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Whittington Health NHS Trust

About

Whittington Health NHS Trust aims to help local people live longer and healthier lives by providing safe, personal, coordinated care for the community we serve.

We provide hospital and community care services to 500,000 people living in Islington and Haringey as well as other London boroughs including Barnet, Enfield, Camden and Hackney. As one organisation providing both hospital and community services, we are known as an ‘integrated care organisation’.

We have an income of £350 million and over 4,400 staff delivering care across north London.

Our priority is to provide the right care, at the right time and in the right place for our patients. We provide a large range of services from the hospital, including accident and emergency (A&E), maternity, diagnostic, therapy and elderly care. We also run services from 30 community locations in Islington and Haringey. Over the past year we have reviewed and developed services to make them stronger and better support the needs of patients.

As an integrated care organisation we bring high quality services closer to home and speed up communication between community and hospital services, improving our patients’ experience. Key to our approach is partnering with patients, carers, GPs, social care, mental health and other healthcare providers.

Our organisation has a highly-regarded educational role. We teach undergraduate medical students (as part of UCL Medical School) and nurses and therapists throughout the year, alongside providing a range of educational packages for postgraduate doctors and other healthcare professional.

Contact

Address: Whittington Health NHS Trust; Magdala Avenue; London; N19 5NF

Find out more

Jobs Website

Open

Ref: 220-WHT-3103 Vacancy ID: 7201381

Occupational Therapist

Accepting applications until: 06-Jun-2025 23:59

Vacancy status: Open

Accepting applications until: 06-Jun-2025 23:59

Location

Site: Lordship Lane Primary Care Centre
Address: 239 Lordship Lane
Town: London
Postcode: N17 6HZ
Major / Minor Region: London

Contract type & working pattern

Contract: Permanent
Hours: Job share - 22 hours per week (Please note that although this is advertised at 22 hours, there is the possibility of offering additional hours up to 1.0wte)

Salary

Salary: £51,883 - £58,544 pro rata per annum inclusive of HCAs
Salary period: Yearly
Grade: (NHS AfC: Band 7)

Specialty

Main area: Adult community

Covid-19 Vaccination

Getting vaccinated, and getting a booster, remains the best defence against COVID-19.
We encourage and support staff to get COVID-19 vaccine and a booster dose as and when they are eligible.

Please note in order to progress your application, your data will be processed by our 3^rd party recruitment providers – North London Partners Shared Service, who conduct recruitment activities on behalf of Whittington Health NHS Trust.

For our current apprenticeship vacancies, please go to https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship and use Keyword ‘Whittington’

By applying for this role, you accept in the event you are successful that your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which is aimed at saving you time and improving efficiencies within the NHS when your employment transfers.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

CLINICAL

To be professionally and legally responsible for all aspects of own professional activities. To adhere to and apply The College of Occupational Therapists’ Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (College of Occupational Therapists 2015)
To independently manage a caseload of complex cases, providing specialist occupational therapy assessment and interventions to clients with complex physical, cognitive and psycho-social needs arising from their medical conditions. To provide this service in the most appropriate setting to the client, e.g. clients’ homes, workplace and other community settings, working closely with the client, his/her family/carer and other professionals in doing this.
To be responsible for prioritising the occupational therapy referrals within the service to ensure that clients with urgent needs are seen within appropriate timescales.
To establish excellent therapeutic relationships with clients/family/carers to gain their participation in the therapeutic process by employing advanced interpersonal skills (e.g. communication, reasoning, negotiation skills, motivational tactics) and overcoming any barriers to communication (e.g. different languages, lack of understanding of the spoken word, visual or hearing impairments, fear, anxiety).
To assess for and diagnose any functional, physical, cognitive, perceptual, psychological and sensory deficits using functional assessments together with specialised standardised and non-standardised assessment batteries.
Based on the analysis of the assessment and a risk analysis, to determine occupational therapy aims and treatment goals as part of the overall care plan, and then to formulate intervention options which reduce the impact of disability.
To attend MDT clinical meetings and have close liaison with the acute stroke services (NMH, RFH and the Homerton) and the hyper acute service (HASU).
To work closely with the client/family/carers to encourage participation in the therapeutic process. To negotiate and agree decisions relevant to the client’s management whilst respecting their diversity. To identify and select with the client/family/carers the most appropriate intervention options, which balance the complex interactions of risk, safety, client choice, independence, areas of conflict, eligibility for services and cost effectiveness.
To develop specialised occupational therapy treatment programmes in collaboration with clients, carers and other involved professionals (e.g. physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, district nurses, clinical lead professionals, home care agencies) to be carried out in the client’s home or community as appropriate.
To plan, coordinate and deliver client-centred interventions on either an individual or group basis, using the principles of graded activity and a wide range of treatment techniques e.g. functional and remedial activities, splinting, equipment provision, education and health promotion.
To use specialised therapeutic moving and handling skills in the assessment for complex neurological conditions, recommending appropriate equipment in line with national and local guidelines; including providing advice and training to client/family/carers on correct handling techniques, having undertaken specialised manual handling risk assessments.
To provide specialist assessment for and provision of adaptive equipment such as specialist seating in line with national and local guidelines.
To provide assessments for and where indicated the construction of upper limb splinting for clients in order to promote joint integrity or facilitate function.
To challenge and improve current practice where appropriate, ensuring practice is evidence based.
To provide specialist advice on lifestyles, role, functional abilities, self care and the physical environment after taking account of the effects of any medical conditions on the individual and his/her family/carers, e.g. energy conservation, fatigue management.
To prescribe and coordinate interventions to be carried out by others, such as rehabilitation support workers or home carers, and to train them to carry out the therapeutic programmes as appropriate to the home or community environment.
To use advanced clinical reasoning, critical thinking and reflection to monitor, evaluate and modify treatment, evaluate outcomes and thus ensure effectiveness of interventions.
To provide verbal and written information to support the client’s discharge from the service which informs health and social care providers of the outcomes of interventions and of ongoing health and social care requirements.
To produce accurate and detailed reports, therapy programmes, care plans, advice and information as necessary in a timely manner, reflecting clinical expertise.
To identify and manage the potential difficulties and risks involved in working alone in a variety of community settings (e.g. verbal or physical aggression, challenging behaviour, working in unhygienic environments) and to do this for staff to whom work is delegated. To complete incident forms as necessary.

MANAGEMENT/ADMINISTRATION

To participate in service reviews and policy, guideline and protocol development and changes to service provision as required by Whittington Health and other services e.g. the stroke association.
To undertake a team lead role on a day-to-day basis to manage the therapy staff in the Haringey Community Stroke service
To be responsible for the day-to-day management and provision of occupational therapy assessments and interventions in Haringey by reviewing the appropriateness of referrals, prioritizing referrals and managing junior staff on a day to day basis.
To identify opportunities, in collaboration with the Clinical Lead, for service development and role re-design
To support senior staff in the development and implementation of the Trust’s clinical governance strategy, participating in multidisciplinary audits, investigation of complaints, user involvement activity and other mechanisms of service evaluation and monitoring.
To ensure that the agreed professional and national quality standards of service are maintained by self and designated junior staff.
To collect relevant statistical information and activity data in accordance with Trust, professional and NCL requirements. To ensure that designated junior staff do likewise
To maintain accurate and up to date documentation in multi-disciplinary records which is consistent with legal, professional, organisational and NCL requirements. To be responsible for ensuring that designated staff maintain record keeping standards
To attend and participate in team and professional clinical governance meetings, undertaking tasks which result from these meetings.
To provide clinical leadership to other occupational therapists in the team. To be involved in recruitment and take responsibility for professional support, supervision and appraisal.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

To maintain, develop and update own professional knowledge and skills in relation to Stroke and neurological rehabilitation occupational therapy.
To access further education programmes to develop knowledge and skills, and to share learning with the wider team.
To provide highly specialised advice to Occupational therapy colleagues working in other clinical areas regarding the management of adults with stroke/neurological conditions in the community.
To participate in staff and service development through attendance at meetings and in-service training sessions, including taking a lead responsibility for designated sessions.
To undertake management and leadership training as required.
To participate in mandatory training
To actively participate in regular clinical supervision and yearly appraisal using reflection and analysis to inform practice, develop skills and identify training needs in relation to the needs of the service and personal development.
To provide leadership, support, guidance, teaching, clinical supervision and appraisal to senior/junior occupational therapists and rehabilitationTechnicians.
To act as a Professional Practice Educator and support senior/junior staff with students, providing training and education for occupational therapy students on professional practice placements and to provide written reports for the relevant academic institution regarding the student’s performance.
To be responsible for maintaining a CPD portfolio which clearly demonstrates that competencies required within the post are achieved and maintained.

COMMUNICATION

To communicate effectively and work collaboratively with therapy colleagues as well as other community services to ensure the delivery of a coordinated multi-disciplinary service.
To communicate simple and complex information verbally and non verbally with the client/family/carers during sessions
Ensure information is understood e.g. where the client does not speak English, has a hearing impairment, altered emotional state, cognitive/learning/emotional disability, or where the client does not understand or accept a clinical decision.
To work with advocacy and interpreting services for families where English is not the first language
To adhere to Trust, professional and local policies and standards in relation to confidentiality.
To work in partnership to develop innovative ways of working, with colleagues within Whittington Health Community services and other organisations (NCL Network).

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

To support in the monitoring of the effectiveness of the community therapy service through the collation and correlation of data for ongoing audit.
Contribute to the evaluation of research findings and disseminate them appropriately, including presentations at study days or conferences.
To support the monitoring of adherence to the stroke strategy within Haringey (Whittington Health).

SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND ADULTS

To comply with the Trust’s Safeguarding Children and Adults policies, procedures and protocols. All individual members of staff (paid or unpaid) have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults This will require you to:

Ensure you are familiar with and comply with the London Child Protection Procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.

Ensure you are familiar and comply with the London Multi Agency Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Pan London Procedures.

Ensure you are familiar and comply with local protocols and systems for information sharing.
Know the appropriate contact numbers and required reporting lines.
Participate in required training and supervision.
Comply with required professional boundaries and codes of conduct

Whittington Health is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Your application form –

Provide only business email address for your referees – we are unable to request references from yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail accounts.
Make sure you to include all evidence of where you meet the essential requirement on the jobs description as this forms the base of our shortlisting criteria.

Our processes –

Closing dates are given as a guide; we are within our right to close adverts early so please ensure you submit your application as soon as possible to avoid delay.
If you do not hear from us up to 3 weeks after the closing date of the job unfortunately this means you have not been successfully shortlisted for interview. If your require feedback on your application please contact the appointing manager detailed in the body of the advert.
Please check your emails regularly as all correspondence from us will be via trac.systems – occasionally these emails will go into your Junk folder.
Employment at Whittington Health is offered subject to successful completion of a 6 month probationary period for all staff with the exception of GMC Registered Doctors.

Other important information –

Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Before submitting your application and to avoid disappointment please check that you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.
Applications are welcome from people wishing to job share or work flexible patterns. We are committed to equal opportunities.
In submitting an application form, you authorise Whittington Health NHS Trust to confirm any previous NHS service details via the Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process should you be appointed to the post.

If you are offered a role with one of the NLPSS partner trusts, as part of pre-employment checks your identity and right to work documentation will be verified remotely (in most circumstances), using a certified identity verification service provider TrustID. You will be asked to capture an image of the relevant documents as well as a “selfie” using your smartphone/tablet (if available) for facial matching. TrustID will also perform a digital address check using Trunarrative and Equifax, which is a soft check and does not leave a footprint on your credit rating. For more information, visit www.trustid.co.uk

Please note that during the recruitment process your Identity Documentation (i.e. passport, driving licence, visa, etc.) will be scanned using a device which recognises UV, Infrared and Machine Readable Zone security features of the documents provided

The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.

We would welcome applications from individuals who are from underrepresented groups in the organisation

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

Degree or diploma in Occupational therapy
Registration with the Health Care Professions Council
Attendance on courses related to Stroke

Desirable criteria

Higher degree/MSc. relevant to the area of practice.
Member of the College of Occupational Therapists and relevant Clinical Interest Group1

Experience

Essential criteria

At least 5 years post-registration experience, including extensive rotational experience and evidence of dedicated clinical practice and post-graduate professional development in relevant areas of Occupational therapy.
At least 2 years experience working with stroke at a Band 6 or above.
Experience of working in the NHS
Experience of working within a community setting
Experience of running groups
Experience of taking Occupational therapy students on clinical practice placements
Experience of organising, writing and delivering in-service training programmes.
Experience of supervising junior and non-qualified staff, including participation in personal development reviews.
Experience of involvement in clinical governance/service improvement initiatives
Experience of leading change

Knowledge

Essential criteria

Knowledge of current NHS priorities and policy
Understanding of clinical governance activity and its application to Occupational therapy Services and practice.
Up to date and advanced knowledge of a variety of Occupational therapy concepts and approaches, and of current best practice.
Knowledge of stroke management
Knowledge of other medical conditions which you may encounter including, but not exclusively, mental health, cognitive deficits and conditions of old age.
Knowledge of outcome measure tools relevant to community Occupational therapy, and ability to select and justify their use.
Advanced knowledge of the audit cycle and its uses.
Demonstrate an understanding of responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act and of assessing risk within clinical work.

Skills and Abilities

Essential criteria

Able to communicate highly complex and sensitive information in written, verbal and presentational form to patients, carers and staff within the Trust and across other organisations.
Able to lead, motivate and influence a team, and to describe strategies to support effective team working.
Able to apply problem-solving skills to highly complex situations, which may include clinical or organisational issues.
Highly developed clinical reasoning skills with an ability to develop client centred, realistic and achievable goals.
Understanding of issues involved in offering a service to a diverse community, and of practical ways to ensure that the service is culturally appropriate and accessible.
Able to identify and recognise when to seek advice and support concerning clinical, managerial, professional or organisational issues.
Highly skilled ability and competency in using a range of therapeutic skills including but not exclusively, various assessment techniques, handling skills, manual handling techniques, exercise therapy, and splinting.
Able to identify your own and staff’s training and development needs.
Well developed counselling and advocacy skills to support staff, patients and carers.
high level of organisation and planning skills and ability to prioritise caseloads and identify areas of unmet need
Essential IT skills, including Word and PowerPoint.

Other

Essential criteria

Ability to work in the community in patient’s homes and to travel around the borough.
Willingness to work on any site as service requirements dictate, and as appropriate.
Commitment to holistic patient management and the promotion and progression of Occupational therapy in the community