Job overview

We are excited to recruit to our new Experts at Hand team, supporting the local delivery of national SEND reforms.

The Department for Education's Experts at Hand initiative brings speech and language therapists and occupational therapists into mainstream schools and colleges to provide early SEND support.

We are seeking a Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist to help develop the service, building on learning from national pathfinder and local projects. The role focuses on supporting children and young people with occupational needs to improve participation, independence and wellbeing within mainstream education settings.

As a leader within the Experts at Hand team, you will be responsible for delivering Occupational Therapy services in line with programme guidance. Working with education settings, you will support universal, targeted and targeted-plus interventions through whole-setting approaches, consultation, workforce development, group work and early intervention.

There will also be opportunities to work within the core Occupational Therapy service to maintain and develop wider clinical skills.

You will join a supportive multidisciplinary team committed to delivering high-quality care. We offer supervision, peer support and access to in-house and external CPD opportunities to support your clinical and career development.

Main duties of the job

 Your leadership expertise will be essential in guiding the local system response in the continued shift toward preventative support.

Your experience of evidence based inclusive approaches that build staff confidence and capability through to targeted support for children and young people with emerging needs to help prevent escalation, will influence system decision making and impact the accessibility of appropriate support.

Your skills in research and innovation will ensure continuous improvement in delivering services.

You will join a team of occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists who work collaboratively and are committed to delivering NHS values and providing compassionate support to children and young people, parents, and one another.

• To be part of the OT  leadership team; implementing, developing, and evaluating the programme in line with the agreed service specifications.
• To provide clinical leadership for the programme for children with Universal and Targeted  Needs. 
• To work in close partnership with other professionals and organisations to deliver a public health model of care, making a significant contribution to improving health, social and education outcomes, and reducing inequalities in access to services.
• To be responsible for issues relating to clinical and best practice in early years and schools, together with the OT leadership 

Working for our organisation

Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust provides community-based health services for adults and children in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, and some services in surrounding areas too. These range from district nursing, health visiting and running four community hospitals through to providing very specialist community care through talented and dedicated staff.

Patients, carers and the public play a vital role in helping us to develop and improve our services and we are constantly looking for ways to work with local communities, patients and the public to innovate and improve. Have a look at the Have Your Say section of our website to find out how you can feed back your experiences and help us to continually improve.

Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust is an exciting place to work. It offers a wide range of employment opportunities for many people.

Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust positively encourages applications from all areas of the community, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs. We are committed to ensuring people who work for the community trust have a good working life - and a good work life/home life balance.