Occupational Therapist - Surrey Prisons

• To providespecialist OT clinical knowledge in theassessment,treatment & evaluation of people within prison. Applying anunderstanding of the effects of multiple,enduring & complex mental health needs onoccupational performance.
• To carry out mental health & risk assessment, for a caseload of service users & offer regular monitoring of mental state.
• To work autonomously providing clinical professional judgement in clinical cases & referring to team members when necessary.
• To contribute in the development of specialist individual & group programmes, supporting service users in achieving valued goals & satisfactory occupational performance outcome. Providing advice & support on lifestyle changes &d adaptations where necessary.
• To select & use validated, evidence based standardised assessment tools (Occupational Therapy assessment, screening tools, sensory profiles etc) routinely &, exhibit, advanced clinical reasoning skills.
• To monitor & evaluate the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions & the agreed mental health interventions against clear aims.
• To facilitate smooth transitions for service users between prisons & different service settings (i.e. prison to community). Establishing links & working in collaboration with partner agencies in order to contribute & manage aspects of an individuals care plan.
• To support service users & colleagues in ensuring care plans are developed in partnership with service users & that they reflect personal recovery goals. These should be strengths-based & oriented towards reinforcing a positive identity and developing valued social roles.
• To provide carewhich is culturallyappropriate & sensitive,demonstrates trauma awareness & recognises the needs of the individual with regards to accessibility
• To proactively undertake & ensure rigorous risk assessment & risk management strategies are applied. To ensure maximum risk tolerance facilitates the individuals recovery, in line with risk policies & local guidelines.
• To be aware of & sensitive to safeguarding needs at all times, & knowledgeable both about potential indicators of abuse or neglect & about what to do if they had concerns about apersons welfare.
• To facilitate the development of, & to work within, clinical pathways & protocols with particular reference to the CNWL Occupational Therapy care pathways & the Health and Justice OT pathway.
• To be aware of medication issues in line with the CNWL OT Medication Management guidelines
• To provide specialist OT input into the Neurodiverse pathway, working alongside CNWL colleagues & HMPPS Neurodiverse Service Manager for each site.

• Todemonstrate excellent communication skills with service users, forming positive therapeutic relationships, using warmth & empathy, enabling service user empowerment.
• To develop & maintaineffective professional communication structures withother professionals & agencies in order to ensure a comprehensive & consistent approach to client care.
• To provide & receive highly complex, sensitive, condition related or distressing/unwelcome information to service users and carersdemonstratingempathy and reassurance.
• To ensure careful & efficient forms of communication skills when assessing & managing risk procedures within & beyond the prison service, inlinewith confidentiality agreements.
• To demonstrateskills and resourcefulness in communication when barriers to understanding are present.
• To promote the role of OT within services;representingan OT clinical perspective in all clinical meetings
• To participatein OT, multi-disciplinary, clinical and business meetings
• To ensure timely response to emails & requests for information.
• To work in close co-operation with OT colleagues within the Trust contributing to relevant OT business/training meetings, both locally & trust-wide.
• To provide feedback, to OT & MDT colleagues, from specialist interest groups & committees.

• To ensure that up to date,accurate,concise & informative records are written & maintained in the service users notes, on Prison & health care systems (CNOMIS and System One).
• To attend & actively participatein relevant meetings,conferences & events, relating topatients health & care programmes.
• To maintainaccurate supervision records (junior staff & students) as defined in the Trust OT Guidelines, including the maintenance of a supervision record log.

• To provide input into the recruitment of staff whereappropriate.
• To contribute to the writing of local protocols with regard tospecialist OT knowledge.
• To participate in OT & department specific training packages to promote awareness & understanding of health wellbeing within a prison population.

• To keep abreast of changing clinical practice, new developments,evidence based practice & research
• To contribute to activities, which continue to build on a culture of shared learning & evidence basedpractice
• To undertake activities of Continuous Professional Development including identifying own learning needs & recording learning outcomes in a portfolio.
• To assume personal responsibility for maintaininga working knowledge of new statutory guidelines that influence clinical practice.
• To maintain a professional knowledge base & act as a resource to others regardingspecialist areas of expertise i.e. occupational therapy, perinatal mental health conditions, parent infant interaction, child development, parenting skills assessment, health promotion,recovery & social inclusion.

• To review & reflect on own practice & performance; & that of others, through effective use of supervision, reflective practice, operational management supervision, CPD & appraisal
• To participatein the Trusts supervision and appraisal systems in conjunction with service managers/Head Occupational Therapist, ensuring that relevant training needs areidentifiedand met throughtimelyaccess/delivery.
• To ensure a robust framework for the provision of regular and qualitative supervision and appraisal for students, junior staff, volunteers & sessional workers as required.
• To offer learning and development opportunities to other professionals with regard tooccupation within perinatal mental health, and other OT specialist skills
• To be an educator for OT students on practice placement, in line with local guidelines, ensuring that practice placement educators facilitateplacements for the required number of weeks as per the AHP fair share agreement.
• To contribute to effective peer supervision if relevant
• To ensure timelybooking and attendance of mandatory and statutory training. Failure to do this mayprecludefurther learning and development opportunities.
• To contribute to multi-disciplinary training initiatives

• To be knowledgeable about best practise for safeguarding, with support of supervision and the directorate Safegaurdinglead and support forums
• To apply national and Trust wide guidelines/standards of practice in line with Trust and the Royal College of Occupational Therapists standards and guidelines
• To work as an autonomous practitioner, assuming accountability for own clinical practice
• To maintainand observe confidentiality of all information relating to service users as laid down in the confidentiality and Caldecott principles.
• To ensure compliance with relevant guidelines and policies e.g. safety and risk, DOLS, care act, Mental Health Act etc.

• To contribute, as part of the MDT to new initiatives and service development
• To ensure comprehensive knowledge of the services KPIs, quality and performance initiatives; ensuringtimelyresponse and contribution of the OT Service provision.
• To ensure comprehensive knowledge of the Trust Recovery agenda e.g. Recovery and Wellbeing College
• To contribute to defined projects as directed by the Health and Justice Lead Occupational Therapist
• To contribute to and participate, as a member of the multi-disciplinary team, to the operational design and delivery of quality improvement initiatives within the service
• To autonomously maintaina working knowledge of new statutory guidelines, particularly those relating to perinatal mental health
• To take an active role in seeking user, carerandstakeholdersfeedback to help shape and influence the further development of the services.

• To participate in local & Trust-wide OT service activities that promote & contribute to the building of knowledge & evidence base for the benefit of the professional body of occupational therapy.
• To include making use of the support networks available throughout the Trust e.g. Special Interest Groups, forums andsub groups; & MDT team training sessions
• To undertake, participate in &disseminate research & audit activities in line with local service priorities.
• To participate in & implement service activities related to clinical effectiveness via evaluation, audit, research & evidence basedpractice; ensuring active participation of the OT Team in such activities.
• To take a lead, within the MDT, in promoting a culture that focuses on all service users occupational needs, recovery principles & social inclusion

• To adhere to the HCPC & RCOT Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct, demonstratingprofessional competence and fitness to practice
• To maintainknowledge of legislation that affects clinical practice within prison health care such as MHA Act

• To provide care for service users whomaybe comedistressed or present with challenging behaviour.
• To use available resources & protected spaces to support own wellbeing.

• To have the ability to work within an environment that may expose individuals to verbal & physical abuse.

Desirable

• Post graduate training specific to mental health
• Qualifications/training in specialist skills eg. therapeutic/sensory interventions
• Practice placement educators course

Essential

• Post qualification experience working in mental health services
• Experience in participating in audit / research projects
• Experience in developing service activities
• Experience in using a range of standardised OT assessments
• Experience of effective partnership working, with external providers, in promoting socially inclusive opportunities for service users.
• Experience in completing Risk Assessment Tools

Essential

• Ability to deal with sensitivities and complexities, using interpersonal skills
• Excellent communication skills i.e. written, verbal, listening and proficient use of up to date systems of communication i.e. IT systems, e-mail, fax, telephone etc.
• Knowledge of personal recovery principles and their application to service delivery
• Clear concept of Occupational Therapy and models of practice
• Ability to work autonomously, on own initiative and under pressure to meet deadlines; & to make and action decisions independently within agreed time frames
• Ability to regularly identify and undertake appropriate learning and development opportunities as part of ongoing CPD
• Ability to determine the impact of mental and physical conditions on a service user's functional ability and undertake assessment/make recommendations with regards to the provision of equipment/aids and adaptations