Occupational Therapist

Job responsibilities

To take responsibility for all aspects of service delivery, including providing leadership to Occupational Therapy/support staff, providing cover for staff who are absent and deputising in the team leads absence.

Deputising in the absence of the Registered manager/Team Lead can include operational/leadership duties such as supporting triage, waiting list management, attending meetings and delegation of work to Occupational Therapist/support staff.

To take a flexible approach to supporting colleagues in times of caseload pressure, including working with colleagues to maintain clinical cover across the team within the resources available.

To co-ordinate the day-to-day activities of Occupational Therapist/support staff and admin staff where applicable.

To regularly supervise and line manage both workload and caseload of Occupational Therapist/support staff, undertaking and recording line management meetings and appraisals, supporting the attainment of competencies, knowledge and achieving objectives set out in their personal development plan.

To take responsibility and assist the team lead with the recruitment process of Occupational Therapy/support staff e.g. taking part in interview panels, induction process and engaging with preceptorship programmes.

To support Occupational Therapist/support staff and other Livewell SW health and social care professionals, to develop their knowledge, experience, providing advice, guidance, and signposting where appropriate.

To regularly provide learning opportunities to Occupational Therapy staff and colleagues. This includes facilitating and providing instruction, training to supporting their development, attainment of skills, and ability to reflect on professional and ethical issues.

To attend student educator training and regularly supervise OT students on practice placement, in line with Livewell SWs Placement Guidance for Non-Medical Undergraduate Learners and Students policy.

To support colleagues as a practice supervisor or supporting those completing the Preceptorship programme, including acting as a Preceptor in line with Livewell SWs Preceptorship Guidance document.

To participate in providing instruction, learning opportunities, experience and training to health and social care staff and students, including those from other Livewell services, professional disciplines and colleagues as agreed with Team Lead.

To plan, organise and lead when delegated, both formal and informal interventions and health education groups for both service users and formal/informal carers.

To educate service users and both formal/informal carers regarding the impact of cognitive, perceptual, and physical deficits that affect service user safety and independence in the hospital and home, leisure, and workplace.

To support team lead with complaint management and responses, assisting with addressing and resolving complaints.

On the rare occasion you may handle service users valuables as part of a home visit or community assessment, that you follow Livewell SWs policy Cash & Cheque Handling Procedures, section 6 Patient Money, section 7 Patient Travel

To assess, prescribe and authorise both general and specialist aids and adaptive equipment in line with the organisations and the Community Equipment Services policy and procedures.

To make recommendations for minor adaptations to increase / enable or compensate for independent function, teaching compensatory techniques as required.

To assess seating and positioning needs and treat as appropriate including assessment for and prescription of standard wheelchairs and accessories when accredited referring on to the wheelchair services as required for assessment of complex and specialist mobility and seating needs.

To assess for splinting and positioning to prevent, treat and manage deformity and improve function for the upper limb, fabricating splints which may be complex in nature.

To ensure all equipment and relevant clinical stock is accounted for, maintained, used effectively and efficiently with risk assessments and appropriate training completed.

To ensure new or replacement equipment is not used by self or staff until it has been commissioned in accordance with Livewell SW policy. Defective equipment is reported and made safe without delay in accordance with Livewell SW procedures.

To utilise Livewell SW resources responsibly, following policy and guidance around the security, useability, decontamination, and maintenance of assessment equipment utilised in the clinical setting.

Authorise spend on services within operational and financial limits as designated by role and banding.

To take responsibility for ensuring solutions are at all times cost effective and to work within financial delegated limits.

To have a working knowledge of statutory and non-statutory funding and the legislation/guidance that underpins these funding streams, ensuring service users meet the eligibility criteria when advocating for/ utilising services on the service users behalf (e.g. Care Act eligibility, Housing legislation etc)

To assess the need for short/long term care placements or care packages for service users where required; factoring in the use of equipment, optimised care techniques or compensatory methods that safely meet the service users care needs whilst aiming to preserve health and social care budgets wherever possible.

To maintain high professional standards and conduct at all times, complying with the standards of practice stipulated in the Royal ...