Job overview

We are recruiting an Occupational Therapy Assistant who will work as part of the community occupational therapy team within an Integrated Community Team (ICT). Their work will be underpinned by the principles and philosophy of occupational therapy. They will hold their own autonomous caseload triaged and delegated by an occupational therapist. They will be responsible for the assessment, implementation and evaluation of patient treatment programmes within assessed competencies.

The occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants in the ICTs work with adults with physical disabilities, cognitive impairment, mental health issues and complex social and community needs, experiencing occupational performance difficulties within and around their home environment.

Interventions will be varied because they are ‘person centred’, tailored to the specific needs of the individual, their families and or carers. The main aim is for the occupational therapy assistant to enable a person to engage within their home environment, and wider social and cultural environments to support their meaningful occupations so increasing their well-being and independence whilst self-manging risk. This includes providing advice, practicing different ways of doing things, signposting to relevant services, the provision of equipment and referring on for minor or major adaptations.

Main duties of the job

• To assess, devise, implement and evaluate therapeutic treatment programmes collaboratively with the person, their families and/or carers, within the framework established by the occupational therapist
• To be able to understand and apply knowledge of a range of conditions, appreciating the impacts these have on a person’s occupational functional ability
• To utilise a health coaching approach to work with individuals in developing collaborative goals and action (care) plans
• To exchange information with patients, their families and or carers that may require tact, reassurance or persuasion. To provide and receive sensitive or complex information and relay appropriately
• To be able to work with people to facilitate learning of skills or gaining of independence.
• To plan and provide therapy interventions, acting within competencies and modifying treatment programmes as appropriate
• To understand and use relevant outcome measures

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification. 

Working for our organisation

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people’s homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us.  In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views.  It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust’s priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

 This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement.  However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys