Job summary
- Main area
- Occupational Therapy - forensic
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 7
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time - 22.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 455-NLFT-0735
- Employer
- North London NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- HMP Aylesbury
- Town
- Aylesbury
- Salary
- £50,008 - £56,908 Per annum pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 13/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
B7 Occupational Therapist
NHS AfC: Band 7
Thank you for your interest in the North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT). This is an exciting time to join us and be part of our journey to improve mental health care across North London and deliver excellent services to our local people. We will achieve this through the North London Way, as we:
- Collaborate at every level by living our values to create the right conditions for us all to work together.
- Develop our new Trust culture, to help make our new Trust a great place to work and to receive great care.
- Empower our teams to lead the planned improvements in our services, by skilling them and giving them the tools to make the changes.
- Focus on delivering excellence at every level to improve our performance and ensure consistently high-quality care across all our services.
- Ensure that research, quality improvement, and technology lead the way and are embedded in our services.
- Take a trauma informed approach to everything we do
We proactively welcome diversity in our workforce and pride ourselves on being an inclusive employer. We aim to recruit from our local communities and provide opportunities to all including apprenticeships, veterans, care leavers and more.
The North London Way to deliver: Better Mental Health, Better Lives, Better Communities.
Our trust website is: https://www.northlondonmentalhealth.nhs.uk/
As a values‑driven Trust, we recruit through our values. Our selection processes focus on behaviours, attitudes, and examples that reflect our organisational values and commitment to compassionate, high‑quality care.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a set of technology that can perform various tasks that typically required human intelligence. Your application is your opportunity to demonstrate to us how you meet the requirements of the role.
We recognise that AI tools can support accessibility, equity and confidence for applicants. However, it’s important that examples and responses genuinely reflect your own experience and abilities, as these will be explored further during the selection process. AI must not be used to provide misleading or false information during any stage of the application journey.
Further guidance can be found in the NLPSS Applicant Toolkit https://royalfree.pagetiger.com/cuuomnr/1.
North London NHS Foundation Trust is committed to fair and transparent recruitment and requires applicants to provide accurate information, as misleading details may affect their application or employment and may be verified in line with the Fraud Act 2006. For further information please visit https://royalfree.pagetiger.com/cuuomnr/1.
Job overview
This is an exciting opportunity to work in the HMP Aylesbury complex needs OPD service. The postholder will be working alongside an established B7 OT and OT team to lead, develop and deliver the OT service on offer to the clients.
The service is part of the North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT). To support and enhance the professional care of clients within the service, across all sectors of care. To provide occupational therapy and assessment according to needs of the client. To offer advice and consultation on clients’ OT care and well-being to non-OT colleagues. To work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team’s policies and procedures. To contribute as a member of the Pathways Service to the development of effective and appropriate services for people who are screened into the Pathways complex needs service
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be working, in a prison that is part of the Category-C prison estate with offenders presenting with a range of sentence types who present with complex needs. This includes: complex trauma, neuro-developmental issues, attachment complications, emotional dysregulation and interpersonal problems. Thus specialist skills, ‘forensic awareness’ is required of all staff working in Pathways, this including vigilance at all times on issues of safety and security, the capacity to de-escalate risk of violence, and the ability and capacity to deliver clinical input in locked, sometimes volatile, and sometimes distressing circumstances.
Working for our organisation
North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) is committed to improving mental health care across North London to deliver excellent services to our local people.
Our Five-Year Strategy:
- We will provide consistently high-quality care closer to home.
- With our partners in North London and each borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all
- We will offer great places to work, providing staff with supportive environment to deliver outstanding care.
Why NLFT?
- We develop and retain our staff through leadership behaviours and managers programme and many more opportunities.
- We promote flexible working and support staff with a range of health and wellbeing initiatives.
- NHS Discounts, generous annual leave and NHS pension scheme
- Excellent internal staff network
In order to meet the needs of the Trust you may be required from time to time to work at different locations to your normal place of work. This may mean that you are required to work at any location that fall under Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey or Islington. The Trust reserves the right to require staff to work at such other places or locations as it considers reasonable and necessary on a temporary or permanent basis.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. To be responsible for the day to day operational management of the therapy programme, ensuring the service is appropriately focused on priorities, integrated with the multi-disciplinary teams and responsive to client needs.
2. To regularly review the service, evaluating if it is responsive to need, achieves positive outcomes, is cost effective and is of value to those who use the service.
3. To assist managers of the service to plan future treatment options within the Pathways Team.
4. To work collaboratively with multi agency managers across the prison estate and the LPP to plan the continuity of services and work as a unified team for the benefit of inmates.
5. To work collaboratively with all stakeholders in the establishment to support the overall pathways of residents’ into the community where appropriate.
6. To work collaboratively with officers in the team and be responsive to the demands placed on prison staff to ensure and collaborate approach to service delivery.
7. To take a lead role for service developments within Occupational Therapy and the Pathways Team.
8. To provide joint professional leadership, supervision and guidance for staff in the team, keeping up to date regarding professional developments and guidance from the College of Occupational Therapists and cascading this information, integrating it into departmental practice.
9. To advise the appropriate managers on the day-to-day running needs of the service highlighting any unmet needs in service provision.
This is not an exhaustive list, please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification for more information on the role requirements and duties.
Person specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential criteria
- • Minimum 4 years Relevant clinical postgraduate experience in Occupational Therapy, including a minimum of 2 years experience as a senior practitioner working with people with mental health problems in particular personality disorders, challenging behaviour, depression, psychosis and dual diagnosis
Desirable criteria
- • Postgraduate training to achieve clinical expertise and specialism at Masters level or equivalent • E.g. MSc in Occupational therapy.
Experience and Knowledge
Essential criteria
- • Up to date knowledge of developments in OT, secure care, prison therapy, to inform clinical decisions, and best practice for self and for the service. • Knowledge and understanding of current government initiatives and policies that affect staff working in the field. • To include Specialist Knowledge of: • Clinical conditions and their functional implications within Forensic and Adult mental health, including personality disorders, depression, anxiety and psychosis, substance misuse, Dual Diagnosis and PTSD • The Mental Health Act and its significance for service users and impact on clinical practice • Risk issues and risk management techniques with this client group • O.T. models of practice • The evidence base for O.T. interventions with this client group used to inform best practice • Theory and models of supervision • Research and its application to forensic mental health • Audit and its implication to mental health services • Clinical Governance and National Service Framework for Mental Health and their impact on the clinical environment and practice • NICE guidelines relevant to mental health practice • Current developments/initiatives effecting O.T. practice • Directorate and Trust wide strategic plans relating to area of service • Trust policies for staff recruitment and management • Experience in Forensic and secure care occupational therapy. • Experience of working autonomously, being responsible for own practice and managing a varied workload. • Experienced lead planner and facilitator in a range of treatment sessions on a group or individual basis including: Practical based, discussion, support and psycho-educational groups. Including experience of working with clinical staff of a variety of grades to support their development of treatment skills. • Experience in the use of the Model of Human Occupation, MOHOST and other standardised assessments. • Expertise in carrying out functional assessments. • Experience of using a range of evaluation tools and outcome measures. • Experience of planning, monitoring and evaluating therapy programmes to ensure the most effective use of clinical priorities. • Experience in producing and maintaining client-centered treatment plans and instructing others in the same. • Experience of assessing and managing risk issues within OT and Mental Health and contributing to multidisciplinary teams risk assessments, care plans and the discharge process. • Experience of supervision and appraisal of junior staff. • Experience of leading educational sessions for staff and students, including clinical and managerial topics. • Experience of relating to people from a range of social and ethnic backgrounds. • Experience of being part of a multidisciplinary team.
Desirable criteria
- • Experience working with prisoners with complex needs. • Experience working in a therapy team in a prison setting. • Experience in dealing directly with finance and human resources to ensure management of the service is in line with Trust policies and procedures. • Experience of managing a staffing and non-staffing budget and ensuring the effective use of resources. • Experience of implementing service improvements. • Experience of using a range of evaluation tools and outcome measures. • Experience of negotiating and managing change. • Experience of initiating an audit. • Experience in the recruitment and selection of staff including: • writing adverts • short listing • arranging interview panels • exit interviews • writing references • Experience of co-ordinating and monitoring an on service training programme for therapy staff. • Experience of chairing and co-ordinating meetings, including agenda setting. • Experience of developing guidelines and policies. • Experience of representing Occupational Therapy in wider range of working parties, committees, project groups and strategy groups – Clinical Governance etc. • Experience of investigating serious and untoward incidents, formulating recommendations and plan relating of these.
Skills and abilities
Essential criteria
- • Effective verbal communication skills to include – presentation of information to clinical meetings, management teams and chairing meetings. • Effective personal management skills, including excellent time management and the ability to prioritise, delegate and problem solve. • Effective leadership skills. • Self-motivated and confident in working independently in a clinical and managerial capacity. • Effective written communication skills to include • clinical records and reports • reports for senior management teams • Ability to read, understand and process information quickly. • Able to establish working relationships with supervised staff and colleagues across the service. • Ability to identify clinical needs of client group and apply this knowledge in service planning and development. • Ability to apply and utilise the knowledge base for forensic mental health in service delivery. • Ability to provide clear clinical reasoning for interventions across the service. • Ability to incorporate risk assessment into service delivery. • Demonstrates professional approach and appropriate boundary keeping with staff and patients and able to instruct others on professional standards of communication. • Effective supervision skills, which include workload monitoring, clinical advice, managerial advice, personal development and performance appraisal. • Able to formally and informally teach and advice staff and students in the service on aspects of mental health and occupational therapy practice. • Ability to promote the role of OT within the multidisciplinary teams. • Able to critically appraise literature and research and use to inform own practice and service development.
Desirable criteria
- • Evidence of project management skills. • Evidence of ability to meet performance deadlines and support to ensure other meet deadlines. • Awareness of the performance targets for a prison therapy service. • Effective presentation skills including use of a variety of appropriate media: power point or structured discussion/activities. • Effective IT skills. • Team dynamics and team building skills
Personal qualities
Essential criteria
- • Commitment to work as a proactive team member • “can do attitude” • Ability to be flexible and adaptable to manage fluctuating work demands. • Empathy for people with mental health problems and passionate about service user involvement • Aware of own limitations and needs and ability to seeks advice and support appropriately • Ability to promote self and the service • Professional manner
Desirable criteria
- • Ability to promote positive image of OT • Experience with service user involvement • Experience with external network involvement
Other
Essential criteria
- • Passionate about service delivery for offenders with emerging personality disorders. • Proactive use of continuous professional development opportunities. • Service user-centered approach. • Highly motivated and able to motivate others. • Able to sustain demands of fulfilling role working with a challenging client group in a pressurised environment.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Melanie Merola
- Job title
- Strategic Clinical Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01296 444040
If you have problems applying, contact
- Address
-
Candi & Tavi
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