Occupational Therapist
Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
The CQC rates us as an Outstanding organisation for Caring with an overall rating of Good
Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) offer a range of ongoing benefits to our valued workforce across the Trust. From an active health and wellbeing programme to regular recognition events, we work hard to provide varied benefits that make a difference to your work-life balance.
Would you like to work flexibly? In the NHS, we are reminded every day of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you.
Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement.
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Job overview
We have a new Community Mental Health Occupational Therapist vacancy.
We are looking for a Band 6 Occupational Therapist to join the team at South West Kent Mental Health Together and Mental Health Together Plus teams.
Community mental health services are going through a national restructuring, putting a new emphasis on delivering interventions, of which Occupational Therapy is identified as a key part. We have an established team of OTs and are looking to maintain and develop our current interventions in the new Mental Health Together and Together + services.
The role would include completing OT assessments and interventions. The intervention may be completed by the successful candidate, or by OT apprentices, support workers or junior team members under supervision.
We are also increasing our offer of group work looking at supporting complex service users to develop skills for daily living, and others to develop and strategies to manage their mental health recovery.
As well as OT activity the candidate will be involved in delivering core team functions such as trusted assessments, urgent assessment and risk management and management of clinical pathways delivered by the service, working with a large and varied MDT.
Training and support would be offered to support the candidate with areas of working that are unfamiliar.
This post would suit an experienced band 6 looking to develop new skills.
Advert
Support the delivery of high quality mental health services to service users experiencing a variety of mental health difficulties.
Provide high quality and evidence based occupational therapy assessments and interventions, both group and individual, to people who access services and their carers/supporters/family members, in line with the occupational therapy pathways.
Communicate effectively with people who access services, carers, the multi-disciplinary team and when appropriate, outside agencies.
Contribute to the generic functioning of the team.
Provide supervision and mentoring to more junior Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Apprentices and Support Workers.
Provide occupational therapy student placements.
Contribute to service development and audit.
Working for our organisation
Come and work with us in the Garden of England where we combine exceptional professional development opportunities with a tremendous quality of life.
We are Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), providing mental health, learning disability and specialist services, serving 1.8 million people in Kent and Medway, as well as specialist services for adults in Sussex and Surrey. We are rated Good overall by the CQC.
Each year we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 people in the community.
We are proud to employ over 3,800 people from 66 nationalities, and to serve an increasingly diverse range of communities across rural and urban areas.
You will be joining friendly, passionate colleagues, rich in their diversity, who are committed to providing excellent care to our service users and their loved ones.
The nature of our work attracts kindness and compassion as standard and everyone from our cleaners and porters to the chief executive and chairman are recognised as playing a vital role in providing an exemplary service.
Our strategy
Our mission is what we set out to do every day
We deliver brilliant care through brilliant people
Our vision is where we want to be in the future
To provide outstanding care and to work in partnership to deliver this in the right place, for every service user, every time.
Check out our recruitment videos Recruitment - YouTube
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Our clinical pathways focus on interventions for people with complex mental health difficulties including personality disorders and interventions for people with enduring conditions. This is supported by our Allied Health Professions Strategy focused on enabling independence, transforming transitions, and influencing health and well-being in order to help individuals rebuild their lives.
The care pathways will be delivered by various professionals, and it has been recognised that occupational therapists play a key part in this process. Interventions delivered include a range of occupational therapy groups and individual occupational therapy assessment and treatment.
We have developed groups to support those develop skills and techniques in managing their emotions, others facilitating the development of life skills and to improve ADLs as well as supporting people to look past their diagnosis and reflect on their recovery journey and set goals to work towards their future aspirations. In addition to this, there has been a focus on occupational therapists joint working with support workers to facilitate transitions into other local services.
As well as delivering one-to-one OT interventions there are opportunities to develop a range of skills and deliver focussed interventions to individuals
The post holder will also be involved in the delivery of Trusted assessments and supporting the wider team with management and delivery of care through different pathways, including complex case management, Complex Emotional Difficulties, Urgent and Recovery Pathways.
The post holder must hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car/vehicle to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).
Please see the attached job description for full details.
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KMPT Staff Benefits:
NHS pension scheme
Your employer pays 23.7% towards your pension and life assurance benefits.
For more details, please see http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Pensions.aspx.
Annual leave for Agenda for Change
On appointment to NHS: 27 days for full-time staff, or pro rata if part-time.
After 5 years of NHS service: 29 days for full-time staff, or pro rata if part-time.
After 10 years of NHS service: 33 days for full-time staff, or pro rata if part-time.
Plus bank holidays, this adds up to as many as 41 days—more than 8 weeks of paid time off!
Medical staff have national Terms and Conditions. The option to buy and sell annual leave is also available as part of our flexible approach to staff benefits.
Recommend a friend campaign
If you already work for us, you can refer a friend from outside of the Trust to any of the roles below and receive £1000 if they are successfully recruited: Nursing staff (RMN, RGN, RNLD) at Band 5 and 6, Medical Doctors, Clinical Psychologists, and Allied Health Professionals.
Flexible working
This covers job shares, term-time working, flexible shifts, and more. Just ask and we will try to help.
Statutory and occupational maternity, paternity or adoption leave
This is dependent on the length of your NHS service.
Other paid/unpaid leave
This can be for Jury Service, Reserved Armed Forces, etc., and is paid outside of annual leave.
Non-paid leave is available for career breaks.
Staff Support
KMPT offers a face-to-face counselling service for any issues, not just work-related problems.
NHS discounts and shopping vouchers
Staff can sign up for Red Guava, PS discounts, and Health Service Discounts to receive a variety of savings on travel, fashion, technology, mobile phone contracts, food and drink, days out, and more.
Learning and Development opportunities
In addition to the mandatory subjects, there are a number of leadership, management, and staff topic areas, including coaching and mentoring.
Induction
KMPT is committed to supporting all new staff with a comprehensive Induction programme. The programme's duration depends on your role and can range from 2 days to 4 weeks (not always consecutive days).
The programme provides an excellent opportunity for new staff to meet and engage with KMPT’s subject specialists and includes all required training.
The programme may involve some travel to various training venues across Kent and Medway, with the main ones being Canterbury, Maidstone, and Dartford.
New starter bonus
To recognize the value of our nurses and the skills they bring, we offer a New Hire Bonus of £1200 pro rata for Band 5 and 6 nursing staff.
Staff Network Forums
A variety of staff network forums are available to empower, support, and encourage network members and allies, reflecting KMPT values and promoting equality and diversity.
Lease car scheme, Cycle to Work Scheme, the list goes on!
Important Information:
In cases where we receive a high volume of applications for a post, it may be necessary to bring the closing date forward. Please submit your completed application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
Due to the high volume of applications received, it is not possible to respond individually to your application. Should you not hear from us within six weeks of the vacancy closing, please assume that your application has not been successful.
Probation Period. New employees external to Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust are subject to a six-month probationary period.
To deliver an effective service it is essential in some of our roles that you are able to travel between work bases in a timely manner.
Production of false or forged documents/qualifications in order to obtain employment is a criminal offence and will be reported to the Police.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check.
Certain roles are subject to criminal record checks called Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. Therefore, you will be required to submit a completed Disclosure form to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
KMPT are signed up to NHS England's Sexual Safety in Health Care Organisational Charter
KMPT takes a systematic zero-tolerance approach to tackle any unwanted, inappropriate and/or harmful sexual behaviours within the workplace and in our care provision. We are committed to sexual safety which encompasses prevention, support and decisive action against perpetrators. We are committed to keeping you and our patients safe.
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