Job overview

BAND 7 CLINICAL SPECIALIST OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST - RHEUMATOLOGY SERVICE

Substantive | 30 hours per week

Come and join our forward thinking, committed and driven Integrated Therapies and Dietetics Department who constantly put patient care and your professional and personal development to the forefront.  We are looking for a positive, proactive clinician with specialist skills in the field of Rheumatology to help us build a strong future for therapy and increase the profile of Occupational Therapy within this specialism.  You will have your own outpatient clinical caseload, providing advanced specialist assessments and interventions to a range of patients with rheumatological conditions.  You will also provide clinical supervision to students as well as assist in their training and development.  You will play an integral role in service development and work closely with Professional Leads for Occupational Therapy to promote and improve the service.  We are an integrated department inclusive of occupational therapists, physiotherapists, dietitians and assistants and have positive relationships between the different disciplines and teams.  Our core hours are 8.00am-4.00pm but we can be flexible.  Onsite parking/car shares are available, and a driving licence is essential.

Main duties of the job

As a Band 7 Occupational Therapist, you will be responsible for your own complex caseload consisting of outpatients with a range of rheumatological conditions.  Good prioritisation, organisational and time management skills will be needed to balance clinical and non-clinical duties.  You will be responsible for ensuring the use of advanced effective assessment skills to identify appropriate patients and to formulate, implement and evaluate individualised treatment and rehabilitation plans, some of which will be specialist in nature, based on expert analytical and clinical reasoning skills.  You will need advanced communication skills to ensure a successful multidisciplinary approach to patient care and will be in regular discussions with patients, carers, JPUH colleagues, and community partners on therapy plans.  You will be responsible for other non-clinical duties such as training/supervision of students, department in-service training and training for other professionals.  You will be key to being actively involved in the measurement and evaluation of your work and current practices through the use of evidence-based practice projects, audit and outcome measures.  Through this being able to make recommendations for and assist with change.

Working for our organisation

The James Paget is a vibrant university hospital providing the best possible care to the people of east Norfolk and north Suffolk.  Situated on the coast with beautiful beaches and the Broads National Park on the doorstep we are within commuting distance of Norwich City.  Our links with the Research Department is growing with joint projects being worked on.  Our therapists represent the Trust at CSP, RCOT, BOA and BGS conferences.  Personal and professional development is key.  We are developing our research and innovation strategy in line with the national AHP Strategy.  We will support you in achieving your career goals through our well-structured supervision and appraisal system, actively encouraging utilisation of training courses (clinical, non-clinical and leadership skills) with use of CPD funding.  You will be supported to provide education to your team but also to our wider workforce.  We also support development of our future workforce through our close links with the University of East Anglia, Suffolk College and City College Norwich providing teaching and placements to apprentices, under and postgraduates.