Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust
Specialist Occupational Therapist
The closing date is 04 March 2026
The post is designed to attract an existing B6 Occupational Therapist or someone with considerable experience as a B5 and who is interested in progressing to competencies that support them being a B6 Specialist occupational therapist in TEWV.
You will manage an increasingly complex caseload independently, assessing occupational performance and delivering specialist occupational interventions, demonstrating adherence to the Trust Values at all times and operating as a leader in the team, service and organisation.
You will operate as part of the 'Durham & Darlington Occupational Therapy Hub'. The clinical area is Adult Mental Health and the team work across both inpatient and community settings.
This vacancy is part of a comprehensive recruitment drive to re-build our occupational therapy service within Durham / Darlington. A personally tailored learning, development and support package is also available.
Main duties of the job
Occupationally focused assessments and interventions will be delivered as part of a dynamic service delivery model that has a strong commitment to collaborative working at its core whilst recognising the unique skills of all professional groups represented in the team.
Additional focus is on delivering high quality evidence-based services that support recovery, occupational formulation and occupational engagement. The delivery of 1:1 and group interventions that are occupationally focused is required.
To be responsible for receiving requests for occupational therapy, triaging and prioritising these, completing evidence-based assessments and interventions to address key occupational areas of self-care, productivity and leisure.
To use client-centred approaches to co-producing negotiated occupational goals and evaluate these with service users collaboratively.
To participate in clinical/professional and management supervision
To contribute to multi-disciplinary team working
To contribute to and lead on service improvement and quality initiatives
To use the Trust electronic patient record system
To abide by all Trust policies and procedures
To be able to respond flexibly and creatively to challenges
About us
The D&D OT Hub is a centralised service split across the 2 sites. The primary pick-up points for the team are the acute wards at Lanchester Road Hospital in Durham and West Park Hospital in Darlington. Our Team works across inpatient and community adult mental health settings with a primary focus on the delivery of recovery focused occupational therapy.
A commitment to occupational formulation, and the delivery of 1:1 and group interventions that are occupationally focused is required.Overall, the team covers 90 acute beds with the option of post-discharge support for residents of Durham & Darlington. The team works as an effective part of the MDT and delivers clinical supervision to activity coordinators who work into both sites.
Professional leadership is strong and provides supervision, support and clinical assurance. To work best in the team we are looking for candidates who are highly patient focused, confident in their emerging skills set, dynamic and resilient.
The post will offer varied opportunities for training and development, with CPD needs being identified and monitored through appraisal. Well defined supervision systems are in place.
Job responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for further detailed information to ensure that you meet the role criteria before applying.
The post holder will provide evidence-based occupational therapy assessment and interventions as part of the OT Pathway linked to Adult Mental Health across Durham and Darlington, and offer input to individuals, their families and carers.
All team members must be committed to providing the best possible care for the people we work with and their families/carers.
The ability to engage and communicate with service users as well as the parents/family/carers and system around them is essential.
Clinical/Professional supervision is provided by the supervising Occupational Therapist as identified by the relevant Lead OT. The post holders will attend OT Learning and Governance Networks to ensure fidelity to core occupational therapy delivery, enhance CPD and contribute to the wider OT service developments.
You must be able to demonstrate experience of delivery of occupational therapy, keenness to continually develop themselves and others, and a particular interest in this field of OT. We will support use of transferrable skills from a range of clinical settings.
There are varied opportunities for training and development, with CPD needs being identified and monitored through appraisal.
The B6 post in the D&D OT Hub is supported by B7 OT Supervision with OT assistants in place to ensure that role fidelity is maintained, and that each member of the team is working to their optimum. Successful candidates will be responsible for their own caseloads and will fully interface with the team via formal and informal supervision, team huddles and interface with the MDT via all clinical forums available.
Please note that shortlisted candidates will be expected to provide a presentation at interview, title to be confirmed.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Appropriate professional qualification for occupational therapy role
* Registration with HCPC
* International English Language Testing System (IELTS) level 7 (SLT =8) for International recruits
* Post graduate training in relevant specialist area
Experience
* Minimum 12 months post qualifying experience of occupational therapy delivery
* Experience of supporting people with mental health issues, learning disability or autism
* Experience of working in Multi-disciplinary Team
Knowledge
* Understanding of the needs of people who use our services with mental health conditions or learning disabilities
* Clinical risk assessment and application in practice
* Knowledge of evidencebased practice in designated specialist area
* Post graduate training in specialist area if applicable to post (e.g. dysphagia, autism diagnostics)
* Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team
* Experience of managing complex occupational therapy cases
* Awareness of professional standards and its application to practice
Skills
* Good observational skills and ability to describe such observations verbally and in writing
* Record keeping and report writing
* Collaborating with people who use our services and carers and their families in accordance with the principals of coproduction
* Manage own complex caseload and prioritise effectively
* Support other to manage their caseload and prioritise effectively within a supervisor or educational relationship
* Effectively manage complex clinical and social issues
* Motivate and work positively and constructively with other members of the team.
* Delegate tasks appropriately
* Apply latest research evidence and evaluative thinking in practice
* Provide effective teaching, training and clinical supervision.
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.
Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust
£38,682 to £46,580 a year(pro rata) per annum
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