First Contact Occupational Therapist

Key Responsibilities Clinical Practice Assess, plan, implement, and evaluate treatment plans, with an aim to to ensure people can cope at home, including support for carers. Use of frailty indexes to identify people needing a proactive approach. Rapid crisis response to prevent hospital admission or to speed discharge. Short term rehabilitation interventions and referral onto specialist services if indicated. Work with patients through a shared-decision making approach to plan realistic, outcomes-focused goals. Undertake both verbal and non-verbal communication methods to address the needs of patients that have communication difficulties. Work in partnership with multi-disciplinary team colleagues, physiotherapists and social workers, alongside the patients' families and carers in treatment planning to aid rehabilitation. Evidence, Research, and Development Implement all aspects of effective clinical governance for your own practice, including undertaking regular audit and evaluation,
supervision, and training in line with HEEs Roadmap to Practice. Liaise with PCN multi-disciplinary team, community and secondary care staff, to arrange further investigations and onward referrals. Communicate outcomes and integrate findings into their own and wider service practice and pathway development. Where appropriate, support the development of discharge and contingency plans with relevant professionals to arrange on-going care in residential, care home, hospital, and community settings. As required, advise on home and workplace environmental alterations, such as adjustments for wheelchair access, technological needs, and ergonomic support. Develop best-in-class Occupational Therapy Standard Operating Procedures for appropriate onward referral pathways and care pathways noting local variances. Leadership Provide leadership and support on occupational therapy clinical service development across your PCN, alongside learning opportunities for the whole multi-disciplinary team within
primary care. Lead the development of crisis and contingency plans with relevant professionals to prevent admission to or speed discharge from hospital. This should focus on maximising and maintaining independence in preferred home, work, and community settings. Lead on the development, implementation, and evaluation of a seamless occupational therapy service across primary care. This will include working with health, social care and voluntary sectors, improving standards of patient care and cross boundary working. Lead and manage service delivery by supporting Primary Care Physio in evidencing what best practice looks like and extending our service reach across England. Liaise with the Royal College of Occupational Therapists to support implementation of best practice, and act as a thought leader for OTs working in primary care. Facilitating learning Facilitate and co-create interprofessional learning about occupational needs and interventions for primary care staff, to enhance local
decision making. Demonstrate high standards of personal and professional development, actively participating in mentoring and supervision to develop and share learning with colleagues. Promote the use of peer review and best practice at work, alerting other team members to issues of inequality and risk. Contribute to and co-create relevant audit processes, implementing ongoing service changes to better meet local population needs. Be a point of contact for your Primary Care Physio colleagues to answer clinical queires as and when they present, including delivering in-house in service training to the wider PCP clinical team(s).