Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Senior Specialist Neonatal Occupational Therapist
The closing date is 29 June 2026
This is an exciting opportunity for a Band 7 Occupational Therapist to contribute to the development and delivery of the Neonatal Occupational Therapy Service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
Neonatal Occupational Therapy promotes infant neurodevelopment within the neonatal unit by empowering parents and caregivers to provide developmentally supportive care. The role involves supporting adaptations to the infant’s environment to optimise sensory experiences that are critical for brain development, with the aim of improving outcomes for babies and their families.
The Level 3 Neonatal Unit is divided into three areas:
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) – providing specialist intensive care and respiratory support for babies requiring the highest level of medical intervention.
- High Dependency Unit (HDU) – caring for babies who require ongoing monitoring and treatment but are stable enough to step down from intensive care.
- Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) – supporting babies who require additional care, such as tube feeding, oxygen therapy, or phototherapy, but who no longer require intensive or high-dependency care.
You will work closely with Allied Health Professional colleagues in Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Dietetics, and Psychology, alongside the wider multidisciplinary team, to deliver a comprehensive, evidence-based neonatal service.
Main duties of the job
- Take a lead role as an autonomous practitioner in the advanced assessment and treatment of acutely ill neonatal patients with cardiac, respiratory, orthopaedic, neurological, and neurodevelopmental conditions, including those with complex and chronic presentations.
- Provide specialist Occupational Therapy assessments and interventions for infants and their families, delivering high-quality, family-centred care.
- Demonstrate and promote the value of Occupational Therapy within neonatal services, helping to establish and strengthen the role of OT as a key profession within the multidisciplinary team.
- Supervise, support, and educate students, junior staff, and members of the wider neonatal multidisciplinary team.
- Lead and contribute to evidence-based projects, quality improvement initiatives, research, and audit activities, making recommendations to inform and improve clinical practice.
About us
This post is based within the Paediatric Occupational Therapy Service at Evelina London Children’s Hospital. The successful candidate will contribute to service development alongside colleagues within both the neonatal service and the wider Paediatric Occupational Therapy team. Clinical supervision will be provided by the Neonatal Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist, with professional management provided by the Head of Occupational Therapy.
Evelina London is part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and is the second-largest provider of children’s services in London. Our vision is to be a world-leading centre for life-changing care for children, young people and their families.
We care for more than 104,000 children and young people each year at our hospital and community sites. Our neonatal unit cares for around 800 babies a year, and has some of the best survival rates in the UK. The neonatal unit provides 24-hour specialist care for premature and sick infants who are born in South East London and southern England. In addition to medical care for problems such as extreme prematurity, breathing difficulties and infection, they care for babies with neonatal surgical problems, heart conditions, brain, eye, airway, kidney and metabolic problems. There are 20 intensive care cots, 12 high dependency care cots and 14 special care cots.
Person Specification
Knowledge/Qualifications
- Diploma or Degree in Occupational Therapy
- HCPC registration
- Masters level or equivalent training in specialist area or evidence of significant practical experience, in specialist area
- Completion of HEE modules
- Post graduate training/courses specific to neonatal care: NBO/NBAS, FINE I/II, Sensory beginnings
Experience
- Experience commensurate with a Senior Specialist Paediatric Occupational Therapist role
- Minimum 2 years clinical experience in early years paediatrics
- Evidence of continuing professional development and post registration education and training
- Ability to supervise junior staff and students
- Experience in collecting data, quality improvement and evaluating audit
- Experience of working on a neonatal unit
- Experience of working with babies and families
- Experience of research
Skills/Knowledge/Ability
- Specialist knowledge, application and analysis of standardised & non- standardised assessment tools
- Experience of working within multi-disciplinary team
- Demonstrate clinical leadership skills and excellent team building skills
- Demonstrate ability to motivate and manage teams through change positively
- Ability to work autonomously, acting decisively on behalf of self and others
- Knowledge and application of FICARE
- Knowledge of developmental care approach and interventions
Personal Qualities
- Ability to work flexibly and adapt approaches in response to clinical needs and priorities
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to manage conflict positively
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
£58,133 to £65,261 a yearper annum inc HCA pro rata
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