Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
Senior Occupational Therapist
The closing date is 09 December 2025
We are specifically looking for an individual with passion and drive to deliver an effective service to children and young people with long term neurological and genetic conditions, with a particular interest in promoting occupational engagement for this client group and utilising compensatory/adaptive approaches. The successful applicant will be involved in supporting all aspects of service provision including: self‑management/universal support; targeted advice and strategies; specialist assessment, advice and therapeutic intervention; and highly specialist assessment and support. We are investing in developing the clinical care pathway for this client group to ensure it achieves the best clinical outcomes for the population of children and young people in need of guidance, support and therapeutic intervention.
You will join our team of highly experienced and skilled therapists to offer a service, based in our West Lancashire team, working closely with physiotherapists and speech and language therapists in both clinic and community settings. We are looking for individuals who already have a good understanding of child development and the challenges faced by this client group or who have transferable skills from other aspects of physical/neurological Occupational Therapy roles, such as postural assessment, equipment and seating provision and adaptions.
Main duties of the job
To work as part of children's integrated therapy team providing an occupational therapy service for children referred for assessment and intervention. To be responsible for a caseload of children and young people with complex and/or additional needs. To undertake comprehensive assessment of children and young people with varied presentations, using self‑determined investigative and analytical skills, to formulate hypotheses in order to determine appropriate interventions and goals. To establish individualized management and treatment plans, using clinical reasoning and utilizing a range of evidence based treatment skills and options to formulate interventions and programmes of care. To participate in the co‑ordination, development and delivery of training programmes and information packages for colleagues in health, education, social care and voluntary sector organisations, and parents/carers. To participate in identifying service development needs and delivering service development projects. To engage with and support Clinical leads within professional development activities. To provide specialist advice to Team Colleagues in area of own practice regarding specific service delivery issues. To provide clinical and management supervision to junior colleagues.
About us
LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.
Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under‑represented groups. If you'd like to discuss your application, please ask.
We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.
LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi‑time.
Job responsibilities
Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role.
Person Specification
Education/ Qualifications
* Professional Degree or equivalent in Occupational Therapy
* Current Professional Registration with HCPC
* Evidence of continued professional development
* Evidence of formal training / self‑study / specialist experience to postgraduate level
Knowledge
* Understanding of clinical governance framework & implications for practice, including audit and research governance
* Knowledge of a broad range of assessment tools for children with diverse needs.
* Knowledge of a range of therapy techniques and programmes for children with diverse needs/related to client group
* Knowledge of research, evidence‑based practice and current issues relating to client group
Experience
* Evidence of recent and relevant postgraduate experience encompassing the specialist field of practice that demonstrates an in depth knowledge of specialist area
* Multi-disciplinary/multi-agency collaborative working
* Experience of working with children with complex needs and their families in community/non‑clinical setting
* Safeguarding of children and implementation of policy and procedures with evidence of training/updates
* Demonstrable evidence of improving and developing service and practice
Skills and Abilities
* Excellent interpersonal and communication skills both written and verbal
* Able to work independently as lead specialist.
* Ability to manage children with challenging behaviours
* Demonstrating good leadership skills
* Problem solving/ Decision making in relation to clinical practice, HCPC standards and implications for practice
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.
Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
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