Occupational Therapist

The starting salary for this role is £39,355 per annum based on a 36-hour working week.

"I joined the Mole Valley Occupational Therapy team 6 years ago as a newly qualified Occupational Therapist. Since joining the team my confidence has grown and I have developed my knowledge and skill base beyond my expectation. The team are incredibly supportive and encouraging! Every day is different working within adult social care, and you never stop learning!" - Sophie Chaffe, Occupational Therapist, Mole Valley

We are excited to be hiring a full-time Occupational Therapist to join our fantastic Mole Valley locality team. The team is based in Dorking. Mole Valley covers an area of rural villages to the south and small towns to the north.

Rewards and Benefits

• 26 days' holiday (prorated for part time staff), rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 30 days after 5 years' service
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days plus 1 team volunteering day per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources

About the Team

We are a wonderfully supportive and cohesive team and pride ourselves in recognising and nurturing talented staff, delivering a consistently high level of occupational therapy intervention to the community, who benefit from the rich variety of interventions available via social care. We value opportunities for continuing professional development highly and encourage staff to engage in learning and development opportunities whenever possible. We advocate for autonomous caseload management, which grants you flexibility around how you structure your day. No day is the same, and no day is ever boring.

About the Role?

As an Occupational Therapist within the Mole Valley Locality team you will have a shared responsibility for the screening and progressing of new referrals to the team via our duty function, organised on a rota basis.

We emphasise the benefit of strength-based forms of support that discourage long-term dependency on services, encouraging independence where possible. You will also be expected to independently manage a caseload of adults in need of support, as well as their carers, offering assessment to identify needs whilst establishing eligibility for social care services as per the Care Act 2014.

Additionally, you will be expected to analyse information and set interventions for the people you assess to help them meet goals they have identified. We advocate for a person-centred approach in all the work we do. We regularly utilise equipment provision and adaptation to enable people to do the things that are most important to them. Your caseload will involve supporting people through the Disabled Facilities Grant process and working with people with complex moving and handling needs.

We also engage in risk assessment and work to safeguard individuals to ensure those we work with are safe and cared for appropriately. However, positive risk taking is integral to the work of the occupational therapy team and we promote this when the reward outweighs the potential risk.

Shortlisting Criteria

To be considered for shortlisting for this position, your application will clearly evidence the following:

• Valid professional registration and qualification as an Occupational Therapist.
• Personal characteristics that make you well suited to a role in adult social care.
• Goals and ambitions and areas you would like to develop.
• Interests (both personal and professional) that you feel demonstrate the transferable skills you possess.
• Understanding of the world of occupational therapy and adult social care. It's ok to not know it all, but we appreciate time taken to research and recognise development needs.

Contact us

Please contact us for any questions relating to the role. This could be to discuss flexible working requests, transferrable skills or any barriers to employment.

Consideration will be given to applicants who would like to work part time for 18 hours a week and share this role.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 21/02/2024. Interviews will take from the week commencing 26/02/2024. We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applications where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role. We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.