Job summary
- Main area
- Community Paediatrics
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 7
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time - 22.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 216-LH-DA7857602
- Employer
- University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Child Development Centre
- Town
- Plymouth
- Salary
- £47,810 - £54,710 Per Annum Pro Rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 06/04/2026 23:59
- Interview date
- 16/04/2026
Employer heading
Children’s Community Occupational Therapist
NHS AfC: Band 7
Job overview
To lead a Team Lead for Occupational Therapists working in the Plymouth Child Development Centre, covering localities of Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall.
The main role of this team is to ensure the provision of a high quality occupational therapy service for children referred to the Community Paediatric Service Line.
To carry out the assessment, treatment and management of children and young adults with diverse presentations of neurological and neurodevelopmental origin.
***Preference will be given to internal Trust staff, as well as ‘Priority’ and 'At Risk' status including NHS At Risk staff throughout Devon who are able to display recent relevant experience as dictated by the Person Specification.***
Main duties of the job
Responsible for ensuring the services provided meet the agreed specification with the support of the Therapy Lead, managing referrals, waiting lists, and complaints related to the Community Paediatric Occupational Therapy service.
To provide clinical leadership and supervision alongside the Advanced Clinical Practitioner for the Paediatric Occupational therapy team based within the Community Paediatric service, ensuring the team maintains a high
level of clinical excellence.
To carry a clinical caseload within their own discipline, providing assessment and intervention in line with services specification. To undertake all aspects of clinical duties as an autonomous practitioner.
To maintain expert knowledge relating to assessment and support for young people with an autism spectrum condition, sharing this with others both within and external to the team.
To demonstrate initiative within the team and be responsible for working with the Therapy Lead and other team leads to develop and drive forward service in line with evidence based information and required service needs.
Working for our organisation
We are a people business – where every member of staff matters and can make a difference. Patients are at the heart of everything we do. Joining University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust means becoming part of a team of dedicated staff, who are committed to leading the way through innovation, clinical excellence and great customer care. The Trust has great opportunities for career development in a highly progressive working environment. We offer all of this in a vibrant, modern city with a historic reputation for adventure. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL COMMUNICATION WILL BE ELECTRONIC, PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT REGULARLY. If you have any issues with applying online and need additional support including reasonable adjustments with the application process please contact the recruitment manager for this post who will put you in touch with the recruitment team. We recognise that work life balance is important for our colleagues and so we invite requests from applicants around less than full time/flexible working for our advertised roles. Please contact the recruiting manager to discuss this prior to your application submission. We commit to giving this full consideration in each case. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds to apply for our roles, as diversity strengthens our teams. It is sometimes necessary to close vacancies before the closing date. If you have not heard from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been shortlisted.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Clinical:
· To set a high personal standard of work, to be professionally and legally accountable for all aspects of own work, including the management of patients in your care
· To be responsible for maintaining accurate and comprehensive patient treatment records in line with Royal College of Occupational Therapy standards and local/Trust policy. To communicate appropriately with other disciplines (this might include meetings, report and letter writing).
· To carry out a high standard of occupational therapy assessment as an autonomous practitioner; to provide therapy intervention according to the child’s needs, using appropriate treatment techniques either virtually or face to face in an individual or group situation. This may involve the use of specialised observation and assessment tools.
· To develop and deliver effective and appropriate interventions for children requiring Occupational Therapy within the service; NICE guidance, Standards of Care and best practice guidance should be considered.
· To ensure Occupational Therapy waiting lists are managed efficiently and effectively in line with the Therapy Lead. Develop strategies for triage and waiting list management.
· To have an in-depth knowledge of specialist resources relevant to children and provide guidance on its use to the team.
· To demonstrate an advanced level of knowledge and practice, and providing specialist clinical advice.
· To assess and treat children in a range of settings. This will primarily be via the Child Development Centre but may include special and mainstream schools, nurseries or at home when clinically indicated. This will necessitate travel from venue to venue and lone working situations. Lone worker policy must be followed.
· To be highly skilled in communicating with and motivating children of all ages who may have a range of physical and cognitive barriers to understanding.
· To work closely with partner agencies to ensure Occupational Therapy intervention is fully integrated into a child’s holistic programme.
· To provide necessary information to other professionals, families and other agencies including written reports and programmes, and to contribute towards statutory assessment processes as required.
· To take part in child safeguarding procedures and attend multi agency meetings as necessary.
· To manage clinical risk within your own caseload, including undertaking appropriate manual handling risk assessment.
· To model and promote adherence to trust policies and procedures including infection control.
· To contribute towards the development of clinical practice within the department.
- To participate in safe-guarding supervision and to be aware of and adhere to child protection procedures. This may include written reports and core group meetings
For further details please see the attached JD & PS
Person specification
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria
- Proven specialist knowledge and substantial demonstrable experience working as a Band 6 therapist or above in Community Paediatrics
- Demonstrable experienced at delivering occupational therapy within a variety of community settings including clinics, patient’s homes, schools, nurseries, video or telephone consultations.
- Demonstrable experienced in working within a multi-agency approach to children with SEND
- In depth proven knowledge of standardised assessments/outcome measures relevant for children and the interpretation of their results with children with complex needs
- Proven knowledge and understanding of care pathways to facilitate appropriate referrals
- Proven knowledge of clinical governance and risk
- Proven evidence of CPD and extensive post graduate training specifically to children’s therapy
- Proven evidence of demonstrable experiences of working with children with sensory needs.
Desirable criteria
- Previous demonstrable experience of line managing and clinically supervising occupational therapy colleagues and students
- Demonstrable experience of conducting audits/research
- Demonstrable experience of setting up new projects/initiatives/care pathways
- Demonstrable experience of managing referrals and waiting lists
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- • Degree or diploma in Occupational Therapy.
- • HCPC Registered Occupational Therapist
Desirable criteria
- • Masters level/equivalent qualification relevant to the post
- • Membership of the Royal College of Occupational Therapy
- • Supervisory/leadership skills
Aptitude & Abilities
Essential criteria
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to communicate and present information orally and in writing in a clear and logical manner
- Ability to build working relationships with peers and multi-agency professionals
- Competent IT skills
- Highly developed presentation skills and ability to present to professionals at all levels
- Ability to undertake audit and to use the results to develop clinical practice
- Ability to work unsupervised/independently
- Ability to monitor the quality of own work and that of others and delegate accordingly
- Excellent organisational skills
- Ability to work flexibly, prioritise and manage time effectively
Desirable criteria
- Coaching skills
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Trudy Richards
- Job title
- Children's Therapy Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01752 439410
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