Employer Bristol NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Bristol Royal Hospital for Children Town Bristol Salary £57,528 – £64,750 per annum, pro rata for part time roles Salary period Yearly Closing 29/10/2026 23:59
Regional Lead Neonatal Occupational Therapist
Band 8a
North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) have merged as of 1 st July 2026 to become Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. This will create an exciting future that brings together the best of both organisations. As a single, strong and sustainable organisation, we will not only be able to deliver better outcomes for our patients and fairer care for our population, but it will also provide greater opportunities for our people.
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Job overview
The South West Neonatal Network has the exciting opportunity to recruit a Regional Lead Neonatal Occupational Therapist. If you are passionate about neonatal care and the role that Occupational Therapists and wider Allied Health Professionals play in supporting neonatal families, this opportunity is for you.
The Network brings professionals together across the region to ensure that outcome and quality standards are improved within neonatal care, while encouraging continuity and consistency of access to neonatal services. The successful candidate will be a collaborative and innovative professional, with a drive to support development of the neonatal AHP workforce.
Main duties of the job
To work as a regional member of the South West Neonatal Network with a primary focus of supporting, developing and succession planning the Neonatal Occupational Therapy (OT) workforce.
To facilitate, in line with the recommendations of the National Neonatal Critical Care Review (NCCR) and the NHS Long Term Plan (2019), the delivery of a service to all neonatal units within the network that supports equitable access to and provision of, highly complex, discipline specific, OT knowledge and skills to neonatal infants and their families.
This is a regional post predominantly working from home or from a base office in Bristol. Some travel will be required across the South West region, with very occasional travel nationally. The Network is hosted by BFT.
Working for our organisation
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust brings together more than 28,000 staff to deliver over 160 clinical services across thirteen hospital locations,operatingfrom three main sites at Southmead, Bristol citycentreand Weston.
With an annual turnover of £2.3 billion, we are now one of the largest NHS trusts in the United Kingdom. Our hospitals are spread across Bristol and Weston, join us and you can enjoy the very best of both worlds; city living within a stone’s throw of the countryside or beside the seaside, both with easy access to all that theSouth Westhas to offer.
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust values all people as individuals. As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce which represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them. Anonymous information will be used from your application in order to ensure we’re meeting our pledge.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For a more detailed job description, main responsibilities, and Person Specification, please refer to the job description documents attached to this vacancy.
Person specification
Qualifications & Training
- HCPC registered Occupational Therapist
- Degree or equivalent in Occupational Therapy
- Evidence of relevant post-graduate CPD equivalent to at least MSc level
- Relevant Neonatal Training courses e.g. NBAS, NBO, FINE, Infant Bobath, Sensory Beginnings, General Movement, EI Smart, Bayley IV, miniAHA
- Registration with RCOT
- Master’s degree or ability/commitment to undertake a health care related higher degree (MA/MSc) and complete within 4-5 years
Knowledge & Experience
- Significant post graduate experience across a wide range of specialities
- Experience working within paediatrics at a senior level (Band7 or above) including neonatal care, neurodevelopment or neurosciences
- Specialist knowledge and application of OT assessment and interventions in neonatal units
- Evidence working within a multidisciplinary team with clear understanding of roles and expectations
- Proven experience of research, audit and/or service development
- Proven experience in developing and delivering teaching, training and supervision of othersExperience managing individuals and managing team performance
- Experience of guideline / policy writing
- Knowledge of key national issues/agendas relevant to the neonatal field
- Experience of hospital discharge planning and caseload prioritisation
- Experience of prescribing specialised paediatric equipment.
- Experience of regional working
- Experience of leading and implementing service developments, including developing business cases and large scale change management
Skills & Abilities
- Excellent organisational and time management skills
- Excellent problem solving and analytical skills
- Excellent clinical leadership skills
- Sound IT skills
- Ability to work independently as an autonomous practitioner
- Proven responsibility for own decision making whilst working closely within a team
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Ability to fabricate upper limb splints from a range of materials
- Good team player
- Leadership
- Trustworthy
- Hardworking
We hope that you will decide to join us and become part of this exciting journey, helping us to shape our future together.
As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce which represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them. Anonymous information will be used from your application to ensure we’re meeting our pledge.
The Trust is committed to investing in and caring for all our staff. We will support you in maintaining and improving your health and wellbeing, as well as your career development through management and training support – developing exceptional people for exceptional careers.
BFT is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.
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IMPORTANT:
Please note that if you apply for a position with this Trust, you may be contacted via Trac or via email. This includes invites for job interviews. We therefore recommend that you regularly check your Trac account and email accounts. We may also contact you by texting the mobile number, if provided, on the application form.
Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close this vacancy before the advertised closing date.
Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification will be shortlisted for this job.
As a guide interviews should usually take place within 3 weeks of the closing date.
When providing employment reference details, please provide correct work-related email addresses so references can be sought promptly when we are looking to progress your application. Your referee must all be known to you in a line manager or professional lead capacity.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Name Lisa Mills Job title Paediatric Occupational Therapy Professional Lead Email address lisa.mills@uhbw.nhs.uk Telephone number 0117 3428429 Additional information
Amy Warren
Clinical Lead Physiotherapist for Neonatology
Amy.Warren2@uhbw.nhs.uk
Mary Leighton
Network Manager
Mary.Leighton@uhbw.nhs.uk
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