Senior Hand Therapist

Are you a skilled and motivated Hand Therapist looking to take your career to the next level? We have an exciting opportunity to join our friendly and well-established Hand Therapy team at Northampton General Hospital, part of the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire Group.

This is a varied and rewarding role in which you'll manage your own complex caseload, working across trauma, orthopaedics and plastic surgery. You'll apply advanced clinical reasoning, design and fabricate splints, and make a real difference to patients navigating some of the most challenging moments of their lives.

Beyond direct patient care, you'll play an active part in shaping the service through audit, clinical pathway development and in‑service training. You'll also have the opportunity to mentor junior staff and support students on practice placement, helping to develop the next generation of hand therapists.

• Responsible for the assessment, planning and implementation of Hand Therapy interventions for patients on own caseload, alongside senior Hand Therapy colleagues.
• Actively contribute to the day‑to‑day operation and ongoing development of the Hand Therapy Service, working in close conjunction with the Hand Therapy Team leader, Hand Therapy colleagues and Therapy Service managers.
• Provide clinical supervision to junior Hand Therapy staff and Hand Therapy Clinical Support staff as required.
• Contribute to the fieldwork education of students on practice placement within the Hand Therapy and Therapies service.
• Demonstrate and apply a broad level of understanding of illness, injury and disability and the complex interaction between health, functional ability, psychological and social issues.
• Design and fabricate splints appropriately to meet the required clinical outcomes, including the fabrication of dynamic splints.
• Communicate effectively with patients, carers, members of the clinical team, Hand Therapy/Occupational Therapy colleagues and other agencies.
• Provide support to patients, sharing information to enable them to make informed decisions regarding their Hand Therapy treatment.
• Advise patients and carers, teaching and demonstrating the safe use of splints and other treatment modalities to optimise patient outcome.
• Liaise with healthcare professionals and other related statutory, private and voluntary organisations, providing verbal and written reports where appropriate.
• Participate in planning, evaluation and audit of practice, clinical pathways, protocols and procedures within Hand Therapy.
• Propose changes to processes and procedures carried out within the Hand Therapy Service to improve effectiveness and efficiency.
• Exercise good personal time management, punctuality and consistent reliable attendance, submitting accurate daily records of attendance on electronic timesheets.
• Delegate work tasks appropriately to junior Hand Therapists, Hand Therapy Technical Instructors and Administrative Support staff.
• Undertake supervision and contribute to the appraisal process of junior Hand Therapy staff, Hand Therapy Clinical Support staff, and Administrative Support staff.
• Provide/contribute to regular supervision and formal assessment of Occupational Therapy / Physiotherapy students on fieldwork practice placements within the Hand Therapy/ Therapies service.
• Develop and utilise specialist skills as required for specific clinical conditions within Hand Therapy.
• Apply increasingly complex knowledge and skills in order to ensure fitness to practice as an Occupational Therapist / Physiotherapist within the Hand Therapy service.
• Participate in the Hand Therapy in‑service training programme, taking the lead in designated sessions as appropriate.
• Demonstrate ongoing personal development through identification of learning needs, and participation in formal/informal internal and external learning opportunities, contributing to the production of a Personal Development Plan.
• Build an ongoing Continuing Professional Development portfolio, reflecting on and recording learning outcomes of development opportunities.
• Demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate current Hand Therapy research and apply this to practice in conjunction…