* Address occupational performance and skill deficits to enable service users in self-maintenance, productivity, education, and leisure.
* Develop care programs, ensure thorough handovers to rehabilitation support workers or therapy assistants, monitor progress through data collection, and modify treatments to ensure effectiveness according to the neurobehavioral model.
* Delegate tasks appropriately based on colleagues' competence and oversee handover, monitoring, and review.
* Use highly developed interpersonal skills and empathy to engage resistant or distressed service users and families.
* Conduct detailed risk assessments, especially for complex issues, regularly review and update them, and communicate effectively with the team.
* Maintain detailed, accurate documentation in line with RCOT guidance and produce professional reports demonstrating highly specialist knowledge.
* Work collaboratively with service users, families, carers, and outside agencies, considering the most appropriate environment for assessment and intervention, and responding flexibly to changing needs and cultural issues.
* Uphold integrity in all communications.
* Participate actively in multidisciplinary team meetings, contribute to shared decision-making, and collaborate to establish service user-centered therapeutic goals.
* Apply highly developed critical thinking skills in making professional judgments and communicate this process effectively, especially in complex or unpredictable contexts.
* Support the clinical lead for some service users, maintaining contact with families and outside agencies, coordinating rehabilitation, and facilitating discharge planning.
* Assess, issue, and refer to outside agencies for equipment, ensuring training and risk assessments are in place.
* Plan, implement, and evaluate group interventions, overseeing the needs of the service in this area.
* Provide advice on social and lifestyle needs, including referrals to other services.
* Adhere to infection control and health and safety guidelines, dealing appropriately with conditions related to service user contact.
Leadership
* Manage designated workload, set priorities, and manage time and resources effectively.
* Recognize and address performance and practice issues, acting as a role model and monitoring quality in delegated tasks.
* Accept professional accountability and responsibility.
* Support and challenge colleagues to maintain health, safety, and security at work, reporting problems and suggesting solutions.
* Navigate the political and economic climate impacting service delivery at various levels.
* Promote the profession and organization, developing partnerships across boundaries.
* Participate in clinical governance, quality improvement, and service development projects, including attending meetings, contributing to discussions, and implementing outcome measures.
* Support recruitment of OT staff, students, and volunteers.
* Lead operational aspects of quality improvement and service development in collaboration with stakeholders.
* Identify resource issues affecting learning, development, and performance, and build business cases as needed.
Evidence, Research, and Development
* Undertake systematic searches and critical appraisal of evidence to inform practice.
* Participate in research and audit projects, involving service users and staff where resources allow.
* Identify evidence gaps and contribute to formulating critical questions for further research or evaluation.
* Implement RCOT clinical guidelines and understand other relevant guidance in ABI/rehabilitation.
* Contribute to developing guidelines and policies locally.
* Comply with research governance, including ethics, data protection, and confidentiality.
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