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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities 

 Communication 

•  To develop professional therapeutic relationships with patients and carers and communicate with them in a way that respects their views, autonomy and culture, and manage potential barriers to communication such as dysphasia, learning difficulty, deafness, another language etc. 
• To ensure accurate and up-to-date documentation of all assessments of patient’s functional status in clinical notes complying with Trust, departmental and professional standards. 
• To accurately feedback relevant observations and assessment outcomes of patient assessments to the Occupational Therapist and other relevant members of the Multi-Disciplinary Team, including ongoing observations and assessments of patient’s progress. 
• To liaise where appropriate with other members of the team, other related statutory, private and voluntary organisations, family and carers. To deal with all telephone enquiries, including retrieval of voicemail messages, in a professional, courteous and diplomatic manner and to ensure that appropriate messages are passed onto the relevant staff in an accurate and timely fashion, respecting confidentiality at all times.  
• To assist as far as practicable in non and clinical enquiries, ensuring all non-routine and clinical enquiries are referred onto the appropriate person.  
• To promptly receive and distribute all incoming mail, ensuring referral letters are correctly date-stamped and recorded appropriately.  
• To liaise with other administrative staff, ensuring cover arrangements are facilitated by working as a team member. 
• To liaise with internal and external professionals, departments and public as required in a friendly, professional and courteous manner. 
• Participate in department and administration team meetings, keeping patient notice boards up to date with current and relevant information. 
• Report faults/repairs to IT or Works Departments as required. 
• Seek advice from clinician/Office Manager if required/unsure/ more complex needs arise. 

 Service Delivery and Improvement 

 To exercise good personal time management, punctuality and consistent reliable attendance. 

• To contribute positively to the effectiveness and efficiency of the Occupational Therapy and MDT team/service. 
• To take responsibility for risk management and health and safety in the workplace by adhering to and promoting Health and Safety regulations, trust and departmental policies. 
• To adhere to the College of Occupational Therapist Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, the Trust’s Code of Conduct for Non-Qualified Staff and all other relevant policies and procedures. 
• To comply with Equal Opportunities, Disability Discrimination and Data Protection legislation 
• Undertake delegated tasks to contribute to the safe and smooth running of the Occupational Therapy service. 
• To have an awareness of good resource management, to maintain and advise on stock and resources necessary to carry out the work of the Occupational Therapy service. To use own knowledge and previous experience to make judgements and problem solve where barriers to implementing usual processes arise, systems break down error occur, or new situations arise. 
• At request analyse spreadsheets to determine trends and problems and produce summaries to highlight these. 
• Be versatile and adaptable to changing demands of the team; e.g. staff absences, changes to hours/working patterns and adjust patient appointments accordingly. 
• To allocate patient appointment times into designated slots and send out invite letters / record attendance on Care Flow and within patient notes. 
•  Ensure correct and up-to-date forms/documents are used and comply with department, professional and Trust standards. 

 People Management and Development 

• To seek supervision from an Occupational Therapist to inform analysis and reasoning, and when more complex needs or situations become apparent. 
• To actively participate in supervision and appraisal using reflection and analysis to inform practice. 
• To participate in the induction, support, training and education of students and new staff. 
• To participate in the dissemination and sharing of information and skills with staff, students and volunteers. 
• To gather and accurately record information where required, to enable patient referrals to be prioritised. 
• To ensure that up to date written and electronic records and activity data are maintained in accordance with professional and trust standards. 
• Undertake training as necessary in line with the development of the post and as agreed with line manager as part of the personal development planning process. 
• To fully participate in the Trust’s appraisal system review and personal development planning process on an annual basis. 
• To keep a record of own training and development in line with department guidelines. 
• To keep informed of best practice and developments and to incorporate them into own practice under guidance of an Occupational Therapist. 
• To participate in clinical governance and quality improvement projects under the guidance of a registered Occupational Therapist, including audits and research projects as applicable. 
• To respect the individuality, values, cultural and religious diversity of patients and all key relationships and contribute to the provision of a service sensitive to these needs. 
• To achieve and demonstrate agreed standards of personal and professional development within agreed timescales. To seek supervision from an Occupational Therapist to inform analysis and reasoning, and when more complex needs or situations become apparent. 
• Comply with fire, health & safety, infection control and all other departmental procedures. 
• Report all complaints/incidents to the immediate senior member of staff and document accordingly. 

 Patient Care Delivery 

•  To manage a selected caseload of patients, under regular but not constant supervision of a registered Occupational Therapist, to carry out the assessment and treatment of individual patients with Rheumatology conditions and potentially groups. To assist the occupational therapist on home visits where necessary.  
• To arrange, under guidance from an Occupational Therapist, for the provision of standard specialist disability equipment and to teach and demonstrate the use of equipment or other techniques to optimise the patient’s functional ability, independence and safety. 
• To analyse outcomes of assessments and apply them to the formation of patient centred treatment plans and in engaging patients in therapeutic activities to promote independence and well-being. 
• To apply a basic understanding of the effect of disability and relevant conditions on patients and their environments.  
• Prioritise and create new referrals on CareFlow ensuring appropriate letter and correspondence are posted to patients and ensuring the rheumatology database is updated accordingly. 
• To be responsible for making and updating clinic appointments on CareFlow, at own site, in a timely and accurate manner and arriving patients within required time scales. 
• Order, collate and dispatch orthotic orders for individual patients and for stock replenishment.  

• Produce and collate patient and group satisfaction surveys as and when required. 
• Order patient information leaflets from Verus Arthritis and NRAS and others as required. 
• Ensure the department patient database complies with data protection and is maintained and up to date at all times.  
• Ensure all patient notes are stored safely in accordance to trust confidentiality guidelines. 
• Undertake any duties that may be deemed necessary to support the department’s high-quality service. 

  Learning and Development 

•  Attend mandatory training updates as required. 
• Undertake training as necessary in line with the development of the post and as agreed with the line manager as part of the personal development process. 
• Achieve and demonstrate agreed standards of personal and professional development within agreed timescales. 
• Identify own learning needs and jointly plan training requirements with your line manager 
• Participate in the Trust’s appraisal process to discuss how your role will help deliver the best possible care to our patients and help to deliver any changes in service. 

This job description is an outline of the role and responsibilities. From time to time due to the needs of the service, we may ask you to flexibly undertake other duties that are consistent with your role and banding, including project work, internal job rotation and absence cover. 

The job description and person specification may be reviewed on an ongoing basis in accordance with the changing needs of the department and the organisation.