Children's Occupational Therapist

To provide an integrated Occupational Therapy service to children and young people and their families, this will involve crossing traditional health and social care boundaries and promoting close, effective working relationships within the health multi-disciplinary team, the local authority and schools.

You will be responsible for your own caseload and in a supervisory capacity for that of junior staff /students working within your team.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Nature of work

To provide specialised childrens occupational therapy assessment and treatment for children.

To assess and prescribe specialist equipment for home and school to support function and participation (e.g. positioning, beds, toilet and bathing, hoists and slings, safety) and link with the housing specialists within the service to ensure a fully integrated service.

To work in a variety of settings such as clinics, mainstream schools/nurseries, special schools/nurseries, clients homes and other community settings

To appropriately delegate work/tasks to Therapy Assistants, maintaining oversight of their input with children and young people.

To formulate and deliver an individual occupational therapy programme based on a sound knowledge of evidence based practice and treatment approaches using clinical assessment, reasoning skills and knowledge of treatment modalities available, e.g. CO-OP approach, COPM, neurodevelopmental therapy, sensory integration therapy (in line with strongest evidence and RCOT guidelines) and other alternatives (with appropriate support from senior colleague)

To participate in training/lecturing programmes, with support from senior colleagues, for Occupational Therapists staff, Occupational Therapy students, medical students, doctors, teachers and learning support assistants in schools and parents/carers.

To participate in the planning, development and evaluation of the children and young peoples Occupational Therapy service.

Where appropriate, to act as a key worker for CYP on their caseload, ensuring that there is effective communication between all members of the team and that a coordinated approach is in place.

To complete assessments with support from senior occupational therapist to inform the SEN tribunal process

The nature of childrens practice will require the post holder to bend, stretch, lift childrens limbs, crawl, kneel, work in confined spaces and at times work from the floor employing light physical effort on a day-to-day basis.

Planning

To plan their own diary and prioritise their caseload in line with the service Core offer.

To participate in the planning, development and evaluation of the children and young peoples Occupational Therapy service.

To work as an autonomous practitioner supported by regular clinical and management supervision.

To comply with departmental and Organisational policies and procedures.

Specific projects

To participate in defined, delegated projects.

To liaise with Team Leaders to ensure that all children referred into the Occupational Therapy service receive an equitable service.

Communication

To provide excellent communication with Children and Young People, Parents, carers, schools, local education authority, social services, acute hospitals, paediatricians, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, pre-school teachers, psychologists (clinical and educational) and child and family nurses.

Often information handled will be sensitive and highly complex. Occasionally children are seen with extremely sensitive rare and complex medical conditions this requires communication at a high level with specialist doctors and national centres of excellence.

To investigate and manage concerns, incidents and complaints recognising limitations and referring to more senior colleagues, where appropriate.

To provide clear, concise written reports for other agencies for statutory processes to meet legal requirements, e.g. Education, Health and Care Plan, Tribunal cases.

Contribute to EECs internal communication strategies ensuring effective two-way communication and engagement within the organisation

Contribute to EECs external communication strategies working with the Head of Communications to raise awareness and promote the reputation of EECs services

People Management

To be involved in the supervision of junior Occupational Therapists (alongside the team leader Occupational Therapist).

To be involved in the supervision of occupational therapy students in their clinical practice.

Rated 'Outstanding' by the Care Quality Commission, we are proud to provide high quality innovative services across most of the east of England that enable people to receive care closer to home and live healthier lives.

There's one reason why our services are outstanding - and that's our amazing staff - who, for the seventh year running, rated us incredibly highly in the national staff survey.

If you share our passion for innovative and high-quality care delivery, then please submit your application and join us on our exciting journey as a leading-edge specialist community provider. All are welcome to apply and our promise to you is a culture which prioritises staff engagement and development.

Qualifications & Training

Experience

Knowledge & Skills