Clinical Accessibility and Support Officer

We are seeking a highly motivated, enthusiastic, flexible, conscientious and kind individual to join our service as a Clinical Accessibility and Support Officer.

The post holder will work exclusively alongside a visually impaired Cognitive Behavioural Therapist within the Preston Talking Therapies service. This is a specialist support role, that combines clinical administrative support with a focus on ensuring that clinical information, therapy materials and digital documents are accessible and suitable for use by the clinician.

The clinician to whom the support will be provided is a guide dog user, so being at ease around dogs is essential.

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills are essential due to the role’s close working relationship with the clinician and its context within mental health services. The post holder must also demonstrate discretion, emotional resilience and an ability to work appropriately with sensitive and potentially distressing information.

An understanding of accessibility and inclusive practice is important. This includes an awareness that the way information is presented can create barriers to access, and an ability to learn how materials can be adapted to address such barriers.

Talking Therapies is an innovative and forward-thinking service that provides rapid, accessible mental health screening, assessment and treatment whilst enabling people accessing the service to have a collaborative role in the choice of intervention they receive.

The post holder will work closely and collaboratively with the clinician, who will direct and prioritise duties on a day-to-day basis. The role will include managing and inputting information into the patient’s electronic care record, preparing and adapting therapy materials, and transferring notes and diagrams from client sessions.

A key aspect of the role will be making clinical materials and information accessible. This may include adapting PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, diagrams, PDFs and other digital resources, identifying accessibility issues and finding practical solutions in collaboration with the clinician.

The post holder will need to manage relevant administrative and secretarial procedures, deal confidently with non-routine tasks and use initiative and problem-solving skills. The ability to develop a strong and effective working relationship with the clinician is integral to the role.

Acrobat to create and edit documents, and a comprehensive understanding and use of Excel, powerpoint, and Microsoft Word, are essential. An understanding of accessibility principles and an ability to apply these when creating or adapting materials would be an advantage.

A willingness to develop further knowledge and skills in digital accessibility is essential, and additional training can be provided where required. The post holder will also be trained in the use and operation of the electronic patient clinical care record IAPTus.

LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi-time.

The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.

Explore our full wellbeing offer here:Keeping our workforce well

For more details on this vacancy please review the attached job description and person specification.