About Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust is an exciting place to be an Occupational Therapy Assistant and it is a highly valued role in our Trust’s approach to multi-disciplinary care. We have sound professional structures to lead and inspire our Occupational Therapy workforce. We are committed to delivering excellent services, putting occupation at the centre of our work and championing peoples’ rights for their occupational needs to be recognised and addressed.
Role Overview
We are seeking a compassionate and enthusiastic Band 4 Occupational Therapy Assistant to join the Older Adult Inpatient Unit at the Harbour. The post involves working alongside experienced Occupational Therapists, Therapy Assistants, Recovery Support Workers and the Multidisciplinary Team with inpatients experiencing acute mental health problems.
The successful candidate will be working alongside the OT Team on the older adult wards and will support the ward OTs with assessing patients within the hospital, community and home environments and supporting with patient centred care and timely discharges to home or the most appropriate placement. They will also be expected to participate in supervision of support staff and assist in local developments related to the Occupational Therapy department and wider hospital community.
We are looking for an Occupational Therapy Assistant who is enthusiastic about working in mental health with excellent communication skills and who wants to develop their clinical skills and knowledge in this exciting area. They will be supported to develop their skills through regular contact and supervision from senior therapists as well as being supported and encouraged with their own professional development.
To work as part of a team that provides mental health services, to positively promote recovery, occupational wellbeing and social inclusion by focusing on the direct needs of service users, working across boundaries of care, organisations and roles. To work semi-autonomously within an agreed framework, as part of the MDT and in collaboration with a caseload of service users, their significant others (as appropriate), colleagues and partner organisations, to promote social inclusion.
Responsibilities
* Select, undertake and interpret the outcome of occupational and social health, wellbeing and inclusion assessments for people whose mental health problems impact on this area of their lives.
* Identify their occupational and social well-being goals as part of an overall care plan.
* Plan, implement and modify where necessary, individual and/or group interventions to promote their physical and mental well‑being and promote inclusion in their local communities.
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.
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.
The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.
Explore our full wellbeing offer here: Keeping our workforce well
Wellbeing Responsibilities
* Advise on strategies to reduce the impact of mental illness on people’s physical and mental wellbeing.
* Share insights with MDT colleagues in respect of the impact of a service user’s mental illness on their physical wellbeing and opportunities for social inclusion.
* Enable service users to engage in mainstream activities such as employment/vocation, education, leisure, social networks and community connection.
* Respond to service user’s ongoing and changing mental health needs and monitor a service user’s risk factors, communicating any changes to MDT colleagues, as necessary.
* Evaluate the outcomes of interventions within the care programme approach (CPA) and ensure support regarding health and wellbeing is effective and acceptable to the individual client and, if appropriate, their carers/families.
* Maintain information and knowledge of and links with community resources and actively support service users to use these resources, thereby countering discrimination and encouraging social inclusion.
* Undertake delegated tasks to contribute to the safe and smooth running of the service.
For more details on this vacancy please review the attached job description and person specification.
This advert closes on Monday 11 May 2026
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