Occupational Therapist - Medical​/Vascular​/Surgery

Overview

This post holder will be an autonomous practitioner, taking a lead in coordinating and providing a highly specialist occupational therapy service to patients within medical/surgical teams.

• To provide assessment and treatment for patients with a wide range of complex physical, sensory, perceptual and cognitive problems within inpatient, community settings.
• To manage their own caseload working alongside the multidisciplinary team and other external agencies to ensure highly specialist treatment plans.
• To work collaboratively with patients, carers and with colleagues in health and social services to ensure effective service planning, policy and delivery of services to their specific patient group.
• To be the joint lead therapist for this area of service and represent the department at relevant meetings both in and outside the Trust.
• The post holder will contribute to departmental meetings and lead complex audit and regularly undertakes research activities in specialist area.
• They will be responsible for planning and delivering highly specialist training to other OTs, professionals and Patient/Carers on all aspects of sensory, perceptual, physical and functional skills.

Working with patients, family and MDT staff to identify goals as part of the overall care plan. Liaise with the multidisciplinary team, which includes dietician, speech and language therapist, physiotherapist, ward nursing staff, social workers, doctors, community OT/PT/SLT, outreach team. Attend reviews and case conferences, communicating relevant observations and information as a member of the team. Demonstrate effective written and verbal communication skills with patients and carers, team members, OT colleagues, and other external agencies e.g. Social Services, equipment stores, wheelchair service.

Use sound judgement, reasoning, communication and negotiation skills to establish a therapeutic relationship in complex and sensitive cases, managing barriers to communication. Communicate complex and sensitive information relating to medical conditions and OT process, requiring skills of training, empathy, reassurance, negotiation, and motivation e.g. patients with terminal illness, limited rehab potential. Liaise and establish effective and efficient communication networks with patients, carers and other health workers and internal/external agencies throughout the various departments within the hospital and local community.

Promote awareness of the OT role within the MDT, negotiating priorities as appropriate.

London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH) cares for the people of Brent, Ealing, Harrow and beyond. Our team of more than 8,200 clinical and support staff serve a diverse population of almost one million people. We run major acute services at:

• Northwick Park Hospital: home to one of the busiest emergency departments (A&E) in the country. The hospital provides a full range of services including the country’s top-rated hyper-acute stroke unit and one of only three hyper-acute rehabilitation units in the UK.
• St Mark's Hospital: an internationally renowned specialist centre for bowel disease.
• Ealing Hospital: a busy district general hospital providing a range of clinical services, as well as 24/7 emergency department and urgent care centre, and specialist care at Meadow House Hospice.
• Central Middlesex Hospital: our planned care site, hosting a range of surgical and outpatient services and collocated with an urgent care centre.

We are a university teaching NHS trust, in recognition of the important role we play in training clinicians of the future and bringing the benefits of research to the public.