Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic, self‑motivated Occupational Therapist, with specialist experience within acute hospital inpatient medical areas, to join our dynamic integrated specialty medicine therapy team at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. The post is 37.5 hours per week.

You will provide operational and clinical leadership to the inpatient specialty medicine therapy team at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, working closely with the specialty medicine Physiotherapy Team Leads and the Therapy Service Lead in supporting and providing an efficient integrated therapy service.

The role includes clinical responsibility for providing an effective, evidence‑based service to a wide range of general medical patients. Your clinical caseload will be within the Renal, Gastro and Cardiology wards. You will be part of an enthusiastic multidisciplinary team on the inpatient wards to provide early assessment and interventions to patients, supporting and facilitating their discharge from hospital.

You will be responsible for the clinical supervision and management of both rotational and static staff, and Therapy support workers. You will also have the opportunity of supervising Therapy students.

You will be committed to improving the quality and development of our service and our team, and are actively encouraged to be involved in Quality Improvement projects.

• Deliver advanced Occupational Therapy assessment and treatment for medical patients within an acute ward setting.
• Act as a source of expertise to fellow clinicians, Trust managers, Healthcare Professionals and other services internal and external to the Trust as required.
• Manage, supervise and appraise staff and students.
• Lead in training and development of clinical practice and service.
• Undertake clinical audits and evaluation of evidence‑based practice, initiating/participating in research within specialist area.

• Identify, analyse, evaluate and problem‑solve to enable the development and delivery of individualised intervention and treatment programmes in a variety of settings.
• Provide a consultative role with relatives and staff, offering advice, recommendations, support, training and instruction as identified.
• Manage and prioritise own caseload and time; maintain appropriate records and data input.
• Provide leadership and management to the therapy team, including supervision, appraisal and development.
• Take an active part in recruitment, education of students from other disciplines, and delivery of training to multi‑disciplinary team members.
• Lead evidence‑based audit and research projects, implementing recommendations and contributing to service protocols.
• Provide highly specialist Occupational Therapy assessment and treatment for patients with complex presentations in an acute and/or community setting.
• Manage caseload, consider service delivery, patient and professional demands.
• Actively participate in the weekend rota, flexibly working to align with designated clinical area; service may require bank holidays and 7‑day working.
• Be responsible for planning and leadership of the occupational therapy service within own speciality, prioritising clinical needs.
• Ensure efficient and safe care management of medical patients as part of the multi‑disciplinary team, including risk assessments.
• Develop and implement treatment programmes, discharge planning and clinical reasoning for complex cases.
• Educate and train patients/carers/support workers in safe use of specialist equipment.
• Respond to urgent requests, expedite rapid assessment and discharge planning in acute settings.
• Support junior staff and maintain high standards of clinical expertise.
• Communicate effectively with patients, carers and colleagues, negotiating and persuading where required.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is a large acute and specialised hospital trust that provides a range of local acute services to the residents of Worcestershire and more specialised services to a larger population in Herefordshire and beyond. The Trust operates hospital‑based services from three sites in Kidderminster, Redditch, and…