Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
Band 6 Occupational Therapist - Weston-super-Mare
The closing date is 22 November 2026

Job summary
We are seeking a highly motivated, experienced and enthusiastic Occupational Therapist to join our team at Long Fox Unit. The team is friendly and supportive; we are strongly committed to staff wellbeing, reflective practice and continuing professional development.

This post provides an opportunity to consolidate and further develop your clinical and leadership skills working as an inpatient specialist Occupational Therapist. You will work as part of the team, supporting junior staff and students, as well as taking on a caseload of complex service users. This post will see you working across our inpatient adult of working ages, and mental health rehabilitation ward. You will complete comprehensive OT assessments with a focus on developing and maintaining independence during admission to support and facilitate discharge planning.

The post holder will require excellent and adaptable communication skills and require a level of sensitivity and flexibility. You are required to manage a complex caseload and be able to priorities effectively to meet the demands of the service. The post holder will be required to take students from the surrounding universities and provide regular supervision and training to support staff.

Within the trust there are excellent training opportunities and CPD development and you will be provided with regular supervision within Trust guidance. We welcome all experienced OT's who have a keen interest in Mental Health to apply for the job role.

Main duties of the job
The successful applicant will deliver specialist occupational therapy assessment at Long Fox Unit and Elmham Way.

You will work autonomously, be highly skilled in time management, prioritisation and risk assessment, and be able to manage a small caseload of individuals with complex needs. You will work closely with the MDT, providing the occupational perspective, to support service users on the ward. You will be skilled in delivering a range of group and individual person-centred interventions and will be responsible for delivering timely assessments to support safe and effective discharge planning.

Working as a specialist occupational therapist you will provide Occupational Therapy assessment and interventions within the inpatients wards at North Somerset. You will work with the band 7 Occupational Therapist and the wider OT team of registered OTS's and OT assistants to co-ordinate and support the day to day running of the service, you will supervise OT staff and be committed to supporting students.

You will be required to work within the hospital but also facilitate home assessments and community access visits. We believe that delivering person-focused care to helping our patients improve their mental health, recover independence and return to their community.

About us
We are the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

We aim to provide High Quality, Compassionate Care everywhere, every day. This means our services will be safe, clinically effective and provide a positive all round experience for our patients, families and carers. And we believe passionately in treating everyone with kindness, respect and empathy.

Key to this is providing a supportive and safe environment for our 4,000 staff where we all feel welcome and able to do the best we can for those we support. Our staff and teams work incredibly hard delivering services across more than 90 locations, covering 2,200miles, to more than 1.8million people.At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Details
Date posted: 06 November 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 6
Salary: £39,959 to £48,117 a year pro rata
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 342-NS050-1126
Job locations: Long Fox Unit, Grange Road, Weston super Mare, BS23 4TS, United Kingdom

Job description
Job responsibilities

• Manages a complex/specialist OT caseload from assessment to discharge from therapy. Service users may have multiple needs with a combination of physical and mental health or learning disabilities. Service users may have complex social situations, and may demonstrate behaviours that challenge
• Responsible for ensuring the highest professional standards and attitudes towards the care of service users are maintained at all times and that care is delivered in accordance with evidence based practice by all staff for whom the post holder has designated responsibility.
• Undertakes complex occupational therapy assessments and develops complex therapy programmes.
• Assesses and manages risk effectively in clinical and community settings including the service users own home.
• Works with service users and carers to identify occupational therapy goals as part of the overall Multidisciplinary Team plan.
• Develops and implements specialist interventions for individuals or groups, in collaboration with the service user(s) and MDT to achieve therapeutic goals.
• Uses technical and creative skills to engage service users in therapeutic activities and encourages service users/carers in a compassionate manner, to support them in achieving their identified goals.
• Monitors and evaluates occupational therapy treatment in order to measure progress and modifies treatment plans to ensure effectiveness of clinical interventions.
• Provides reports and makes recommendations on service user progress at clinical meetings and participates in the clinical decision-making process regarding service user care programmes as part of the multidisciplinary team.
• Provides specialist clinical advice to other healthcare professionals including those in the acute hospital sector with limited mental health or learning disability experience.
• May provide professional advice, as requested and where appropriate, in relation to subject access requests.

Please see attached job description and job specification further detailed information about the post.

Person Specification
Essential

• HCPC registered
• Mental Health Experience
• Models (MOHO/MoCA)
• Day-to-day supervision of staff/students

Desirable

• ACLs-6 experience
• Sensory experience
• Two years post qualifying experience

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.

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.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.

Employer details
Employer name: Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
Address: Long Fox Unit, Grange Road, Weston super Mare, BS23 4TS, United Kingdom

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact: Lead Occupational Therapist for Long Fox Unit, Zoe Tippetts, zoe.tippetts@nhs.net, 01934836505

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