Senior Occupational Therapist | Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

An exciting opportunity has opened up for a Senior Occupational Therapist to join our Hillingdon Mental Health Inpatient Service. The role covers the treatment wards (2x18-bedded male and female wards) and the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (8-bedded male PICU).

We are looking for people who are passionate about OT and want the opportunity to focus on their clinical OT skills, and who have ideas to grow and develop the OT provision within inpatient services.

A key aspect of this role includes crossover working and collaborative contributions to the Health Based Place of Safety (HBPOS) and The Lighthouse, supporting individuals in crisis through timely Occupational Therapy input, risk management, discharge planning and collaborative multidisciplinary interventions. This provides an opportunity to work across acute inpatient and crisis pathways, ensuring continuity of care and promoting recovery-focused outcomes for service users.

You will have opportunities to

• Contribute to assessment and intervention planning across inpatient wards, HBPOS, and The Lighthouse
• Support service users transitioning between acute, crisis, and community pathways
• Supervise junior staff and students
• Act as a Practice Educator
• Access a wide range of internal and external training opportunities
• Build your leadership skills as part of your progression toward Band 7 roles within CNWL

Occupational therapists hold a key role within the MDT, which will include individual and groupwork, consultation, assessment, intervention and evaluation in accordance with the RCoT Professional standards and ethics.

The role also includes cross-service working with the HBPoS and The Lighthouse, providing OT input to support people in crisis, contribute to discharge planning, and promote smooth transitions from acute and crisis services.

You will be using MoHO, sensory and other evidence-based assessment tools in order to establish a baseline functional assessment from which recommendations can determine further on-going care and treatment to enable optimum functioning.

The role requires integrated evidence-based practice and skilful use of assessments & interventions with personal recovery principles in order to improve the service users’ quality of life and to support them to do the things they want to do and live the life they want to lead.

You would need to be committed to working within recovery principles. The successful applicant will be self-motivated with a desire to work in mental health, and willing to learn and grow within the team.

This post receives supervision from the Acute Lead OT (Band 7) and in addition there is a great support network working alongside other OTs in the Borough and across the trust. Opportunities for training, reflective practice, case formulation using Trauma Informed Approaches.

• Specialised OT & Mental health trainingcomprehensive offer of OT to OT training sessions, as well as specialised training depending on area of interest such as sensory integration and trauma informed care.
• Shadow and develop skillsin our neighbouring services, allowing you to see the full circle of treatment for our patients.
• Mentoring and coaching sessions supporting you with your development and growth into the role, including a bespoke 1:1 induction by Head OT tailored to your specific needs.
• Monthly supervisionfrom the lead OT for Hillingdon Inpatient Services
• You will be supported indeveloping your management and leadership skillsthrough supervising others, supporting students and developing new initiatives for the service.
• Opportunities to get involved in the establishedResearch and Developmentstructures in OT, including specialist forums and valuable networks.
• A trulyinclusive and diverseworkspace
• Staff health and wellbeing schemes
• QI trainingand support to bring your strengths and skills to service development

OT in CNWL is very fortunate in having a long-established professional structure and this includes an AHP director, Trust wide Professional Head of OT, borough and specialist Head OTs.

Personal and professional development is a high priorityfor the profession and is underpinned by our OT R&D strategy, R&D specialist groups and OT clinical networks. This enables us to invest in the development of our staff by providing excellent internal training as well as commissioning specialised external training and providing quality supervision. This ensures all our OTs reach their full potential at every stage of their career. Our commitment to research, audit and EBP is made possible by our strong links with local universities.

We actively support the next generation of OTsthrough apprenticeships, student placements and the promotion of the profession as a career in schools. We are proud of the diversity in our workforce but have invested time in supporting and developing this further through ourEquality Diversity & Belonging OT group.

Have a look at this video which provides further information with what to expect when working as an OT with CNWL, and the support which is offered:

CNWL Occupational Therapy Recruitment (FINAL) on Vimeo

This advert closes on Wednesday 20 May 2026

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