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Job summary

Main area
Occupational Health
Grade
Band 7
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
349-COR-V6220621
Employer
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Cobbett House, Oxford Road Campus
Town
Manchester
Salary
£43,742 - £50,056 Per Annum, (Pro Rata)
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
08/05/2024 23:59

Employer heading

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust logo

Senior Fitness For Work Practitioner

Band 7

Job overview

MFT’s Employee Health and Wellbeing (EHW) service provides specialist advisory services and support programmes to  MFT employees and managers, as well as to a variety of external clients.  The vision of the EHW Service is to provide efficient, highly professional and cost-effective services which meet the common and often complex occupational health challenges faced by our large and diverse workforce.

We are currently increasing our service delivery model which means that we are undergoing some exciting changes.  We are looking for an Occupational Health Practitioner or Occupational Therapist/Mental Health Practitioner/MSK specialist with proven experience in Occupational Health to join our team!

Occupational medicine has been at the forefront of Employee Health and Wellbeing during the pandemic and here at MFT the EHW Service is part of a national trailblazing pilot in terms of developing that arena – Growing OH. 

We are continuing to build our multidisciplinary team, not usually seen in occupational medicine, comprising of Senior Managers, Occupational Physicians, Fitness for Work Advisers, Clinic Nurses, Psychological Support Therapists, Mental Health Practitioners, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, EHW Physiotherapists and EHW Occupational Therapists. There are weekly MDT meetings to discuss complex cases to ensure all appropriate measures are taken.

Main duties of the job

Specialist staff pathways are currently being developed for long term condition management, menopause support and Long Covid. Working with other internal specialist teams e.g. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and the Disability Support group we have created a staff wellbeing passport to empower staff and managers to have the confidence to make timely practical reasonable adjustments, enabling staff to remain well and in work. In conjunction with the Disability Forum, HR and other key stakeholders, the EHW service has also developed a reasonable adjustments toolkit and to support employees through their journey within MFT.

To support our case management (fitness for work) service, we are currently recruiting an experienced  Senior Fitness For Work Advisor to support this service delivery and work alongside our expert colleagues in providing an EHW service to our highly skilled organisation. The candidate will be highly motivated and competent to carry out the full remit of the fitness for work assessment (Case manager/Fitness For Work role).  They will be able to provide quality reports to management and be able to engage with all relevant stakeholders. There will be a requirement to engage with managers and Trust staff across the MFT sites to ensure understanding and to deliver support.

Working for our organisation

MFT is one of the largest NHS Trust In England with a turnover of £2.6bn & is on a different scale than most other NHS Trusts. We’re creating an exceptional integrated health & social care system for the 1 million patients who rely on our services every year.

Bringing together 10 hospitals & community services from across Manchester, Trafford & beyond, we champion collaborative working & transformation, encouraging our 28,000 workforce to pursue their most ambitious goals. We set standards that other Trusts seek to emulate so you’ll benefit from a scale of opportunity that is nothing short of extraordinary.

We’ve also created a digitally enabled organisation to improve clinical quality, patient & staff experience, operational effectiveness & driving research, and innovation through the introduction of Hive; our Electronic Patient Record system which launched in September 2022.

We’re proud to be a major academic Research Centre & Education provider, providing you with a robust infrastructure to encourage and facilitate high-quality research programmes. What’s more, we’re excited to be embarking on our Green Plan which sets out how MFT continues to play its part in making healthcare more sustainable.

At MFT, we create and foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, provide equal opportunities for career development that are fair, open, and transparent, protecting your health and wellbeing and shaping the future of our organisation together.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience you’ll need, take a look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the ‘Supporting Documents’ heading.   So that you’re even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, you’ll need to take time to read the ‘Candidate Essentials Guide’ that sits with the Job Description and Person Specification.  This document provides you with details about the Trust, our benefits and outlines how ‘we care for you as you care for others’.  Most importantly, it also contains critical information you’ll need to be aware of before you submit an application form. 

Diversity Matters

MFT is committed to promoting equality of opportunity, celebrating and valuing diversity and eliminating any form of unlawful discrimination across our workforce, ensuring our people are truly representative of the communities we serve. All individuals regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation are encouraged to apply for this post.  As an inclusive employer, we are here to support you.  If you have any special requirements to help you with your application, email our team at [email protected].

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Current Registration with NMC as Registered General Nurse (Adult) or Registered Mental Health Nurse, or current registration with the HCPC as a Chartered Physiotherapist, or an Occupational Therapist.
  • Specialist Occupational Health qualification or relevant equivalent experience of working in the specialty of Occupational Health at a senior level up to masters equivalent level, supplemented by relevant short courses.
Desirable criteria
  • Report writing training
  • Teaching / mentor qualification

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Professional and legal knowledge in relation to fitness for work assessments and the writing of management feedback reports
  • Policy, process and protocol development
Desirable criteria
  • Health and lifestyle initiatives
  • Health surveillance programmes

Training and Experience

Essential criteria
  • Case Management/Fitness for work assessments
  • Working within an Occupational Health or case management setting
  • Proven report writing skills
  • Audit and evaluation of professional practice
  • Experience of working in a multidisciplinary team
  • Case Conferences / Multi-Disciplinary Team discussions
Desirable criteria
  • Health surveillance screening
  • Health and wellbeing lifestyle screening
  • Mentoring
  • Working with IT database systems or specific OH systems e.g. Empactis
  • Delivering training and education programmes
  • Networking

Skille and Abilities

Essential criteria
  • Proficient in complex fitness for work assessments (face to face, video or telephonic)
  • Proficient in report writing
  • Ability to prioritise workload
  • Effective time management
  • Ability to work on own initiative, unsupervised and independently whilst working as part of a wider multi-disciplinary team Good written and verbal communication skills
  • Experience of managing junior team members whilst supporting their professional development.
  • Ability to work under pressure
  • Ability to engage with key stakeholders
  • Good IT skills e.g. Microsoft packages, Word, Excel, PowerPoint
Desirable criteria
  • Management information collating and reporting
  • Presentation skills

Attributes

Essential criteria
  • Commitment to achieving personal, departmental and organisational objectives
  • Innovative and creative when looking for solutions
  • Persistent and resourceful
  • Team player
  • Able to adapt approach and style to meet needs of audience

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Veteran AwareApprenticeships logoArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardDisability confident employerStep into healthHappy to Talk Flexible Working

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Victoria Gloudon
Job title
Fitness For Work Team Manager
Email address
[email protected]
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