Job summary We have a rare opportunity to recruit an occupational therapy assistant to join our team in the Mental Health Unit with Chorley Hospital.
The successful candidate will work within the OT service alongside a strong multidisciplinary team helping people with acute mental health issues to achieve a successful and timely discharge from hospital.
We are looking for someone with a compassionate nature who can communicate successfully with people who have different abilities and presentations.
They will be a team-player who can undertake some duties independently and at times act upon their own initiative.
Knowledge of social inclusion would be an advantage alongside being able to work to effectively and have excellent workload management skills.
Experience of leading groups and working individually with people and using activity to help promote independence would also be a desirable ability.The occupational therapy team consists of qualified occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants and health and wellbeing workers all of who focus on enabling patients to achieve optimum independence as part of recovering their ordinary lives.
The senior staff offer regular clinical, professional and line management supervision as well as opportunities to attend internal and external training.
The successful candidate will be working with a friendly team in a brand new clinical environment and have access to good facilities and support from managers.
Main duties of the job Occupational therapy aims to improve health and wellbeing through enabling participation in occupation (the activities, roles and routines of everyday life).
Occupational therapists recognise that engagement in meaningful occupation can promote good mental health, assist recovery and help people achieve personalised outcomes such as being able to care for themselves, engage in work and leisure activities, and participate within the community.Timely occupational therapy (assessment and) interventions can: prevent unnecessary hospital admissions; improve wellbeing and patient experience; facilitate early discharge; enable recovery and social inclusion; help people achieve personalised goals; and support adults of working age to retain their jobs or obtain employment.Working directly with service users for at least 70% of the time, this post holder will support occupational therapists to achieve this aim through supporting the assessment and analyse of strengths and needs, providing interventions, reporting on progress, and supporting service users to care to achieve their personal goals and aspirations.Service requirements may involve some flexibility of work hours and the post holder is expected to respond to service user need relating to this.
About us Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area.
Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care.The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area.For more information please visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT. Job description Job responsibilities Please see Job Description and Person Specification attached to this vacancy for the full responsibilities of this role Person Specification Qualifications Essential GCSE/level 5 or above in English and Maths or equivalent.
Qualification in health or care oNVQ LEVEL 4 oTraining to Diploma or foundation level Assistant practitioner qualification Evidence of continued professional development Ability to undertake PAS training Knowledge Essential Ability to demonstrate understanding of Occupational Therapy Ability to demonstrate understanding of the client group with which the post holder will work Mental health difficulties, Ability to demonstrate understanding of the importance of being able to do the things, they want or need to do to people's mental well being Ability to demonstrate understanding of the concepts of recovery Desirable Research approaches including audit cycle, basic statistics, qualitative data Experience Essential Previous experience of working in a support worker role with people who experience mental health difficulties with an understanding of the roles of other professions within the multi-disciplinary team Experience of working with people with a broad range of Mental Health conditions and people who have cognitive, physical, learning disability or challenging behaviour.
Previous experience working in therapy/care settings inpatient settings or social services agency/department Experience of working without direct supervision, including monitoring and reviewing the person's progress Demonstratable expWorking with people to facilitate learning of skills or gaining of independenceerience of record keeping Skills Essential Demonstrate skills in motivating service users using activity.
Professional and respectful to other members of the MDT.
Able to adapt and grade activities and tasks to support service users independence and confidence within a pre agreed framework.
Able to manage own caseloadAbility to work with people of all ages and adapt/develop physical health programmes that reflect physical abilities and interests.. Work with a degree of autonomy as part of a team, managing delegated activities, accepting accountability and responsibility for own actions Other Essential Able to work in a changing environment.
Ability to travel independently and in a timely manner where required to meet the requirements of the role.