Head of Therapies/Lead Occupational Therapist

*We are offering a £5000 welcome bonus for this role*

Come and join the one of UK's largest providers of complex care. We proudly employ over 4000+ people - no matter what your experience, we have jobs for everyone.

Are you an experienced and dynamic healthcare professional looking to take the next step in your leadership career? We have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Therapies / Lead Occupational Therapist (Band 8c equivalent) at Blackheath Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre, where you will play a pivotal role in shaping, leading, and delivering high-quality therapy services for individuals with complex neurological conditions.

In this senior leadership role, you will also provide oversight and professional leadership for therapy provision at our neighbouring Chislehurst neurological rehabilitation site, supporting consistency, quality, and best practice across services while working closely with local clinical leaders.

At Blackheath, every day is about rebuilding lives and creating success stories. We specialise in patient-centred rehabilitation for people with acquired brain injury and complex neurological conditions, and we're seeking an ambitious, motivated professional to lead our therapy services with passion and purpose across both sites.

If you're ready to take on a rewarding leadership role that blends strategic influence with hands-on clinical impact, we'd love to hear from you.

Please note - this advert will close once we have received a sufficient number of applications.

The role:

Our standard working hours are 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday. However, we understand the importance of a positive work-life balance, and therefore, if you require some flexibility to better suit your personal or professional needs, we encourage you to discuss this with us, and we will do our best to accommodate your preferences where possible.

As our Head of Therapies / Lead Occupational Therapist, you will:

Lead with purpose

• Provide strategic and professional leadership for all Therapy Services, reporting directly to the Hospital Director.
• Be accountable for all Allied Health Professional therapists and Therapy Support Staff.
• Directly manage the Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, and Speech & Language Therapy teams.
• Provide professional oversight and strategic leadership for therapy provision at our neighbouring Chislehurst neurological rehabilitation site, working collaboratively with local clinical leads to ensure consistency, quality, and best practice across services.
• Deputise for the Hospital Director when required.
• Lead therapy delivery across our highly complex neurorehabilitation environment, including our Level 1C neurobehavioural unit and Level 2a complex disability management unit.

Drive clinical excellence

• Hold a small but meaningful clinical caseload focused on complex neurological and neurobehavioural needs.
• Champion evidence-based practice, clinical governance, audit, and risk management.
• Ensure therapy services consistently meet agreed standards of safety, quality, activity, and efficiency.
• Ensure proficient use of UKROC-related outcome measures to inform reporting, planning, and service development.
• Work in line with BSPRM (British Society of Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine) guidelines for complex neurodisability management.

Shape the service

• Lead on service development, innovation, and new ways of working to maximise clinical and cost-effective outcomes.
• Develop and implement therapy standards that support professional competence, capacity, and conduct.
• Take a proactive role in audit, research, policy development, and continuous service improvement initiatives.

Inspire, mentor, and educate

• Provide strong leadership within the multidisciplinary team, representing therapy services at senior management level.
• Support supervision, training, and development for therapists, assistants, and students.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and compassion.

About you:

We're looking for more than just a skilled therapistwe're looking for an inspirational leader ready to shape the future of our therapy services and make a lasting impact on patient care.

To thrive in this role, you will need:

• HCPC registration
• Significant clinical experience in neurological rehabilitation, including complex neurobehavioural and neurodisability caseloads
• Proven leadership, management, or service-development experience
• Strong understanding and application of UKROC outcome measures and BSPRM complex neurodisability guidelines
• A passion for improving patient outcomes and driving excellence
• The ability to inspire, motivate, and bring out the best in others
• Successful candidates will be required to undergo an Enhanced DBS

We also want to ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable facilities to participate in job applications or interviews to perform essential job functions. To support this, we are a Disability Confident employer.

What to look forward to:

• Free Lunch on Duty
• Birthday off
• 25 days plus bank holidays
• Join the Active Learning Hub and benefit from a wide range of e learning and face to face training and development opportunities
• Benefits Hub giving discounts and savings on your weekly shop
• Free 24-hour confidential Employee Assistance Programme Helpline & App to support with legal, health, wellbeing, relationship and consumer advice
• A salary sacrifice Aegon 5% matched pension
• Access to join a Medicash Health Plan for you and your family to save money on everyday health essentials like going to the dentist or opticians
• We recognise outstanding Active Behaviours via the Active Awards programme
• Enhanced Sick & Maternity Pay benefits
• Refer a Friend Scheme and earn yourself up to £1500 by recommending someone you know
• and, of course, the support and guidance of our qualified clinical and business leadership teams so that you can really develop your career with Active Care Group

**Welcome bonus will be paid in two instalments: £2000 upon joining and a further £3000 after probation**