Advanced Practitioner – Optimal Handed Care Lead

• This is fixed term for 12 months.
• Salary of £40,476 to £44,711 (Grade 9).
• Locations:- A County Wide Role – based usually at County Hall, Taunton.
• Ideal opportunity for an experienced practitioner looking for their next step into leading a team and as an Advanced Practitioner.
• An opportunity to be innovative and a visionary team leadership to promote the profession, founded on person-centred, compassionate, and values-based leadership principles.

This is a key role in the evolving health and social care pathways, including the reablement pathway, to improve patient flow. It is a highly specialised clinical lead role advising on complex discharge planning whilst developing stronger links with community providers, including development of joint training packages, and risk management strategies.

The practitioner will be responsible for high-level assessments, including seating and posture, optimising care packages, providing optimal-handed care training, and complex risk management. Additionally, the role involves training others in moving and handling operations and acting as a practice educator.

This role spans across Neighbourhoods and the Somerset Independent Living Centre (SILC), emphasising the importance of enabling individuals to achieve their optimal level of independence.  This post will work alongside the Therapy Management team in promoting further Optimal Handed Care and developing safe and robust discharge pathways (D2A) from the Acute and Community Hospitals to home.

The Advanced Practitioner lead role is a key role of the next phase of the Optimal Handed Care (OHC) initiative, is to facilitate a larger scale pilot with community partners to develop a robust pathway. The role will continue to build on existing work, aiming to focus on demonstrating the sustainability and benefit outcomes.

There will be an expectation to present these results at Director and Strategic Manager level, and regional and national level as well. The OHC lead will seek to explore this aspect of care planning to produce an evidence base through further data collection and patient/carer feedback. This will include the evidencing of balancing measures including risk evaluation, and consideration of influential legalisation and policy, to further develop training and documentation in this area.

This role will also include, working closely with the current care provider manual handling leads and the SFT governance team to ensure balancing measures and standard operational procedures are considered and implemented.

• Qualified and HCPC registered Occupational Therapist.
• Completion of ‘training the trainer’ moving and handling course.
• Up-to-date Practice Educator certification.

We offer ongoing support, training and guidance to help you be the best you can be. But to be successful in this role you will have:-

• Ability to exercise professional judgement to manage risk, including positive risk-taking, especially in complex and unpredictable situations.
• Ability to embed the evaluation of impact into practice across all settings and at an operational level.
• An in-depth knowledge of the Health and Care Professions Council’s professional regulatory requirements and the Royal College of Occupational Therapists’ Professional standards for occupational therapy practice, conduct, and ethics.
• An Optimal Handed Care Ethos and person centredness to lead such an important project.
• A Knowledge of the principles of rehabilitation and moving and handling, including the unique contribution of occupational therapy and interprofessional knowledge and skills.
• A good understanding of health conditions, presentations, and the wider determinants of health that impact on a person’s ability to move and transfer safely and do the things they want, need, or are be expected to do.
• Further developing practice Teaching skills and Leadership as part of project management.
• Experience in acting as a role model to inspire, supervise, mentor, and educate others, including learners and apprentices.

We’re proud to be here for the people of Somerset. And that means everyone in Somerset. An important part of this is ensuring that we are as diverse and inclusive as the people and communities we serve.

We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to enrich our team. You can always contact the hiring manager for a chat if there’s anything you want to talk about before you apply.

At Somerset Council, we work hard to attract the best staff and we want to make sure that once you are on board, you are well supported and rewarded for the work you do.

We offer great training and development opportunities, with supportive management. As well as this, we have some fantastic employee benefits available:

• This grade offers 30 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) and the option to request to buy up to 2 weeks additional annual leave pro rata
• Hybrid working options where the role allows
• A clear career pathway with apprenticeships, professional, leadership and academic programmes and qualifications, regular CPD opportunities and a corporate coaching and mentoring scheme
• A new comprehensive induction programme supported by Practice Development Advanced Practitioners, plus a confidential and impartial welcome call to ensure your induction goes smoothly.
• Ongoing support & development opportunities – regular CPD events arranged and delivered by our dedicated Adult Social Care Learning and Development team, including an annual Carnival of Practice event with key speakers such as the Chief Social Worker, a team of Advanced Practitioner – Practice Development roles to support our workforce, personalised personal development plans, a corporate coaching and mentoring scheme.
• Local Government pension scheme
• Employee support networks that acknowledge and celebrate the richness of diversity and equality within our workforce.
• Guaranteed Interview Schemes – Disability Confident, Veterans, Care Leavers
• Employee assistance and support offering a variety of wellbeing services and events to support a healthy work/life balance inc. a free online gym offer, dedicated Mental Wellbeing Ambassadors and much more!
• Relocation of up to £8,000, subject to meeting eligibility requirements.
• Access to the Blue Light Card which offers thousands of discounts online and on the high street
• My Staff Shop which offers a variety of discounts including; cinemas, shopping, restaurants, gym discounts and more!
• Discounted lease car options via salary sacrifice, along with discounts on fuel
• Cycle to work scheme

This is a Grade 9 post with a current salary of £40,476 to £44,711 per annum. Appointments are normally made at the bottom of the salary scale.

Got a question about becoming an Advanced Practitioner - Optimal Handed Care Lead with Somerset Council? Please contact Nigel Pluckrose, Service Manager - nigel.pluckrose@somerset.gov.uk

When completing your application/CV please provide your full employment history and ensure that any gaps in employment are explained. Please start with your current or most recent employment.

If you have all the information you need, just hit the apply button - we can’t wait to hear from you.

Please note we reserve the right to close this advert early if we have received a sufficient number of applications, so don't delay, apply today!

We are reclaiming narratives about social work and believe in the power of lived experiences of people (including workers) and sharing stories. To get a sense of this, listen to the Social Work Sessions podcast.

Somerset is situated in a beautiful, rural county in a central southwest location but with good city links. With scenic countryside, historic sites, charming towns and villages, family-friendly attractions, beaches, festivals (Glastonbury!) and events, outdoor activities, zoos, water parks and plenty of local produce to try, there’s something for everyone!

We have a supportive and friendly culture… Don’t believe us? Checkout our Glassdoor rating.

In this role you will require a criminal background check via Disclosure and Barring Service.