An exciting opportunity has arisen for a motivated and dynamic Band 6 Occupational Therapist to join our team. The North West Regional Spinal Injuries Centre at Southport Hospital provides specialist care for spinal patients from across the North West, North Wales and the Isle of Man. We invite applications for a permanent post within the spinal cord injury/neurological rehabilitation therapy team.
Key Information
The candidate will be an experienced Occupational Therapist with a keen interest in working with patients who have had spinal cord injuries and neurological conditions. Southport Hospital is a small and vibrant place to work with lots of forward-thinking initiatives and projects. Excellent opportunities for personal development exist, including support and clinical supervision from experienced Occupational Therapists and opportunities to attend internal and external training linked with your personal development plan. A keen interest in service development and in encouraging junior staff is essential as is the need to be innovative.
Core Responsibilities
* To assess and treat patients within Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, including home visits when required.
* To assist senior therapist in service development and the provision of a quality service.
* To take responsibility for members of staff and delegate duties as necessary, providing appropriate level of support at all times.
* To meet the Occupational Therapy/Rehabilitation Service objectives.
* To cover for absence when required.
* To assess and identify the individual needs of patients and their carers, planning and implementing appropriate treatment programmes within both hospital and community settings.
* To record and report findings appropriately following the standard procedures used by the department to maintain high levels of written/verbal communication.
* To share skills/knowledge with other disciplines and patient/carers.
* To liaise with hospital/community-based staff as appropriate to ensure continuity of treatment and provision of equipment/adaptations to facilitate hospital discharge, prevent re-admission and support resettlement/re-enablement into the community.
* To ensure treatments offered to patients are based on the best available clinical evidence.
* To attend ward rounds, case conferences and goal planning meetings.
Administrative Responsibilities
* Be responsible for a designated area of work, as agreed with the occupational therapy team leader, to plan and organise efficiently and effectively with regard to patient management and use of time.
* Decide priorities for own work area, balancing other patient related and professional demands, and ensure that these remain in accordance with those of the department as a whole.
* Maintain accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date documentation, in line with legal and Trust requirements, and communicate assessment and treatment results to the appropriate multi‑professional groups in the form of reports and letters.
* Be actively involved in the collecting of appropriate data and statistics for the use of the Trust.
* Be aware of Health and Safety aspects of your work and implement any policies that may be required to improve the safety of your work area, including prompt recording and reporting of incidents via the Datix system, informing the occupational therapy team leader.
* Comply with the organisational policies and procedures, with involvement in reviewing and updating these as appropriate.
* Undertake any other duties that may be considered appropriate by the occupational therapy team leader.
* Develop and improve information sheets and booklets for patients, in line with trust policy as directed by occupational therapy team leader.
Teaching & Training Responsibilities
* Provide professional practice education of O.T. students on placement and assist in the education and development of other health professionals.
* Actively assist in the promotion of Occupational Therapy through professional practice and delegated activities.
* Ensure continued professional development including attendance at relevant postgraduate training and actively participating in in‑service training.
* Keep an up‑to‑date Personal Development Plan and Professional Development Portfolio.
* Participate in activity around clinical audit and work towards initiatives within department/service/directorate as appropriate.
Line Management / Supervisory Responsibilities
* Ensure treatments offered to patients are based on the best available clinical evidence.
* Take reasonable care for the health and safety of yourself and other persons who may be affected by your acts/omissions.
* Report any equipment, furniture or building in need of repair in line with Trust procedure.
* Take advantage of clinical network opportunities and working parties within and outside the organisation. In close liaison with senior staff, identify and contribute towards service development to address quality issues.
* Operate systems of supervision/appraisal for junior staff members.
* Develop own clinical knowledge and leadership skills and share expertise for the improvement of patient care.
* Undertake research and ensure compliance with all Trust Research governance procedures.
* Be aware of and identify changes in service demand and report to senior staff.
* Contribute to the ordering and maintaining of materials / equipment / resources to facilitate patient care.
* In the absence of senior staff, take responsibility for the daily running of the department.
* Attend/participate in O.T. briefing sessions and give feedback and inform others as appropriate.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people's race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under‑represented groups.
As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.
If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments to the application process, please contact [email protected].
We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.
The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details, is shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision‑making process.
Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (opens in a new tab).
eVisa Update
For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications, an eVisa will be issued instead of a visa vignette in the passport. The eVisa is accessed by creating a UKVI account.
Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to:
* Create a UKVI account
* Link their current passport
* Access their eVisa straightaway to check all details. Incorrect information should be reported as soon as possible using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/report-error-evisa
* Understand how to generate an eVisa share code
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 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. Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment. We encourage you to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.
Flexible Working
We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:
* All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
* There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
* Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.
At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working and would also encourage you to discuss flexible working options at interview stage.
Working for Team MWL
Staff recognition is especially important to us; along with performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the Month. We offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offers a variety of services.
The Trust is a non‑smoking environment across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.
You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behavioural examples, is truthful and factually accurate. Plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own. The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.
Additional Information
Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trust’s Values and Behaviours which are ‘We are KIND’, ‘We are OPEN’, ‘We are INCLUSIVE’, which can be found here.
An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.
Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.
About the Trust
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9,000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites. We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five‑Star Patient Care.
Our Services
* Acute Care – Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
* Primary Care – Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
* Community Services – Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, West Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital allows patients needing acute hospital beds to continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
* Specialist Regional Services – We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements
* Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
* Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
* National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
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