Band 7 paediatric Occupational Therapist

We are looking for an individual who is dynamic, innovative and enthusiastic with a specialism in supporting school aged children and/or young people with Autism as well as a range of conditions relevant to the school aged population including Developmental Co-ordination Disorder and sensory and physical disabilities . The post holder will join our Mainstream Therapies team based at the Northern Health Centre alongside therapy colleagues. As well as holding a clinical caseload in a number of schools they will provide management support to the Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist.
The Mainstream Therapies |Team provides a multi-disciplinary service for children with additional needs and disabilities.
Find out what it is like to work in our friendly, supportive teams which span hospital and community settings across vibrant and diverse North Central London first hand, visit www.whittington.nhs.uk/CYPrecruitment (you may have to copy and paste this link into your browser) to hear from some of our current staff about why they chose to join and stay at Whittington Health., The post holder will be responsible for an allocated caseload, providing high quality Occupational Therapy and effective case management to children attending mainstream schools in Islington. The post holder will demonstrate a high standard of clinical practice as a Paediatric Occupational Therapist.
The post holder will also plan and deliver training for both parents and school staff.
They will provide clinical supervision and support to less experienced colleagues, trainees, unqualified staff and staff from other disciplines and agencies when required, both within the team and the wider service.
The post holder will have excellent communication skills, active listening skills and the ability to empathise. They will be able to communicate complex information effectively, taking into account the barriers to communication presented by the diverse caseload.
They will be skilled in working in and liaising within a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency environment and be able to reassure and instil confidence in clients, carers and other professionals. They will demonstrate excellent negotiation skills in working with other team members, parents/carers or other professionals.

Working for our organisation
Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work., + Be able to select and apply OT assessments (standardised and non-standardised) for a designated case load, addressing occupational performance and participation, enabling the child in the areas of self-care, productivity and leisure
+ To set and maintain high standards of clinical practice, which is evidence based where possible, using standardised assessment and outcome measures, where appropriate.
+ Work with children, families and MDT staff to identify goals as part of the overall care plan.
+ Identify and select, with children and their carers, appropriate interventions which balance the complex interaction of risk, safety, client choice, independence, areas of conflict and eligibility for services.
+ Plan and implement individual and group interventions, in collaboration with the child, parent/carer and school using meaningful graded activities to achieve therapeutic goals.
+ Monitor, evaluate and modify treatments for children with multiple and complex needs in order to measure progress and ensure effectiveness of intervention.
+ Provide advice to junior staff and students on a range of issues pertinent to clinical issues specific to the caseload.
+ Carry out complex home and school assessments and other relevant assessments to facilitate the child's functioning in the community and promote safety and independence.
+ Arrange provision of standard specialist disability equipment ordering equipment on-line using Social Services IT system.
+ Demonstrate knowledge of a wide range of standard and specialist assistive equipment and eligibility criteria and procedures/policies relevant to social care and education.
+ Adhere to the RCOT code of Ethical and Professional Conduct and National and Local procedures.
+ Demonstrate ability to identify and reflect on ethical issues and provide guidance to junior staff as necessary.
+ Demonstrate highly effective personal coordination of day-to-day activities including prioritising case loads, decision-making and problem solving.
+ Demonstrate and apply a high level of understanding of the effects of medical conditions and recommend adaptations and strategies to the child's physical and social environments.
+ Demonstrate specialist clinical knowledge in the areas of Developmental Co-ordination Disorder and Autism as well as having sound knowledge with other conditions common within the mainstream school health service including neurological conditions such as Cerebral Palsy and Hemiplegia.
+ To have knowledge and experience of implementing a variety of treatment approaches for example Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (COOP) and Occupational Performance Coaching.
+ Be able to problem solve and judge complex and sensitive situations and circumstances that require analysis of a range of different options.
+ Be an active member and role model for the MDT within the community.
+ Liaise with other agencies involved in the child or young person's care, including relatives/carers and education staff, as appropriate to the individual child's needs.
+ Demonstrate an understanding of Moving and Handling legislation and knowledge of current moving and handling best practice and associated equipment, with application to risk assessments.
ADMINISTRATION
+ To assist the team leader in the day-to-day running of the service when requested
+ To maintain up-to-date records and statistics on children seen according to Islington Additional Needs and Disability policies.
+ Exercise good personal time management, punctuality and consistent reliable attendance and maintain professional standards of dress code and personal presentation.
+ To assist the clinical Lead OT with triaging mainstream referrals.
MANAGEMENT
+ To attend relevant departmental, Inservice and Trust meetings when required and deputise for the line manager by carrying out agreed delegated tasks as required and represent at management meetings.
+ Participate in the operational planning, evaluation and audit of practice, clinical pathways and protocols within areas of practice, leading on delegated projects within the service
+ To participate in Service reviews and in the formulation of Department Policies and Procedures.
+ To participate in Quality, Audit and Outcome measures initiatives
+ Provide effective guidance, supervision and appraisal for junior staff including regularly reviewing clinical work and documentation
+ To supervise and appraise Occupational Therapy staff, assistants and volunteers as required.
+ Co-ordinate day-to-day activities for junior staff and other MDT.
+ Demonstrate leadership skills through the management of designated projects.
+ Demonstrate the ability to initiate, plan and implement the induction, training and education of junior Therapists, Occupational Therapy assistants, students and other staff in this setting or external to the Trust.
+ Contribute to the Trust's service's and OT team's clinical guidance arrangements and quality agenda including setting and monitoring practice standards.
TEACHING, TRAINING and RESEARCH
+ To receive regular supervision and annual appraisal from the Team Leader and/or Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist.
+ Review and reflect own practice and performance through effective use of professional and operational supervision.
+ Develop and maintain an agreed area of professional/specialist interest and expertise and act as a resource for other team members for this subject area accessing relevant external training as appropriate. Take a lead as line manager in the specific specialised work area
+ Take a lead in facilitating training events and presenting information as appropriate.
+ Identify OT Team training needs in conjunction with Clinical lead OT and team leader and advise on solutions.
+ To participate in in-service training as required.
+ To participate in teaching and educational programmes with other disciplines, including groups for parents to develop knowledge of areas including occupational performance and barriers to participation.
+ Demonstrate ongoing personal development through participation in internal and external available developmental opportunities, recording learning outcomes in a portfolio (CPD).
+ Demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate current research, apply them practice and disseminate findings at a local level.
+ To consider possible areas of research and clinical publication, including the development of a mini-research project with support from the clinical lead occupational therapist to facilitate service development.
+ To attend all mandatory training and relevant courses to develop self in specialist area of work.
OTHER
Ability to work in frequent unpleasant conditions with odours, occasional body fluids, home visits and confined areas.
Frequently required to exert moderate effort for several short periods during the day requiring lifting equipment and complex skills e.g. using hoists
To frequently deal with highly emotional and highly distressing situations and circumstances
With children and their families including child protection cases. To communicate highly complex and sensitive information relating to medical conditions and OT process, requiring skills of empathy and reassurance.
To occasionally deal with a wide range of complex emotions in staff and provide support to distressed staff members.
Regularly travel within the community (schools, homes etc).
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 -
1. Provide only business email address for your referees - we are unable to request references from yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail accounts.
2. 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 -
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Please check your emails regularly as all correspondence from us will be via trac.systems - occasionally these emails will go into your Junk folder.
4. 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