Job summary
- Main area
- Occupational Therapy
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent: 37.5 hours per week
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Job share
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 249-7263269
- Employer
- Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Great Western Hospital
- Town
- Swindon
- Salary
- £37,338 - £44,962 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 17/07/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Senior Occupational Therapist
NHS AfC: Band 6
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a unique organisation, serving as the sole integrated provider in the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon, and Wiltshire system. Our scope extends beyond boundaries as we oversee adult community services in Swindon and provide acute care from the Great Western Hospital.
Our 5,500 staff have 1.2m patient contacts a year, with 13,000 operations carried out in our Theatres, around 4,000 babies born, and our emergency attendances are now well over 100,000 per year. Those numbers only tell part of our story about what an exciting time it is to join Great Western Hospitals.
We are cultivating a culture that fosters our ambitions, prioritising equality, diversion, inclusion, wellbeing, and leadership. We aim to create an environment where every member of our team can truly thrive.
The Trust is a Disability Confident Employer; all applicants who have a disability can opt to be considered under the guaranteed interview scheme, which means that, providing they meet the minimum essential criteria for the post, they will be offered an interview. We are also proudly accredited as a Veteran Aware organisation and have signed The Armed Forces Covenant.
If we receive a high volume of applications, we may close adverts prior to the published closing date. Therefore, we advise you to complete and submit your application as soon as possible.
Job overview
Senior Occupational Therapist / Band 6 / 37.5 hours per week
We are excited to be able to advertise a Band 6 Occupational Therapy Role within the Acute OT team at Great Western Hospital.
The successful post holder will be joining a team of Occupational therapists, Apprentices and Assistants covering Medical, Surgical and Respiratory wards, supporting patients, families and carers when planning for home after hospital.
We are a supportive, welcoming and passionate team who work together for the benefit of each other, our patients and the wider team working. We value making new team members feel capable and confident and therefore offer a good induction, in-service training and opportunities for further learning.
You can also expect to have regular support in the way of supervision, daily caseload meetings and monthly team meetings.
Main duties of the job
Support the clinical delivery of Occupational Therapy on the Acute Wards by:
- Prioritising patients who require OT to support weekends discharges.
- Provide interventions inc. Assessing and providing equipment to enable and support on discharge.
- Providing Risk Assessments for care agencies for new equipment.
- Signposting and referring patients on to services to support follow up on discharge.
- Liaising with the MDT to support problem solving blocks to weekend discharges for example working with transport teams and our discharge support teams.
- Providing guidance and training to patients and their families and carers to promote independence to manage at home, following acute illness.
Working for our organisation
“Our STAR values – Service, Teamwork, Ambition and Respect – are a golden thread running through everything we do. These values serve as a guiding principle, driving us towards our vision of delivering great joined up services to our local community. Whether at home, in the community, or within the hospital, our goal is to empower individuals to lead independent and healthier lives.”
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- To assist with the modernisation of the therapy services to provide high quality care and timely intervention.
- To hold responsibility for own case load and be responsible for all patients on their wards, working without direct supervision. Supervision will take the form of regular formal training, clinical reasoning session’s and one to one sessions with a supervisor.
- The staff member will be required to work their contracted hours over 7 days a week.
- To undertake all aspects of clinical duties as an autonomous practitioner.
- To chair Team meetings, planning staffing and workloads. Monitor and manage annual leave or sickness ensuring adequate cover
Please see Job Description for full information.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Registered with Health and Care Professions Council
- Diploma/Degree in Physiotherapy or Occupational Therapy
- Evidence of postgraduate learning relevant to clinical area
- Evidence of continuing Professional Development
Desirable criteria
- Evidence of basic management training.
- Member of special interest group.
- Registered field work educator
- Member of professional body
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience in complex discharge planning within the NHS
- Working as part of a MDT and joint problem solving
- Supervision and training of others
- Broad clinical experience e.g. surgical, ED, neurology, medical, orthopaedic, hand injuries, rehabilitation
- Experience of providing a broad range of interventions for a complex caseload
- Experience in and an understanding of clinical governance e.g. audit, risk management, education
Desirable criteria
- Experience in orthopaedics, community, intermediate care, acute inpatients and rapid response and admission avoidance.
- Experience of Splints and braces
- Experience in Respiratory care and respiratory on call service (Physio only)
- Involvement in audits
- Participation in service development and implementation of change.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Good verbal communication to enable effective MDT working and communicating with relatives, patients etc.
- Capacity assessments, consent and safeguarding’s within the NHS or adult social care.
- Sound clinical reasoning skills to allow for appropriate treatment selection and discharge planning.
- Able to treat complex cases and assist juniors in their treatment
- Be able to prioritise a large and varied caseload across wards and include nonclinical duties
Desirable criteria
- To be able to prepare and deliver presentations to a group and teaching skills
- Working knowledge of internal/external NHS environment.
- Awareness of budget management.
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
- Michaela Kirby / Briony Howard
- Job title
- Acute OT Team Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01793 646371
List jobs with Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Allied Health Professions or all sectors