Children's Specialist Occupational Therapist

Come and join us and be one of the friendly and supportive 300 Occupational Therapists (OTs) in CNWL. We work in many different teams in both physical and mental health, as well as a number of specialist areas. You could have a career for life with us and maintain your dual skills.
The Children's Integrated Therapies Service (CITS) is a multi-therapies service, embedded in a multi-disciplinary, community children's team. Centrally based within the Child Development Centre in Hillingdon, with services delivered from settings across the borough.
The service is open to all children and young people aged 0-19 with a range of needs. We work along with our therapy colleagues and other agency partners to deliver a service which supports and promotes the health and development of children and young people who are experiencing barriers to participation everyday occupations. These children may experience barriers due to physical disability, social communication challenges or other specific developmental differences.
The service is delivered to all school-aged children and young people within the school environment as part of close partnership with mainstream schools and SEND colleagues.
Pathways within the service ensure that MDT working is integral in the role and provides a whole systems approach for these families, supporting them to tell their story just once., CNWL OT have a long-established professional structure and this includes an AHP director, Trust wide Professional Head of OT, borough and specialist Head OTs. This huge benefit ensures representation of our profession at all levels - both strategically and operationally.
Personal and professional development is a high priority for the profession and is underpinned by our OT R&D strategy, R& D specialist groups and OT clinical networks. This enables us to invest in the development of our staff by providing excellent internal training as well as commissioning specialised external training and providing quality supervision. This ensures all our OTs reach their full potential at every stage of their career. Our commitment to research, audit and evidence-based practice is made possible by our strong links with local universities.
We recognise that Band 6's are the backbone teams, supporting with leadership and managerial tasks within clinical teams and we will therefore support their development both clinically and managerially. You will have opportunities to supervise staff, be an educator, support management and have access to both internal and external training.
The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings., CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London's population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run.

Within your clinical role you will demonstrate confidence and competence in delivering assessment and therapy in a range of settings and the ability to provide comprehensive written clinical reasoning in all documentation.
To demonstrate working autonomously with an understanding of safe lone working is essential as you will be working across various settings, from schools, children's centres, homes, nurseries and clinics, often on your own.
You will have a strong interest in working with children and young people and comprehensive knowledge of statutory assessment for Education Health and Care Plans and SEND guidance.
You will be able to develop your leadership skills with the responsibility of day-to-day operational management of junior staff and monitoring the quality of care given. The post holder will be expected to pro-actively contribute to areas of service development., As a member of the Children's Integrated Therapies Service, you will be expected to be a competent Occupational Therapist who is able to adapt to wide and varied caseload; carrying out therapy in a range of community-based settings across the borough for children and young people from 0-19 years of age.
You will be part of a community team where your proven ability to work collaboratively with children, young people and their families will support their development and facilitate them in achieving their aspirations. This will include being part of an immediate Occupational Therapy team and working with a broad multidisciplinary team and other partner agencies - forming part of network of support around the child and their family.
Using evidence-based practise and specialist skills & knowledge, you will provide a range of assessments and interventions, developing and delivering clear, goal-focused care plans.
You will be expected to work autonomously across the community settings, working jointly with our partner services of Education and Social Care. Throughout your working you are required to maintain safeguarding of children and young people at all times.
Your proficient caseload management and attuned communication skills will enable you to coordinate and deliver therapy effectively and be an effective member of the team.
Your leaderships skills will enable you to engage in development and support of the team, through supervision, training and guidance to team and contribute to development of the service., Our catchment area spans diverse communities, with over 100 first languages spoken. It contains areas of great affluence as well as areas of much deprivation. We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference. We're proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

We are recognised locally, nationally and internationally for providing high quality, innovative healthcare. We aim to employ only the best people, and our experts are frequently called upon to contribute to national health strategy and policy, and many models of our care have been adapted for use in other countries.
We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. See attached Staff Reward and Wellbeing Handbook detailing our benefits, discounts and wellbeing initiatives for staff.
Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others.
CNWL NHS Foundation Trust are committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children and vulnerable adults.
Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible.
Our Agenda for Change employment contracts are subject to a contractual 13 week probationary period.
If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.