About Us
West Sussex County Council is a diverse organisation that provides services to more than 850,000 residents every day. This is a great opportunity to join us as an Occupational Therapist in our friendly CarePoint Team that prides itself on their supportive culture. CarePoint provides a first point of contact for customers requiring a needs assessment under the Care Act 2014. It also provides an access and triage point for referrals from the police.
The aim of Adult Care Point 2 - Initial Contact (ACP2) is to meet need at the earliest opportunity in a person’s journey. As part of a multi-disciplinary team that supports, prevents, reduces and delays the need for long term services, you will provide specialist advice to social care professionals and social workers within the ACP2 team.
We provide a working environment that values professional supervision and support. This provides our workforce with what they need to deliver the best possible outcomes for our residents. We work to ensure that innovation and evidence-based practice underpins what we do and that we maintain an environment within which our occupational therapists can develop and progress in their careers. If you have the talent and ambition to achieve the best for the people we serve, then we will support you to progress and develop throughout your occupational therapy career.
In this fast-paced position, you will:
✅ Manage a varied and complex caseload, supporting individuals and their families/carers
✅ Lead on best practices, professional standards, and service improvements
✅ Develop, mentor, and support registered and unregistered social care practitioners
✅ Play a key role in delivering high-quality occupational therapy services
✅ Work collaboratively with health, housing, education, statutory, voluntary, and independent agencies
About The Job
Salary: £34,475 to £37,049 per annum
Working Pattern: Part time, 32 hours per week
Contract Type: Permanent
Location: Horsham office base and county wide travel required
You will work as part of a strong and dynamic Occupational Therapy service. In this role you will be required to undertake strengths-based assessments applying relevant legislation and utilising Occupational Therapy skills and knowledge to develop and implement a plan of support, aimed at improving wellbeing and delivering outcomes for people.
You will manage a caseload collaborating with people and family or friend carers, undertake strengths-based assessments and reviews, identifying eligible needs and personalised outcomes. You will be working within a supportive environment to apply your occupational therapy skills to develop and implement support plans, aimed at improving wellbeing and delivering outcomes, including utilising community assets, and ensuring that eligible needs are met. You will be working within a managed and supportive context, applying learning to further develop capability, and professional confidence. You will be supported with professional supervision and assessment and a workload that is appropriate to your level of professional development.
What We’re Looking For
✔ A confident communicator who can handle complex situations with compassion and empathy
✔ Strong organisational skills and the ability to work autonomously and flexibly
✔ Sound IT and keyboard skills
✔ A qualified Occupational Therapist with Fieldwork Educators accreditation and experience in clinical/fieldwork education
✔ The ability to lead, coach, and influence best practices within the team
✔ Willingness to travel across the county - some locations may not be easily accessible by public transport.
Experience and Skills
Key skills
- Experience of working proactively as a member of the team to make an accurate strengths-based assessment of needs and negotiate and implement effective plans and outcomes (in line with relevant legislation), working in partnership with carers, colleagues, and a variety of external agencies to meet people’s outcomes.
- Experience of applying a risk enablement approach and using evidence-based practice.
- Experience of analysis and interpretation of people related information and data to prioritise needs and formulate plans for intervention and service provision.
- Experience of contributing to safeguarding enquiries.
- Ability to supervise and develop the capabilities of unregistered practitioners, and to mentor and coach students and apprentices.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to interact effectively with a range of stakeholders to provide clear advice and guidance and interventions.
- Ability to recognise the limits of own accountability and responsibility, know when to seek appropriate support, advice and supervision, and to prioritise and organise work and meet agreed performance expectations.
- Sound and accurate IT skills to ensure effective record keeping, compliant with data protection and respecting confidentiality
Qualifications and/or experience:
- Diploma / BSc Occupational Therapy or recognised equivalent Occupational Therapy qualification.
- Registration with Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
- Experience of undertaking assessments and occupational therapy.
intervention planning, implementation, and review by means of creative and pragmatic solutions.
- Experience of working in partnership with those who access the service and maintaining a focus on the needs and strengths of the people, and the outcomes they want to achieve, whilst handling conflict and disagreement.
- Experience of managing risk within a risk enablement approach
- Good, up-to-date working knowledge of relevant legislation e.g., Care Act (2014), Mental Capacity Act (2005) etc.
- Valid, full driving licence.
Rewards and Benefits
For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.
Further Information
The reference number for this role is CAFHE06453.
For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Melissa Maer (Team Manager) at [email protected]. For issues or queries regarding your application please contact [email protected].
To apply, upload your CV and complete the application explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to HCPC registration, an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.
West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.
For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran’s Guaranteed Interview Scheme (if you meet the essential criteria), this can be found on our application help page.
Note for Recruitment Agencies: We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We'll be in touch directly if we need you!
