Job reference: 262546
Salary: Band 6 (£43,231 - £52,679)
Job closing date: 29/10/2026
Job Type: Allied Health Professions
Location: East Lothian Community Hospital
Employment type: Permanent
Hours Per Week: 28.48
Employer (NHS Board): NHS Lothian
Department: Occupational Therapy

Job Advert
NHS Scotland is committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. To this end, NHS Scotland welcomes applications from all sections of society.

AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot can be great for planning and preparing your application—but your answers must be your own.

• Show us the real you: Your application should reflect your skills, experience, and motivations authentically.
• Use AI wisely: It’s fine to use AI for ideas or to check spelling and grammar, but don’t let it write your answers.
• Why this matters: Applications that rely on AI-generated content may be withdrawn. By applying, you confirm your responses are based on your own knowledge and achievements.

Tip: Think of AI as a helper, not a substitute. We want to understand you—not an AI tool.

Role Responsibilities

• To act independently to provide a full comprehensive specialist service of assessment, diagnosis, treatment/appropriate management, onward referral and discharge to a complex range of patients referred to the service.
• To supervise occupational therapists, assistant practitioners, clinical support workers and occupational therapy students.
• To develop and deliver training programmes for a wide range of professionals and carers to educate carers and significant others in the understanding of both the therapy process and any intervention relating to the management of patients medical and social needs.

Right to Work
To work in the United Kingdom, there is a legal requirement for an individual to demonstrate that they have the relevant permission to work in the country. This permission is, without exception, granted by the UK Visa and Immigrations Service. Further information on what NHS Scotland Boards are required to do to check this as well as what your responsibilities include can be found in the further information for this vacancy.

Please note: we anticipate a high level of interest in this position and may close the vacancy early once a sufficient amount of applications are received. Therefore, please make sure you complete and submit your application at an early stage.

We will fully support disabled candidates, and candidates with long-term conditions or who are neurodivergent by making reasonable adjustments to our recruitment policy and practices.

PVG Requirement
This post requires the post holder to have a PVG Scheme membership/record. If the post holder is not a current PVG member for the required regulatory group (i.e. child and/or adult) then an application will need to be made to Disclosure Scotland and deemed satisfactory before they can begin in post.

Salary Note: As this post is part-time, the salary will be pro-rata.

For further information on what is included in the role and what skills/experience are being looked for, click on the links at the bottom of the screen to the job description and person specification. If after reading this information you have any questions, please contact Ali Buchanan on 01620 642920 or at alison.buchanan@nhs.scot

Supporting Documents

• Lothian Additional Information (PDF)
• NHSL 262546 Specialist Occupational Therapist Job Description (PDF)
• NHSL 262546 Specialist Occupational Therapist Person Specification (PDF)

NHS Scotland welcomes applications from all sections of society and eliminates unlawful discrimination in line with its equality and diversity commitments.