Responsible to:Paediatric Occupational Therapy Clinical Team Lead Accountable to:Clinical Service Manager for SW Paediatric Therapies Purpose As part of Paediatric Therapy team to autonomously manage a complex caseload of children with a range of varied and complex needs. This will involve specialist assessment and treatment of children with complex needs. To devise child centred therapy plans using evidence based practice to ensure that the individuals full potential is developed or maintained. To provide clinical support, training and supervision for junior team members and students. Principal duties to include: To provide support and advice for the childs family and parents about all aspects of their care that relate to their therapy needs, adjusting your use of language to allow for their level of comprehension to understand. To provide and receive complex and sensitive information with regard to a childs difficulties and expectations. To attend meetings where requested in order to provide specialist advice about the therapy needs of the child. To arrange these meetings when appropriate. To co-ordinate a team of therapists and assistants, understanding the difficulty of dovetailing timetables, which can be time consuming and stressful and needs flexible diary management. To be able to demonstrate empathy and sensitivity in response to parents and children. To work closely with parents who are themselves dealing with anger, grief and frustration as they come to terms with the impact of their childs condition. To provide specialist therapy reports for use within inter-agencies, e.g. educational documentation relevant to the practice setting, standards and guidelines To ensure that up to date written electronic records and activity are maintained in accordance with the professional and organisation standards To provide programmes on a verbal, written basis or using pictorial representation as required to ensure these programmes are accessible to parents/ carers To interpret complex assessment results and identify therapy goals as part of an overall care plan. To contribute to the childs diagnosis by communicating assessment findings to the childs paediatrician, parents/carers and other involved professionals. To make referrals to other professionals and agencies if required to address the childs global needs. To be responsible for the supervision and written assessment of students and band 5 team members To undertake Band 5, Band 4 and Band 3 team members appraisals and line manage To plan, organise and provide training to parents/carers and educational staff. To plan and undertake presentation of paediatric therapy related talks both internally and externally. To participate in the delivery of the therapy development plan. To demonstrate ongoing personal development through participation in internal and external development opportunities, recording learning outcomes in a portfolio To apply increasingly more complex skills and knowledge in order to establish professional competence and fitness to practice as a specialist paediatric therapist To deputise for the Band 7 when required. To effectively plan the daily management of a caseload of children To support the tribunal process with guidance from a Band 7 Occupational Therapist To respond to urgent referrals and occasionally unpredictable work patterns. To prioritise clinical work and balance other patient related and professional activities as the department requires. To carry out specialist assessments used to contribute to a multidisciplinary assessment and diagnosis of complex needs To use and maintain sound clinical reasoning skills throughout the therapeutic process to ensure best practice and identify risk. To assess clients, carers and other professionals understanding of treatment proposals, gain valid consent and have the capacity to work within a legal framework with clients who lack capacity to consent to treatment. To formulate accurate prognoses through standardised and non-standardised assessments and recommend best course of intervention, developing comprehensive therapy plans. To develop and implement therapy and management plans for each child incorporating individual or group therapy sessions and programmes for use at home and/or in education settings. To re-evaluate and progress/adapt therapy programmes at established intervals depending on the needs of each child and the outcomes expected and discharge when appropriate. To use investigative and analytical skills, and where unsure to seek guidance from senior staff. To plan and implement a range of specialist child-centred individual and/or group interventions, using clinical reasoning skills. To use a range of evidence based therapy/ management options in formulating programmes of care. To evaluate the outcomes of your interventions To review and reflect on own practice and performance through the effective use of professional and clinical supervision and appraisal in line with local guidelines. To demonstrate a working knowledge and contribute to developing and completing clinical audits and performance information To broaden research and development skills through participation in local audit and research projects. This job description is not exhaustive and the post holder may be required to undertake such other duties from time to time as are consistent with the responsibility of the grade. This job description is subject to review and development from time to time in liaison with the post holder. As an employee of Central Surrey Health Ltd/First Community Health you will be required to adhere to all the organisations policies and procedures.