Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust • Ashford TN25 4AZ
About this role
Please note
at this stage, the role is open only to colleagues currently employed within Kent and Medway NHS Trusts, the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Medway Community Healthcare. Nursing vacancies are also open to Student Nurses and Newly Qualified Nurses.
We have an exciting opportunity for a dynamic Occupational Therapist to join our Pulmonary Rehabilitation team in East Kent. You will work alongside a Band 7 Physiotherapist and Therapy Assistant Practitioners, supported by an experienced admin team, to deliver a high‑quality, patient‑centred service.
This specialist role involves assessing and treating people with chronic respiratory conditions. You will work as an independent practitioner, using your clinical expertise to help patients improve their functional ability, manage breathlessness and enhance their overall quality of life. Pulmonary Rehabilitation is an incredibly rewarding area, with patients frequently sharing life‑changing feedback about their progress.
You will also play an active role in developing the respiratory pathway across Kent, working closely with partner organisations and integrated care systems. The service offers regular in‑service training, clinical supervision, protected CPD time and opportunities to contribute to clinical interest groups. As a Trust ratedOutstandingby the CQC and the first in the South East to achieve RCP accreditation for Pulmonary Rehabilitation, we are committed to supporting your growth.
As a Band 6 Occupational Therapist in our Pulmonary Rehabilitation team, you will deliver advanced assessments and interventions for people with respiratory conditions that impact their daily activities. You will use your specialist skills to assess functional ability, support breathlessness management, and address psychological or anxiety‑related factors affecting day‑to‑day life. Your work will help patients engage fully with Pulmonary Rehabilitation and improve their independence and quality of life.
You will contribute to Occupational Therapy assessments and education sessions within Pulmonary Rehabilitation programmes across East Kent, and provide vocational rehabilitation where clinically appropriate. Working closely with the Senior Clinical Lead and Head of Service, you will help ensure the delivery of a safe, effective and high‑quality service.
Collaboration is key to this role. You will maintain strong professional links with colleagues, peers and wider healthcare partners to support service development and ensure a coordinated, patient‑centred approach. This is an excellent opportunity to apply and grow your specialist respiratory skills within a supportive, forward‑thinking team.
Part time hours can be considered.
Rated ‘outstanding’ by the CQC, we’ve got a passion for delivering high standards of patient care and excellent services to improve the health of our communities. To do this we need outstanding people who share our values compassionate Aspirational Responsive Excellent
We know a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion leads to better patient care and a happier workforce. We pride ourselves in being diverse and welcome applications from people with varied backgrounds, perspectives and experiences
We ask for information about your protected characteristics on our application forms. This isn’t visible to anyone involved with shortlisting or interviewing you, except when you choose to be considered under the guaranteed interview scheme due to disability. Short listers will see two ticks alongside your application to ensure they apply the principles of the scheme to your submission
The data we collect helps us to ensure we are attracting diversity in our applicants, that all our colleagues have equitable access to career opportunities and supports us on our journey to being a Great Place to Work
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want you to be able to work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you. Talk to us about a flexible working arrangement that won’t involve sacrificing time for personal interests or family commitments. We’ll support you to work flexibly in a way that will suits us both
See where you can go with KCHFT career pathways
As a community Trust, many of our roles require individuals to be able to drive to perform their duties. Where driving is a requirement of the role, you will be asked to confirm that you hold a full UK driving licence or a full driving licence issued by an EU country (not exchanged from a non-EU country) to proceed with your application. We are committed to supporting candidates with disabilities into employment. If you are unable to drive due to a disability, please contact the Recruitment Team via kentchft.recruitment@nhs.net, quoting the vacancy reference number, so we can support you further.
The job description and person specification gives you all the information you need about this role. Please look carefully at the criteria in the person specification and tell us what you have done that shows you meet this in your application. If you need an application form in an alternative format please let our recruitment team know. All information you supply on your application should, to the best of your knowledge, be true and accurate.
Still have questions? The recruiting manager would love to hear from you, their contact details can be found in the job advert.
We can get a lot of applications for some roles so to be in with the best chance of being shortlisted please make sure you apply as soon as possible. A vacancy may close early if there is a lot of interest in the job.
At KCHFT we strongly encourage colleagues in clinical and non-clinical roles who have direct or social contact with patients to be fully vaccinated. In this way we will be doing all we can to ensure your safety and that of your colleagues and the patients we serve.
Find out more about the community differencehere.
Good luck! We can’t wait to meet you and welcome you to #teamKCHFT, #cometocommunity.
This advert closes on Monday 11 May 2026