Job Description

Advanced Occupational Therapist

Job summary

We have an exciting opportunity for an Advanced Occupational Therapist at Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust to join the Medicine department at Princess Alexandra Hospital. You will be responsible for delivering a high-quality, specialist Occupational Therapy service to a complex caseload of medical and neurology patients, including those on acute medical wards such as cardiology and respiratory, as well as supporting patients across the hospital with neurological conditions. You will manage complex cases using advanced clinical reasoning, critical thinking, and reflective practice to carry out comprehensive assessments and interventions. In addition, you will provide leadership to a designated team of occupational therapists, supporting junior staff, technical instructors, and therapy assistants through supervision and performance management, while also guiding colleagues in the management of complex clinical cases.

Main duties of the job

As an Advanced Occupational Therapist, you will be responsible for leading clinical developments within occupational therapy and neurology, contributing to Trust-wide projects and service improvements. You will manage and support your ongoing professional development, ensuring alignment with current best practice while contributing to the wider occupational therapy evidence base. You will also support and educate occupational therapy students during practice placements. In addition, you will assist in the operational management of the service, working closely with the deputy therapy manager and therapy manager to maintain effective and high-quality service delivery.

About us

Here at NHS Professionals, we run England's largest NHS staff bank and are experts at putting people in places to care. Every year we help thousands of dedicated and highly skilled NHS workers enjoy better career opportunities, more flexible shifts, and a healthier work-life balance across our partnered Trusts.

Career Progression access to Learning & Development opportunities, so that you can take on new roles and challenges

Work-life Balance flexible shifts, committed shifts, wellbeing resources and build paid annual leave

Opportunity & Access over 50 partner NHS Trusts to give you the flexibility of choice to work how and where you want

Job description

Job responsibilities

• To contribute to service resilience and continuity of care across acute medical and neurology pathways by adapting priorities in response to fluctuating clinical demands and service pressures within a fast-paced hospital environment.
• To provide expert input into multidisciplinary discussions and decision-making forums, ensuring occupational therapy considerations are effectively represented in complex care planning and discharge pathways.
• To contribute to the development, review, and implementation of clinical guidelines, pathways, and operational procedures supporting safe, effective, and evidence-informed occupational therapy practice.
• To actively participate in governance processes including incident reporting, risk management discussions, and service evaluation activities to support continuous improvement and patient safety standards.
• To maintain accurate, timely, and high-quality clinical documentation and digital records across multiple systems, ensuring compliance with Trust policies, legal frameworks, and audit requirements.
• To support cross-service collaboration by liaising with external healthcare providers and community services to promote seamless transitions and continuity of patient care beyond hospital discharge.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• HCPC registered Occupational Therapist (or equivalent).
• Experience in acute NHS medical wards.
• Competent in moving & handling, BLS, and SystmOne.
• Able to work autonomously with good clinical judgement.
• Previous team lead/managerial experience.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

NHS Professionals Limited

Address

Princess Alexandra Hospital

Hamstel Road

Harlow

Essex

CM20 1QX

United Kingdom