Lead OT Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich

Lead OT Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced and forward-thinking Occupational Therapist to join Queen Elizabeth Hospital as the Site Lead Occupational Therapist, providing visible clinical and operational leadership across acute inpatient therapy services.

The post holder will play a key leadership role in shaping Occupational Therapy delivery across the site, ensuring high-quality, patient-centred care while supporting operational flow, reducing length of stay and improving patient outcomes. You will lead service development, drive quality improvement initiatives and support workforce transformation aligned to Trust, IC and national NHS priorities.

Working as part of the senior therapy leadership team, you will influence site-wide decision making, support multidisciplinary working and ensure Occupational Therapy contributes fully to urgent and emergency care pathways, frailty, discharge planning and complex rehabilitation.

You will act as a professional role model, embedding evidence-based practice, driving innovation and supporting the development of a highly skilled and engaged workforce.

The Occupational Therapy Site Lead provides professional, clinical, performance and operational leadership to Occupational Therapy staff working at and based at the QEH site.

To achieve this, the post holder works in close collaboration with the Head of Occupational Therapy, AHP peers and the Band 7 Occupational Therapy Team Leads.

The Occupational Therapy Site Lead is a highly experienced clinician who independently manages a significant and highly specialised clinical caseload. The post holds responsibility for providing strategic development of Occupational Therapy services within QEH. The post holder will develop partnerships and work closely with all service stakeholders both within and beyond the Trust to ensure a safe, evolving, fit for purpose and cost efficient service is provided.

The post holder will contribute to wider strategic planning to facilitate enhanced quality of patient care within the Occupational Therapy service.

The post holder leads a rolling programme of education, clinical evaluation, audit and research across the speciality.

The post holder is responsible for developing partnerships with key operational leads both internally within the Trust and externally.

The Occupational Therapy will deputise for the Head of Occupational Therapies as required.

7-day working for Therapies is under development within the Trust and the post holder may be required to undertake a different working pattern, including weekends, in the future.

Interview date: 16th March 2026 on the UHL site .

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

• Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
• Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
• Improving the experience of staff with disability
• Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
• Making equalities mainstream

Key Result Areas & Performance:

To be the Lead Occupational Therapist within UHL, advising on OT issues, working closely with the Head of Therapy and representing Occupational Therapy within the Trust and to outside agencies, as required.

To be responsible for maintaining up-to-date knowledge and skills at an advanced level in the practice of Occupational Therapy.

To initiate, develop and implement innovative models of service delivery in collaboration with the Therapy Manager and in partnership with AHP and service managers within the LGT and Social Services.

To be responsible for maintaining advanced knowledge of relevant health and social care initiatives and legislation, and to implement improvements in practice to meet these.

To actively participate in meetings with the Head of Therapy and operational meetings with the senior OT staff, in order to advise on all aspects of the UHL OT service.

To deputise for the Head of Therapy in her absence for relevant matters.

To ensure that own practice and service meets agreed local and national standards and clinical governance requirements, including COT Standards for Practice, Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.

To undertake regular review of and evaluation of own work through the use of evidence-based practice, audits, research and effective outcome measures.

To lead and participate in clinical work and to promote a high standard of expertise within the OT…