Job Description

How you'll make a difference:

As an Advanced Occupational Therapist, you will be working closely with hospital staff to promote the best outcomes for people following a hospital admission. Enabling service users to recognise their strengths and abilities, you will ensure their independence is maximised.


What you will be doing:
You will complete occupational therapy assessments with our service users at Southmead Hospital and in multiple settings across the whole of South Gloucestershire. You will be responsible for developing and maintaining close working relationships with service users, their families and formal carers. It will be your responsibility to carry out manual handling risk assessments, including considerations for single-handed care, and develop tailored manual handling plans to ensure safety and compliance. It will be key for you to consider ways to support the wider team to be effective in their interventions, including using task analysis, provision of equipment, assistive technologies, home environment assessments and minor housing adaptations. Making recommendations for a significant budget spend, you will ensure maximum value is delivered for the resources deployed. You will have a caseload with regular supervision and support and work alongside colleagues in a strength-based approach in line with the Three Conversations model. It will be your responsibility to advise and inform individuals and their carers about available services, including those available under the Care Act.


In addition to the above, as an Advanced Occupational Therapist:

You will support students on placement as an experience practitioner. It will be key for you to remain fully up to date with the core training expectations. You will need to give examples of using research and evidence-based resources to enhance practice and share learning with team (e.g. use of research in practice/other online resources).

What we need from you:
We require you to hold a professional occupational therapy qualification e.g. Dip COT, BSc Honours OT or equivalent, and be registered with the Health Professionals Council. This is a fast paced role and to be successful in this working environment, you will need to be able to work efficiently under pressure, respond to shifting priorities and maintain a flexible approach so you can meet service requirements. You will be able to demonstrate how your experience of working in a hospital, community, voluntary or agency setting providing occupational therapy services is relevant to this post. You must have up to date and sound knowledge of all related legislation relevant to social services occupational therapy and legislation supporting this. It is essential that you have experience of managing complex cases and can demonstrate applying assessment skills in practice.




In addition to the above, as an Advanced Occupational Therapist:

We will require you to have a minimum of 2 years post qualification experience. You will have evidence of meeting the essential (and desirable where possible) criteria for the role. A clear commitment to Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

What you need to know:
You will be expected to travel throughout the authority and surrounding area so must have a full, valid driving licence with regular access to a vehicle or have alternative appropriate means of travel. Business insurance will need to be added to your insurance policy and you can claim back mileage expenses. This role is hybrid, with opportunities to work remotely subject to case load requirements Please note that due to the nature of this role it is a requirement of employment that an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is obtained for this post.

Interviews are anticipated to be week commencing 21st January 2026.

How a career at South Gloucestershire Council is different:
What's special here is the strength of the

team ethos

. We are a relatively small local authority, so managers know staff well. They can plan their services to ensure teams have

manageable caseloads

and have effective supervision so

feel supported

to make decisions which are right for the people they work with. We know our team work best when they have balance in their lives and we offer genuine

flexibility

to help them achieve that

work/life balance

.
We invest in the careers of our people and we are recognised for the quality, breadth and depth of our

training and development

offer, which helps our people make the greatest long-term difference in their work.
As part of our benefits package you will receive generous

annual leave

(pro rata), employee

wellbeing support

and you will have access to a range of

staff discounts

, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities. We recognise that our

diverse team

of skilled and dedicated people make us a great place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and developed on the basis of their merits and abilities.

Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here.



We're building and shaping communities which people are proud of. We're working with the most vulnerable in our community to help them achieve what they want in life. We're investing in our schools to ensure every child and young person in South Gloucestershire achieves their full potential.


We've achieved a great deal, but we need talented and dedicated people to ensure we continue to make a difference.

We're making a difference, be part of it!

To view the full job description, please click this link Occupational Therapist & Advanced Occupational Therapist -