Occupational Therapist

Job Description

Job Title	Occupational Therapist
Responsible to	Directors of Epic Solutions Dr Vicky Hill, Dr Karen Street, Dr Emma Millar and Tracy Cole
Contract	Permanent – flexible hours to be negotiated
Base	Glen House, Sigford Road, Marsh Barton, Exeter, EX2 8NL
Client Group	0-25 Service

About us

EPIC Solutions is a team of highly specialised health care professionals who are committed to the health and well-being of children, young people, and young adults, using an integrated and holistic approach. We offer a full range of paediatric and psychiatric services across the 0-25 age range.

We believe in taking a ‘whole person’ approach to assessing and supporting complex health presentations. This takes time and sometimes requires the combined expertise in both physical and mental health to fully explore and make sense of a wide variety of health difficulties. We work with children, young people and young adults up to the age of 25 years, sometimes independently and sometimes as part of a family unit. We adapt our approach according to an individual’s specific needs and circumstances.  

EPIC solutions offer services to self-pay clients, we are also a recognised provider of services to Devon County Council Education Wellbeing Team, Adoption South West, Torbay Social Care and have forged working relationships with many of the private schools across Devon. 

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Internal:

• Clients, families and carers
• Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) comprising of Psychiatrists, Paediatrician, Psychologists, Nurses, Cognitive Behavioural Therapists, Family Therapists, Advance Mental Health Practitioners, Allied Health Professionals (physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech and language therapist), Practice Manager, Administration and Reception staff.  

External:

• Education 
• Children’s Social Care 
• Voluntary and private sector care organisations providing services for children and young people
• NHS Providers 

Job Purpose

The role of Occupational Therapist will provide specialist assessment and therapeutic interventions to children/young people and adults up to the age of 25 alongside their families/carers who are seeking support around their physical, emotional, and mental health needs alongside any specific learning needs.

The post requires an OT who is highly specialised and can work at an advanced level of practice within the service, utilising their in-depth knowledge, clinical skills and experience in the management of client’s occupational therapy needs.

Within this role the post holder will be expected to: 

Duties and Responsibilities

• Undertake specialist assessments, including (but not exclusively) sensory and motor assessments. 
• Have experience or knowledge of a wide range of therapeutic theories, assessments, and interventions, such as sensory integration that they can draw upon to support children/young people/young adults and their families/carers.
• Have experience of trauma informed care. 
• Contribute to the multi-professional team to aid assessment, formulation and evidence based/practice-based interventions to children/young people/young adults.
• Have outstanding communication skills and the ability to engage and adapt their communication to the needs of others.
• Continue to develop the occupational therapy provision for the service.
• Have the ability to work with children/young people/young adults and their families/carers across the age range of 0-25.
• Hold an individual caseload, under supervision.
• Engage in monthly supervision with a director, as well as ongoing external clinical supervision if required. 
• Provide consultancy, supervision and training where appropriate to services outside of EPIC.
• Attend MDT meetings and other meetings (i.e., school etc.) where appropriate.
• Promote and support service development, service review and ongoing research.
• Engage in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) including annual appraisals.
• Maintain a professional code of conduct in line with the Health Care Professional Council and College of OT’s guidelines.

Communication and Working Relationships

• Provide and receive complex and sensitive information with children, young people, young adults and their parents/carers and adjust communication style to meet the needs of others.
• Manage and respond to distress, trauma and emotion with empathy, compassion, resilience and sensitivity.
• Communicate in a way that is empathic and compassionate, understanding the needs of all within the system.
• Consider safeguarding, child and adult protection issues, following relevant policies and procedures and seeking safeguarding supervision as required.
• Consider risk and are skilled in the management of risk, identifying own limits and seeking supervision around this.
• Produce reports on children/young people/young adults, in a timely manner, that share the key findings of an assessment and if appropriate the formulation and intervention outcomes in a way that is understandable to all. 
• Provide consultation, advice and/or training to a range of other professionals and organisations across Health, Education and Social Care. 
• Work closely with colleagues in the multi-professional team on a day-to-day basis and forge good working relationships with a variety of professionals internally and externally. 

Planning and Organisation 

• Plan and prioritise own workload, balancing the demands of client care, support and guidance of carers and professionals and service, research and development activities. 
• Contribute to the planning and organising of the occupational therapy provision within EPIC.

Analytical and Judgement Skills 

• Provide specialist occupational therapy expertise and advice. 
• Work as an autonomous practitioner with the ability to use your own judgement to make decisions under pressure and seek support, supervision and professional leadership when needed.
• Support the Directors by undertaking service development, research and review. 

Responsibility and Accountability 

• Ensure that core training is maintained and that the training and development opportunities in line with EPICs workforce development plan are participated in to meet professional requirements. 
• Ensure that all relevant staff groups continuously update the skills and techniques relevant to their clinical work.
• Ensure all clinical care and treatment provided by therapists is carried out under appropriate supervision and leadership. 

Responsibility for Client Care, Treatment and Therapy 

• Make highly skilled evaluations and decisions about assessment, treatment and discharge, including the management of risk. 
• Formulate plans for treatment and implement specialist occupational therapist interventions for children/adolescents and their families or carers and to demonstrate awareness of diversity issues. 
• Ensure that all interventions have clear outcomes and that these are taken into consideration when sourcing the resources to best meet the individual’s needs. Deliver services using a recovery and strengths approach where the needs of the individual child/young person and their families/carers are held as central and their involvement is proactively encouraged. 
• Provide advice, guidance and consultation on occupational therapy related aspects of patient care to colleagues, other service providers, patients, supporters and families.

Policy and Service Responsibility 

• Be accountable for their own professional actions, acting within Company policies and procedures and Professional Practice Guidelines. 
• Support proposed changes for policy and for service development. 

Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Working Conditions 

• Take appropriate care of equipment entrusted to them for use.
• Be responsible for maintaining a clear desk policy and protecting all confidential information in accordance with EPIC’s policies and procedures.

Responsibility for Physical, Mental and Emotional Effort and Supervision 

• Support placements for trainee staff in line with professional guidelines.
• Engage in monthly supervision with a director. 

Responsibility for Human Resources, e.g., Supervision, Training, HR Advice and Management 

• Supervise the work of assistants &/or trainees as required. Provide supervision & consultancy to colleagues. 
•  There is a requirement to support learners on a regular basis which includes the achievement and updating of profession specific training to the required standard to fulfil this role. 

Responsibility for Research and Development 

• Utilise theory, evidence-based literature and research to support evidence based practice in individual work.
• Support project work including specific areas of audit, research or service evaluation.

Information Technology and Administrative Duties

• Be responsible for using an email account to generate, monitor, and respond to the e-mail traffic by which the Company conducts much of its internal communication. 
• Maintain accurate records, compliant with Company Practice Standards on the relevant clinical systems. 
• Have sound knowledge of IT and the ability to use a clinical records system.
• Ensure that all policies, procedures and guidelines are followed.
• Identify and manage risks through incident reporting when appropriate.
• Take part in and develop activities designed to improve service delivery or quality of care such as staff surveys, participation and service development.

Freedom to Act 

• Be accountable for their own professional actions, acting within Company policies and procedures and Professional Practice Guidelines. 
• Work autonomously within clinical professional guidelines and exercise responsibility for the governance of occupational therapy practice within the locality/specialty. Interpretation of professional and Company guidelines, and implementing policies in conjunction with peers, Consultants and Directors. 

Any other specific tasks required 

• Ability to travel across Devon and surrounding counties if required.

This job description is intended as an outline of the general areas of activity and responsibility and will be amended in light of changing service needs. The Job description will be reviewed annually with the post holder during the appraisal process. 

Our fantastic offer 

• Competitive salary
• Full induction
• Ongoing training and development opportunities
• If you are eligible, we will automatically enroll you into our Pension Scheme.  National Employment Savings Trust (NEST).  Our contribution to the Pension Scheme shall be 3% of the qualifying earnings
• Statutory Maternity pay
• Part of a vibrant and good energy atmosphere 
• Staff social events

Important Information 

• We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications.  Please apply promptly.  
• Please read the job description and tailor your application to reflect the role. 
• If you have not received an invitation to interview within 28 days of the closing date, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.  
• It is your responsibility to assist us in the timely receipt of appropriate references.  

Personal Specification 

This is a specification of the qualifications, skills, knowledge, personal attributes and other requirements which are required to effectively carry out the duties and responsibilities of the post. 

Requirement;  Qualification and Training	Essential/ Desirable	How Assessed
Qualified Occupational Therapist: degree or diploma (BSc in Occupational Therapy approved by the College of OT’s or equivalent)	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Registration with HCPC	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Training in an evidence based therapeutic approach	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Knowledge
High Level of knowledge of mental health presentations in clients and knowledge of theory and practice of brief and longer term evidence based clinical interventions in accordance with the NICE guidelines	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Experience of trauma informed care, sensory integration treatment, sensory attachment interventions and zones of regulation.	Desirable	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Knowledge of current guidelines and best practice for supporting children with sensory differences and difficulties	Essential	Application form and Interview
Knowledge of Child Development	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Knowledge of legislations in relation to children/young people /young adults and safeguarding procedures and policies	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Knowledge of risk management and ability to monitor and assess risk and act accordingly to ensure safety of clients and others.	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Broad knowledge and familiarity of specialist services; and of the services within the Company where occupational therapy is commonly applied.	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Understanding of relevant legislation pertaining to child/young person and young adults’ mental heath	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Knowledge of electronic client recording systems and the requirements around data reporting	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Broad knowledge and familiarity of working with children/adolescents and their families/carers who have a medical condition	Desirable	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Experience
Experience of occupational therapy assessment and treatment of children, young people and families. This includes sensory and motor assessments.	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Experience of working with children and young people up to the age of 25	Essential	Certificate, Application from and Interview
Experience of completing sensory profiles with children and other informal sensory based assessments	Essential	Certificate, Application Form and Interview
Experience, and/or training in diversity awareness and social inequality	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Experience of working collaboratively with clients and their families/carers in a therapeutic environment (added to this one)	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Experience of safeguarding clients in partnership with other agencies as appropriate		Certificate, Application form and Interview
Experience of working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary team and across agencies  Experience of working within a multidisciplinary team	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Experience that evidences an ability to tend to equality and diversity and work in a way that promotes fairness for all	Essential	Certificate, Application form and Interview
Skills and abilities; Communication and working relationship skills
Excellent verbal, nonverbal and written communication skills	Essential	Application Form and Interview
The ability to form and maintain good working relationships with others in mutli-agency and across agencies	Essential	Application Form and Interview
The ability to form good supervisory and management relationships with others	Essential	Application Form and Interview
Analytical & Judgemental Skills
Ability to integrate complex clinical information into coherent formulations and make highly skilled evaluations and decisions; sharing these with clients, families/carers and other professionals	Essential	Application Form and Interview
The ability to assess, plan and implement specialist intervention	Essential	Application and Interview
The ability to work as an autonomous practitioner, to take on responsibility, make decisions under pressure and seek support as appropriate	Essential	Application Form and Interview
Ability to tolerate and reduce anxiety and potential distress in others and use judgement skills to decide on relevant actions even in times of stress
Planning and Organisation skills
Proven organisational, planning and time management skills	Essential	Application Form and Interview
Service development skills / experience	Desirable	Application Form and Interview
Physical Skills
Good communication skills when presenting / facilitating to varying groups of people	Essential	Application Form and Interview
Ability to sit and concentrate for sustained periods of time	Essential	Application Form and Interview
Ability to manage and support others to manage, stressful situations with resilience and self-awareness
Other
Ability to work independently and use initiative within a service consisting of a network of teams including 3rd sector organisations	Essential	Application Form and Interview
A commitment to working to improve the functional lives of children and young people.	Essential	Application Form and Interview
Ability to work as a member of a clinical team.	Essential	Application Form and Interview
Ability to tolerate ambiguity and maintain own morale and motivation in challenging service delivery contexts.	Essential	Application Form and Interview
Hold a Full driving license with the ability to travel across Devon and neighbouring counties.	Essential	Application Form and Interview
An Enhanced DBS check will be required for this role	Essential	Application Form and Interview