Head of Therapies​/Lead Occupational Therapist

Come and join one of the UK's largest providers of complex care. We proudly employ over 4,000 people – no matter what your experience, we have jobs for everyone.

Are you an experienced and dynamic healthcare professional looking to take the next step in your leadership career? We have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Therapies / Lead Occupational Therapist (Band 8c equivalent) at Blackheath Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre, where you will play a pivotal role in shaping, leading, and delivering high‑quality therapy services for individuals with complex neurological conditions.

At Blackheath, every day is about rebuilding lives and creating success stories. We specialise in patient‑centred rehabilitation for people with acquired brain injury and complex neurological conditions, and we’re seeking an ambitious, motivated professional to lead our therapy services with passion and purpose.

If you’re ready to take on a rewarding leadership role that blends strategic influence with hands‑on clinical impact, we’d love to hear from you.

Please note – this advert will close once we have received a sufficient number of applications.

Our standard working hours are 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday. We encourage a positive work‑life balance and will accommodate flexibility when requested.

• Lead with purpose: provide strategic and professional leadership for all Therapy Services, reporting directly to the Hospital Director.
• Be accountable for all Allied Health Professional therapists and Therapy Support Staff.
• Directly manage the Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, and Speech & Language Therapy teams.
• Deputise for the Hospital Director when required.
• Lead therapy delivery across our complex neurorehabilitation environment, including our Level 1C neurobehavioural unit and Level 2a complex disability management unit.

• Hold a small but meaningful clinical caseload focused on complex neurological and neurobehavioural needs.
• Champion evidence‑based practice, clinical governance, audit, and risk management.
• Ensure therapy services consistently meet agreed standards of safety, quality, activity, and efficiency.
• Ensure proficient use of UKROC‑related outcome measures to inform reporting, planning, and service development.
• Work in line with BSPRM guidelines for complex neurodisability management.

• Lead on service development, innovation, and new ways of working to maximise clinical and cost‑effective outcomes.
• Develop and implement therapy standards that support professional competence, capacity, and conduct.
• Take a proactive role in audit, research, policy development, and continuous service improvement initiatives.

• Provide strong leadership within the multidisciplinary team, representing therapy services at senior management level.
• Support supervision, training, and development for therapists, assistants, and students.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and compassion.

We’re looking for more than just a skilled therapist – we’re looking for an inspirational leader ready to shape the future of our therapy services and make a lasting impact on patient care.

To thrive in this role, you will need:

• HCPC registration.
• Significant clinical experience in neurological rehabilitation, including complex neurobehavioural and neurodisability caseloads.
• Proven leadership, management, or service‑development experience.
• Strong understanding and application of UKROC outcome measures and BSPRM complex neurodisability guidelines.
• A passion for improving patient outcomes and driving excellence.
• The ability to inspire, motivate, and bring out the best in others.
• Successful candidates will be required to undergo an Enhanced DBS check.

We also want to ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable facilities to participate in job applications or interviews to perform essential job functions. To support this, we are a Disability Confident employer.

• Free lunch on duty.
• Birthday off.
• 25 days plus bank holidays.
• Join the Active Learning Hub and…