Children's Occupational Therapist (South)

Job overview

This post is based in South Devon, close to the stunning coastline, Dartmoor and beautiful South Hams region.  Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD) are developing an innovative, integrated model of children’s community services and looking for enthusiastic individuals to join our dedicated locality and county-wide professional teams.

The role allows for close joint working with both with other Occupational Therapists’ and with the wider multi-disciplinary team. Within our Physical and sensory Pathway team there are opportunities for close joint working with physiotherapists and speech and language therapists. We are an innovative, dedicated and friendly service with both development and CPD opportunities.

We are excited to be able to offer this new post for an Occupational Therapist Band 5 to be based within the South locality (Torbay and Dartington base). Regular robust supervision processes are in place, as well as a band 5 support group and informal support from the team. The caseload will be with 0-18 year olds with a variety of conditions. You will be expected to have core Occupational therapy skills, and some experience working with children and families. With relevant support, the successful applicant will hold a varied caseload, working across the different environments such as home, schools and clinics.

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• Deliver occupational therapy advice and interventions to a client group of children and young people experiencing a range of difficulties in completing activities for daily living
• To carry a clinical caseload, and provide assessment, and interventions within a designated geographical area, within own level of competence and capability
• Part of the role will include statutory assessment and intervention for the local authority such as specialist equipment and environmental adaptations
• Using a strength-based approach; ensure clinical effectiveness through the use of evidence-based interventions, goal-based, collaborative practice and routine outcome measures
• Support the delivery of training and group work to service users, parents and colleagues in the wider workforce as part of a team
• Participate in the provision of student placements as appropriate according to skills and experience
• To promote and support participation of service users across the service

For newly qualified practitioners: -

• Work under designated supervisor, who will be a senior member of staff, to provide assessment, diagnosis and treatment for a caseload within capability and competency
• Have a named mentor who will provide regular support throughout the probationary year
• Expect to achieve autonomy by the end of the first year

Working for our organisation

Children and Family Health Devon is a system-wide service that delivers an integrated, coordinated support model which wraps around the child, young person and family.  It has been specifically designed to respond to all elements of the commissioner’s strategy and specification along with the vision and strategic direction of the Integrated Care System for Devon.  It builds on our strong relationships across education, health, social care and voluntary sector services in Devon, and, most importantly, it has been developed and refined in partnership with children, young people and their families/carers.

Our Children and Young People say… 

“We would like the people who work for Children and Family Health Devon to be understanding, patient and respectful. They should be trustworthy and make us feel safe and comfortable. It is important that they use their skills and experience to listen carefully in a non-patronising and non-judgemental way. When staff are positive and friendly, they help to create an environment that is informal and without pressure”.

Why work with us

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the job description for more details regarding the post.

Communication and Working Relationships

· To communicate complex condition-related information from assessment to children/young people and families, carers and members of the multidisciplinary team/other professions in a way that is accessible and easily understood. This will include facilitating strategies for people with communication disorders where barriers to understanding may exist

· To demonstrate empathy with children/young people and families, carers and colleagues, ensuring that effective communication is achieved, particularly where barriers to communication exist, or sensitive issues are being dealt with. Children/young people and families and carers will frequently have difficulty accepting the information provided

· To develop and demonstrate negotiation skills in the management of conflict across a range of situations e.g. differences in professional opinion, differing views within families, with the support from colleagues as needed

· To form productive relationships with others who may be under stress and/or have challenging communication difficulties

· To employ good presentation skills to promote multi-disciplinary and interagency liaison and collaborative practice to a broad range of audiences including other professionals and users

· To write reports reflecting knowledge of children that can be accessible to both lay and professional people

· To contribute to clinical pathways both multi and uni-professional by discussing own and others input around children/young people and families’ needs, ensuring a well-coordinated care plan

· To deal with initial complaints sensitively, avoiding escalation where possible

· To demonstrate good negotiation skills across a range of issues · To be empathetic and reassuring in all communications

Analytical and Judgement Skills

· To demonstrate developing knowledge across a range of therapeutic interventions

· To reflect on auditory, visual and kinaesthetic aspects of a children/young person’s communication and to identify appropriate strategies to facilitate and enhance communicative effectiveness

· To use knowledge and experience to inform sound clinical judgement/decision making for case management

· To integrate evidence from a variety of sources to make a differential diagnosis, seeking advice as appropriate

· To demonstrate the ability to reflect on practice with peers and mentors and identify own strengths and development needs

Planning and Organisation Skills

· To manage and prioritise own caseload/workload with support as required.

· To be responsible for organising and planning own caseload to meet service and children/young people and family’s priorities. Readjusting plans as situations change/arise

· To plan and organise intervention programmes continually monitoring them where appropriate

Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment and Therapy

· To ensure care plans are written in an understandable format for the child/young person and their family/carer

· To provide appropriate intervention including 1:1/group therapy, parent- based interventions and consultancy/coaching mentoring to home/education or other community setting and evaluate outcomes

· To demonstrate clinical effectiveness by use of evidence-based practice and outcome measures

· To provide a range of brief/light touch interventions across the clinical pathways such as positive behaviour support, sleep or feeding

· To ensure that all documentation and records are kept safe to ensure confidentiality, as per the Royal College of Occupational Therapy and HCPC standards

· To promote self-advocacy and to act as an advocate for children/young people and their families

· To always consider safeguarding and child protection issues, following relevant policies and procedures and receiving safeguarding supervision as required

· To produce reports on children/young people in a timely manner, that convey the key findings of assessment and formulation and treatment outcome in a way that is understandable to the recipients of the reports, including children/young people and their families and referrers

Responsibility for Policy and Service Development Implementation

· To provide children/young people with the opportunity to express their views in an age appropriate way, to have their opinions taken into account and to be able to influence the shaping of services

· To assist in the implementation of local and national policies and procedures affecting the development of services for children/young people

· To follow their Employer’s policies, procedures and guidance as well as professional standards and guidelines

Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources

· To work to the financial policies and procedures as laid down by the Employer

· The post holder will take appropriate care of equipment entrusted to them for use

· The post holder is responsible for maintaining a clear desk policy and protecting all confidential information in accordance with the organisations policies and procedures

· The post holder will be required to act responsibly in terms of providing best value practice and protecting service resources

· To take responsibility for any specific materials you are required to use, maintaining their general standard and ensuring that adequate supplies are maintained

· Ensure all equipment used is maintained to the required standard to ensure children/young people and families and staff safety

· Maintain stock control, ordering supplies in a timely manner through the agreed process

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

· Support the delivery of a range of training opportunities, as appropriate using a broad range of technology to develop and deliver

· Supervise the work of occupational therapy clinical support workers or integrated therapy assistants where necessary.

· Access clinical supervision at the frequency determined by the organisation

· To demonstrate the developing ability to target training (formal and informal) appropriately to the needs of course participants, reflecting and evaluating training provided

· To participate in the organisation’s appraisal process

Responsibility for Information Resources and Administrative Duties

· To be responsible for accurate and timely inputting of data into relevant data collection system to ensure workload is accurately reflected

· To be responsible for the inputting of accurate and contemporaneous case notes on the relevant clinical systems in line with professional and organisational standards

· To have a sound knowledge of IT

· To be computer literate

· To ensure all Employer’s policies, procedures and guidelines are followed  To complete all statutory and mandatory training as required by the Employer

· To identify and manage risks through incident reporting when appropriate · To take part in activities designed to improve service delivery or quality of care such as staff surveys, participation and service development

Responsibility for Research and Development

· Participates in clinical audit

Freedom to Act

· To be responsible for undertaking a range of formal and informal occupational assessments and negotiating functional goals with parents and educational staff; providing demonstrations to enable successful implementation of programmes within various settings and home

· To use routine outcome measures and a goals-based approach, collaboratively with service users, in ways that inform treatment and clinical care

· To work closely with children/young people and families and carers agreeing decision making relevant to the children/young people and families management

· To co-produce clear care plans based on best practice with children/young people and their families/carers

Please also contact us to discuss the position or if you would like to visit us.