Occupational Therapy Team lead in Acute Stroke

About the Role

We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated Occupational Therapist to join our established Hyperacute and Acute Stroke Multidisciplinary Team at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.

Our 34‑bedded combined stroke unit—comprising 12 Hyperacute and 22 Acute beds—is one of the busiest and most dynamic stroke units in the country. You will be joining a cohesive and supportive MDT made up of Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Speech & Language Therapists, Stroke Physicians, Dietitians, Stroke Nurse Specialists and the wider Stroke Nursing team.

This is an exciting opportunity to develop advanced practice in a highly specialist environment, with strong clinical leadership and excellent opportunities for professional growth.

What You’ll Be Doing

In this role, you will be responsible for:

• Joint leadership and management of the Hyperacute and Acute stroke therapy team
• Delivering specialist Occupational Therapy assessment and intervention for patients in the Hyperacute and Acute phases of stroke
• Providing clinical expertise within the MDT, contributing to early prognostication, pathway planning, complex clinical decision‑making, and joint working
• Supervising and developing staff, supporting growth in clinical, leadership and management skills
• Leading service development and contributing to Trust‑wide projects and initiatives across the stroke pathway
• Supporting and delivering teaching and training within therapies and the stroke service
• Building and maintaining strong relationships across the stroke and neurological pathway, including links with:
  • Acute Neuro Team
  • Stroke ESD service
  • Stroke and neuro rehabilitation ward
  • Community services
  • Occupational Therapy and wider Therapy departments

What We Offer

This role provides an excellent opportunity to develop specialist stroke skills within a highly supportive and progressive environment. You will work closely with other therapy leads and teams across Neurology, Stroke, and the wider Therapy Service, and will be supported by:

• Therapy Clinical Lead for Neuro
• Trainee Advanced Clinical Practitioner for Neurology and Stroke
• In‑service training programmes
• Clinical peer support
• Access to external training opportunities
• A strong peer network of Occupational Therapy Team Leads and Clinical Specialists both within PHU and across local Trusts.

Who We’re Looking For

We are looking for an Occupational Therapist who is:

• Passionate about delivering excellent stroke care
• Confident in working within fast‑paced Hyperacute and Acute environments
• Experienced in complex clinical reasoning and MDT working
• Committed to leadership, service development, and ongoing learning
• A supportive mentor and role model for staff

If you have a minimum of 4 years post-graduate experience, with at least 2 years in the fields of Neurology or Stroke, we’d love to talk to you about this post.

We pride ourselves on our approach to flexible working and are happy to discuss full-time or part-time working.

For further information please contact:

Kath Lake: Kath.lake@porthosp.nhs.uk,  02392 286000 ext: 6838, or Laura Ineson: laura.ineson2@nhs.net

Please refer to the Job description for further details.

Essential:

• Degree / diploma in Occupational Therapy
• HCPC registered
• Member of RCOT
• Evidence of post-graduate training / qualification relevant to this clinical field or equivalent-level relevant experience.
• Car driver with access to a car with business insurance

Experience

Essential:

• Experience of Audit
• Experience of presenting complex data to a range of different audiences                               
• Experience of working with regional/national networks     
• Acute hospital experience 2 years minimum
• Experience of supervising and mentoring junior members of staff and pre-registration students
• Experience of providing clinical/professional leadership to junior members of staff
• Experience of working collaboratively across teams
• Ability to lead and influence change
• Sound level of theoretical profession specific knowledge
• Sound knowledge of the multi-disciplinary team
• Sound knowledge of interventions relevant to clinical area

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.