Senior Occupational Therapist - Orthopaedics & Surgery

Go back Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Senior Occupational Therapist - Orthopaedics & Surgery

The closing date is 27 January 2026

Would you like to work in a dynamic Occupational Therapy service with exciting career development opportunities and the added benefit of being in the vibrant and diverse town of Luton and surrounding areas?

A fantastic opportunity has arisen for a dedicated and self-motivated Band 6 Occupational Therapist to join our friendly and innovative orthopaedic and surgical team within the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The role will be permanent and is a full-time position (37.5 hours per week). You will have the chance to work across our major ward areas which are comprised of Neck of femur (NOF) & local trauma, elective orthopaedics, colorectal, medicine and Head & Neck wards.

You will be responsible for providing a high standard of assessment, advice, treatment and evaluation of patients referred to the acute inpatient service. This includes patients with diverse presentations and complex physical and psychological conditions.

Our trust highly respects and values the importance of occupational therapists in the healthcare industry. As a result, we invest time in your training and development which includes access to:

• Head & neck (Tracheostomy care training)
• Team In-service training
• Shadowing opportunities with specialty services (Enhanced recovery, pain team, visiting theatres to observe orthopaedic elective surgeries)

We are proactive in identifying team members training needs and supportive in accessing onsite or external training courses.

• To perform advanced occupational therapeutic assessment of patients with diverse presentations and complex physical and psychological conditions, to determine a diagnosis, formulate and deliver an appropriate, individualised treatment programme.
• To hold responsibility for own caseload and be responsible for a defined area of the service/particular patient group, working without direct supervision. Access to advice and support from a more senior therapist is available if required. Clinical work is evaluated through regular clinical supervision with a specialist occupational therapist but day-to-day clinical work is not routinely reviewed.
• To undertake all aspects of clinical duties as an autonomous practitioner.
• To plan, supervise, educate and assess the performance of occupational therapy students on placement within the wards. To work closely with the university and comply with all the standards required for the degree level qualification.
• Supported by the specialist occupational therapist, to design and undertake evidence-based audit and research projects to further own and team's clinical practice and improve service delivery with the specialist therapist. Make recommendations and occasionally implement changes to practice or service protocols, as agreed with the specialist occupational therapist.
• To deputise for the specialist occupational therapist in their absence, taking the lead role in the day-to-day operational management of the team.

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff.

As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality…