
Occupational Therapy Clinical Team Lead - Trauma and Orthopaedics
Job Description
Band 7: (£49,387 - £56,515)
Permanent
Part-Time (30 hours per week)
Are you ready to lead, inspire and make a real difference?
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust is seeking an experienced, motivated, and forward-thinking Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist to join our dynamic Trauma & Orthopaedics team at Queen Alexandra Hospital.
This is an exciting leadership opportunity for an Occupational Therapist who is passionate about delivering high-quality, patient-centred care within a fast-paced acute setting.
About the Role
As the Clinical Lead, you will play a key role in shaping and delivering occupational therapy services across Trauma & Orthopaedics. You will provide strong clinical leadership, support service development, and ensure high standards of care for patients recovering from injury, surgery, and musculoskeletal conditions.
You will work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team, contributing to efficient patient flow and safe discharge planning, while supporting and developing junior staff.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide specialist clinical expertise within Trauma & Orthopaedics, managing a complex caseload
- Lead and support the day-to-day operational management of the Therapy service within T&O
- Supervise, mentor and develop Band 5/6 staff, apprentices, and students
- Contribute to service improvement initiatives, audits, and quality improvement projects
- Ensure delivery of safe, effective discharge planning and rehabilitation pathways
- Work collaboratively with physiotherapists, nurses, consultants, and community teams
- Promote evidence-based practice and innovation within the service
About You
We are looking for someone who is:
- A qualified Occupational Therapist with current HCPC registration
- Experienced in acute care, ideally within Trauma & Orthopaedics
- Demonstrating leadership skills or ready to step into a leadership role
- Passionate about patient-centred rehabilitation and discharge planning
- A confident communicator with excellent team-working skills
- Committed to service development and continuous improvement
Essential Requirements:
- Registered with HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council).
- BSc in Occupational Therapy
- Significant post-registration experience in acute settings, ideally within a Trauma and Orthopaedic setting.
- Excellent communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
- Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to manage complex situations
- Evidence of continuing professional development (CPD)
- Experience in supervising staff and/or students
Desirable:
- Previous leadership or senior role experience
- Involvement in audit, research, or service redesign
- Knowledge of NHS pathways and discharge processes
What We Offer
- A supportive and innovative working environment within a large teaching hospital
- Access to training, CPD, and research opportunities
- Flexible working options where possible
- NHS pension scheme and staff benefits
Apply Now
If you are ready to take the next step in your career and make a meaningful impact within Trauma & Orthopaedics, we would love to hear from you.
Join us in delivering outstanding care, every day.
For a full list of roles and responsibilities, please see the attached job description.
Essential
- Registered with HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council).
- BSc in Occupational Therapy
- Significant post-qualification experience in a clinical therapy role, ideally within a Trauma and Orthopaedic setting.
- Proven leadership and management experience in a healthcare environment.
- Excellent communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to work effectively within a multidisciplinary team.
- Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to manage complex situations. A commitment to continuous professional development and service improvement
Skills and Knowledge
Essential
- Operational management and leadership skills
- Supportive, excellent interpersonal skills including ability to communicate clearly both written and oral
- Outstanding leadership skills
- Understand legal responsibilities of your profession, with knowledge of professional and ethical issues in practice
- Ability to build effective working relationships within the Multi-Disciplinary Team
- Knowledge of health and safety issues
- Detailed knowledge of the principles and application of clinical governance including experience of quality issues and audit
- Specialist knowledge and application of assessments, interventions, outcome measures
- Self-motivated, assertive, diplomatic, and tactful
- An ability to work alone, autonomously and set own priorities
- Ability to work flexibly and manage pressure of work
- Ability to delegate and negotiate.
- Able to analyse professional and ethical issues, including ability to critically appraise own performance
- Ability to recognise when to seek advice
- Supervisory and appraisal skills
- Ability to organise and respond efficiently to complex information
- Ability to cope with a stressful working environment and with emotional or aggressive patients or carers
- Ability to build effective working relationships
- Competent IT skills
- Presentation skills
- Commitment to lifelong learning
- Ability to engage with service users, including a commitment to client centred, non-discriminatory practice
- Ability to keep accurate and legible patient notes including numeracy and literacy skills.
- Driving licence as required for role
Experience
Essential
- Evidence of experience to meet the scope and authority of the post.
- Evidence of advanced level of practice including in depth experience at band 6 level
- Supervision of staff/students
- Leadership, recruitment and selection of staff
- In individual/group and team work in a variety of relevant settings
- Of research/audit
- Documented evidence of Continuous Practice Development (CPD)
- Practice innovation
- Of working with users/carers and external agencies
The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and Disability, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.
We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.
For more information, please see our People and OD Strategy 2026