Band 7

Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust (SCFT) is the largest community healthcare provider in Sussex.

• 4,750 full and part time staff, with over 4,000 people registered on our bank
• 14 inpatient and outpatient locations, serving a total community of 1.3 million people
• Medical, nursing and therapeutic care provided to over 9,000 children and adults a day
• July 2018 Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating of 'Good' with 'Outstanding' features
• Stonewall Diversity Champions, and Disability Confident Employer - Level 2

The Intensive Planning Team (IPT) - part of West Sussex County Council - have asked Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust to provide a Specialist Occupational Therapist to deliver bespoke assessment and interventions to selected families. The role will be based in Worthing but you will need to travel across West Sussex visiting families, respite locations, schools and other agencies. This is a brand new post, and is initially being offered as a two year fixed term contract at 22.5 hours per week. There is a possibility that more hours could become available as the service develops further.

The Intensive Planning Team is a small team set up to focus on a group of children and young people with complicated needs who are at risk of their education placement breaking down. The team is made up of highly experienced specialist managers and practitioners who work to create innovative strategies and support the network and to produce better outcomes for the child/young person and their family. The primary intention will be to prevent, wherever possible, children and young people going to out of county placements or, if this is not possible, to keep their placement as local as possible.

IPT work with children and young people:

• Aged 5-25 years attending/on roll with a mainstream school
• At risk of/who have experienced the breakdown of their educational placement or who are not getting their full educational entitlement due to severe and complex behaviours at school and/or home
• Where a graduated approach has been applied and has been unsuccessful, who have a regular pattern of fixed term exclusions, who are not attending regularly/disengaged from learning or are being educated in isolation
• Where schools and/or families are reporting severe levels of challenging behaviours, high levels of distress and lack of ability to support the child/young person
• With special educational needs or disabilities, with an education, health and care plan or who have special education needs support, with or without diagnosis
• Whose families/carers and school are actively engaged, want to work with us and have given their consent for information to be shared with project partners and their families, who really want to try out new ways of working and who are open to change and doing things differently

Key deliveries:

• To work creatively and flexibly to support children with complex sensory needs
• To role model to wider professionals including schools and working with the network supporting the child
• To work as part of a multiagency team to provided occupational therapy assessment and creative therapeutic interventions for children and families where children are not accessing education and/or are risk of out of county residential/educational placement
• Working in the child's own home/education facility/residential setting as part of a holistic approach
• Working with children with or without a formal diagnosis of physical, learning and mental health including ASC, ADHD and 'autistic traits'
• Working with children with undiagnosed conditions including children who may have attachment difficulties, trauma related difficulties, motor coordination difficulties and sensory processing difficulties

Outcomes:

• Assessment of children's gross motor, fine motor, sensory and independence skills
• Working together with families to build resilience, self-esteem, trust and engagement with services
• Identification and implementation of therapeutic goals, working together with families and professionals to support integration back in to mainstream school

This Specialist Occupational Therapist role will require a specialist in sensory processing alongside their more generic paediatric OT skills. The role will sit within the Therapies In Schools service for clinical management and supervision, but will work directly with colleagues in the IPT team where referrals will come from. The role allows the therapist to get creative in finding solutions and will need someone who can work independently and flexibly.

If you're a dynamic, flexible thinking and creative OT with a passion for supporting children and young people with sensory processing challenges then we'd love to hear from you!

This post may close earlier than the published closing date if sufficient applications are received.

Correspondence relating to this vacancy will be conducted electronically. Please ensure that you check your emails on a regular basis. References will be requested electronically also; please ensure you provide correct contact details for referees.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• Job Advert
• Job Des & Pers Spec
• Staff Benefits Brochure
• About Us

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