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County Durham Social Care

Occupational TherapistNHS

Durham, DH1 5RD Permanent £32,073 to £39,043
Posted 17 September 2026 Closing date 1 October 2026
Durham Rail Station (1.9 miles, direct) South Hylton (Tyne and Wear Metro Station) (9.7 miles, direct) Johnston School Bus Park (1.6 miles, direct)

Job summary

This post is only open to current employees of TEWV. Any applications received from non-TEWV employees will not be considered.

The B5 post is designed to attract a graduate or someone interested in progressing to competencies in adult mental health (acute setting).

You will manage an increasingly complex caseload independently, assessing occupational performance and delivering specialist occupational interventions, demonstrating adherence to the Trust Values at all times and operating as a leader in the team, service and organisation.

You will operate as part of the 'Durham & Darlington Occupational Therapy Hub'. The clinical area is Adult Mental Health and the team work across both inpatient and community settings.

This vacancy is part of a comprehensive recruitment drive to re-build our occupational therapy service within Durham and Darlington. A personally tailored learning, development and support package is also available."

This role may be eligible for sponsorship under the UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker route. However, sponsorship can only be provided where applicants meet the specific requirements, therefore, we recommend that you assess your eligibility before applying for this position. Visit https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa

Main duties of the job

Occupationally focused assessments and interventions will be delivered as part of a dynamic service delivery model that has a strong commitment to collaborative working at its core whilst recognising the unique skills of all professional groups represented in the team.

Additional focus is on delivering high-quality evidence-based services that support recovery, occupational formulation and occupational engagement. The delivery of 1:1 and group interventions that are occupationally focused is required.

You will be be responsible for receiving requests for occupational therapy, triaging and prioritising these, completing evidence-based assessments and interventions to address key occupational areas of self-care, productivity and leisure.

You will use client-centred approaches to co-producing negotiated occupational goals and evaluate these with service users collaboratively, participate in clinical/professional and management supervision, contribute to multi-disciplinary team working, contribute to and lead on service improvement and quality initiatives, use the Trust electronic patient record system, abide by all Trust policies and procedures and be able to respond flexibly and creatively to challenges.

Job description

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for further detailed information to ensure that you meet the role criteria before applying.

The post holder will provide evidence-based occupational therapy assessment and interventions as part of the OT Pathway linked to Adult Mental Health across Durham and Darlington, and offer input to individuals, their families and carers.

All team members must be committed to providing the best possible care for the people we work with and their families/carers.

The ability to engage and communicate with service users as well as the parents/family/carers and system around them is essential.

Clinical/Professional supervision is provided by the supervising Occupational Therapist as identified by the relevant Lead OT. The post holders will attend OT Learning and Governance Networks to ensure fidelity to core occupational therapy delivery, enhance CPD and contribute to the wider OT service developments.

You must be able to demonstrate experience of delivery of occupational therapy, keenness to continually develop themselves and others, and a particular interest in this field of OT. We will support use of transferrable skills from a range of clinical settings.

There are varied opportunities for training and development, with CPD needs being identified and monitored through appraisal.

The B5 post in the D&D OT Hub are supported by B6 Supervision with OT assistants in place to ensure that role fidelity is maintained and that each member of the team is working to their optimum. Successful candidates will be responsible for their own caseloads and will fully interface with the team via formal and informal supervision, team huddles & interface with the MDT via all clinical forums available.

The D&D OT Hub is a centralised service split across the 2 sites. The primary pick-up points for the team are the acute wards at Lanchester Road Hospital in Durham and West Park Hospital in Darlington. Our Team works across inpatient and community adult mental health settings with a primary focus on the delivery of recovery focused occupational therapy. The successful candidate will be based at Lanchester Road Hospital in Durham.

A commitment to occupational formulation, and the delivery of 1:1 and group interventions that are occupationally focused is required.Overall, the team covers 90 acute beds with the option of post-discharge support for residents of Durham & Darlington. The team works as an effective part of the MDT and delivers clinical supervision to activity coordinators who work into both sites.

Professional leadership is in place to provide additional support and clinical assurance. To work best in the team we are looking for candidates who are highly patient focused, confident in their emerging skills set, dynamic and resilient.

The post will offer varied opportunities for training and development, with CPD needs being identified and monitored through appraisal. Well defined supervision systems are in place.

Additional contact details

Paul Meylan, Lead Occupational Therapist, [email protected]

This job advert may close early if a high volume of applications have been received. If interested, please apply for this post as soon as possible.

Please note that shortlisted candidates will be expected to provide a presentation at interview, title to be confirmed.

About us

We are the Mental Health & Learning Disability NHS Trust for County Durham and Darlington, Teesside, North Yorkshire, York and Selby.

From education and prevention, to crisis and specialist care --our talented and compassionate teams work in partnership with our patients, communities and partners to help the people of our region feel safe, understood, believed in and cared for.

We nurture the recovery journey of anyone in need of our help. In Our Trust, everyone has a say in how they are supported and treated because we listen to every person in our care until they feel understood. Our patients, their families and carers work together with us towards better mental health.

We're committed to new thinking that improves the wellbeing of our region. We connect with our communities and partners to get mental health care right, in areas that really need it.

We won't rest until everyone in our region has the mental health care they need, to lead their best possible life.

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