Specialist Occupational Therapist

Job summary

We have exciting opportunities in a new service for B6 Occupational Therapists to join each of our Integrated Community Teams (ICTs) which operate across Primary Care linked localities of Cheltenham, Forest of Dean (including Tewkesbury, Newent and Staunton), Cotswolds and Stroud.

Each ICT includes Occupational Therapists, Community Nurses, Physiotherapists, and a Home First service. We work closely with a range of teams from within our own organisation and key local system partners including, Adult Social Care, GPs, residential homes, acute hospitals, community hospitals, housing and voluntary organisations.

Main duties of the job

Within this new service, your initial focus will be to offer OT assessment and interventions to individuals with short term, recovery-focused needs including:

• Significant health episode with rapid decline in Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)
• Sudden unexpected deterioration at end of life, requiring support to remain in preferred place of care.
• Recent acute event or hospital discharge with ongoing clinical risk, not on a Home First pathway.

The post holder will be involved in the decision making and flow of Occupational Therapy referrals within your locality by supporting clinical triage when needed, and using your clinical expertise, relationships and knowledge to ensure a timely OT response to reduce the risk and maintain a person at home.

Our philosophy is that supported self-management is key to personalised and positive outcomes for people.

About us

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Job description

Job responsibilities

If you feel that one of these roles is for you, can you please indicate if you have a preferred locality as there are two posts available in each of the following areas, we will then consider you for this preference if you are shortlisted:

Cheltenham

Cotswolds

Forest of Dean, including Tewkesbury, Newent and Staunton

Stroud

Closing date: 8th July 2026

Interview Dates: 16th July 2026

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree in Occupational Therapy plus short specialist courses, experience to post-graduate equivalent diploma level
• Health Care Professions Council registration (HCPC)

Length and Nature of Experience

Essential

• Experience of delivering occupational therapy in community or equivalent settings.
• Experience of autonomous caseload management.
• Significant postgraduate clinical experience as an Occupational therapist

Professional / Managerial / Specialist Knowledge

Essential

• Professional knowledge acquired through degree or equivalent, plus short specialist courses, experience to post-graduate equivalent diploma level
• Able to demonstrate specialist knowledge in patients with complex needs and multi pathologies
• Ability to deliver person centred, goal focused interventions using occupational therapy models of practice.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Across all Integrated Community Teams, which means multiple sites

Cheltenham, Cotswolds, Stroud & Forest of Dean (including Tewkesbury Newent and Staunton)

Multiple, across all integrated community teams.

GL3 4HP

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/who-we-are/jobs/ (Opens in a new tab)