We are looking for an Occupational Therapist with expertise in older persons care to provide services and support to care homes for people with dementia and challenging behaviour. The Challenging Behaviour Service is a specialist service which provides assessments and treatment for people with Dementia who are living in care homes in Sutton and Merton and who are demonstrating the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.
This dedicated provision within the Sutton and Merton Challenging Behaviour Service is led by the Band 7 nurse with consultative input from a Clinical Psychologist and a Speciality Doctor. The Challenging Behaviour Service is based within the Sutton Older People's Community Team whilst visiting Care Homes within both Sutton and Merton.
The post holder will need to provide close liaison and expert knowledge to assist care homes in managing complex cases. The role also requires input into the local NHS mental health ward. The post holder will be required to hold generic cases and use their OT skills and expertise. It will be advantageous to have prior knowledge of both relevant medicines and non- pharmacological approaches to managing symptoms of dementia. It would also be desirable for the person to be a driver with access to a car during working hours.
We require knowledge and experience of managing dementia and other mental and physical health difficulties commonly found in older people in long term care.
We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.
We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.
This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.
We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.
We offer flexible working, career development and a variety ofbenefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.
Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.
Person centred assessment of occupational performance including how the person explores activities, achieves participation in activity, and balance in activity (personal care, domestic, leisure and productive activity)
Provision and/or recommendation of therapeutic activities/interventions to promote health and wellbeing, and improve or maintain function (in particular to help reduce behaviours which may challenge)
To promote equality of outcome for service users that reflect their mental health needs and those of ethnicity, gender, culture physical health and age.
To promote social inclusion and physical and mental well-being using evidence-based practice. This is underpinned by the principles of hope and recovery, health promotion and relapse prevention.
To independently manage a clinical caseload of service user with Dementia.
To identify occupational therapy goals as part of the overall care plan, using specialist mental health and occupational therapy assessments. The Trust works within the MOHO model and uses a variety of the models assessments, the POOL activity Level Instrument would also be relevant to this area.
To exercise clinical professional judgement in complex clinical cases and difficult clinical situation, referring to senior staff when necessary.
To consider both physical and mental health needs as part of the occupational therapy assessment.
To plan and implement specialist individual and/or group interventions collaboratively, to enable service users to achieve valued goals and satisfactory occupational performance outcomes.
Assessment of environmental impact on function as relates to mental health including recommendation of environmental adaptation and related strategies
Specialist advice, support, consultation and collaborative joint working on how mental health problems are impacting on occupational performance
To identify any significant risk factors in line with local policies, with support from senior staff
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust
Cheam Resource Centre
671 London Rd
Sutton
SM3 9DL
https://www.swlstg.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)