We are looking for an Occupational Therapist or Physiotherapist to lead our inpatient mental health team at Woodlands in Ipswich.
This exciting opportunity will allow an experienced Allied Health Professional to oversee the delivery of recovery-focused interventions in an acute mental health setting.
We are looking for a flexible and dynamic candidate who has excellent clinical and leadership skills and wants to make a real impact on patient outcomes and staff retention.
You will lead an established team of Occupational Therapists, a Band 7 Physiotherapist, and support staff across two adult acute mental health wards, our older people's ward, and our Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit. The team delivers clinically effective, evidence-based treatments and interventions to groups and individuals. You will also work alongside psychologists and art therapists. You will balance team management responsibilities with maintaining a clinical caseload, particularly involving complex cases.
Woodlands is an exciting and innovative place to work, with ambitions to improve patient experience at all levels. The AHP team works across all wards to support discharge planning, therapeutic activity, and purposeful admissions. There is an ADL kitchen and gym on site, as well as an outdoor games area. The team also facilitates community activity and engagement.
You will provide leadership to a therapy team within the multidisciplinary team context. You will have a high degree of autonomy, with a key role in supporting the development of skills of staff across the inpatient wards. You will also be contributing to service and policy development within the service and reporting on team governance.
- Ensure a responsive, high-quality service is provided to patients, their families and carers within the clinical environment and maintain compliance with key performance indicators.
- Provide line management supervision to the AHP team including recruitment, development and supervision.
- Provide specialist clinical input across the service including support for complex cases. You will work with adult inpatients and older people who have organic (Dementia) frailty and functional presentations such as psychosis, anxiety and mood disorders. You will have the opportunity to use your physical health training alongside the ability to communicate and engage with service users living with complex mental and physical health needs including frailty and work to tackle health inequalities.
Role model and foster strong working relationships between the AHP and the MDT, to ensure that care is integrated and results in the best possible outcomes for service users.
Oversee the therapeutic timetables for the wards and coordinate the allocation of activity worker resource across the site.
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.
Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.
Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you’ll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We’re an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.
You will be working with a diverse multidisciplinary team and have regular support from local AHP leads. It is an exciting time for AHPs at NSFT following a significant investment to increase the number of posts and profile of AHPs in mental health, which includes significant AHP leadership to support you in this role.
If you are ready to take on this rewarding leadership opportunity and play a key role in shaping the future of AHP provision in mental health, we would love to hear from you! We welcome informal discussions, and visits, prior to application or interview.
(HPCP registration is required)
The trust supports the professional development and welfare of all staff. You will be supported with regular supervision and have various opportunities to undertake training aligned with your professional interests and career pathway.
- The successful applicant will be encouraged to join and actively contribute to our Allied health professional networks. These provide support to develop your service and provide opportunities to connect with other AHPs.
