Job overview
This is a fixed term, part time opportunity for 12 months. This role is a frontline clinical role delivering specialist physiotherapy assessment and intervention to babies and children in the community in the London Borough of Haringey. The post holder will deliver care to children and young people from infancy up to 18 years of age in a range of settings. You will work as part of a physiotherapy team which sits within a wider MDT and multiagency framework.
The team takes pride in enabling children to achieve better outcomes by delivering evidence based and compassionate care.
Interviews for this post will be face to face .
Main duties of the job
1. To provide assessment and physiotherapy intervention to children and young people in a range of settings in collaboration with the child, family and other professionals.
2. To document patient care accurately and in accordance with professional and trust guidelines.
3. To safeguard children within the scope of the role.
4. To engage in quality improvement
5. To engage in CPD to improve your own practice and the service offer.
6. To train and develop other staff.
7. To engage in research where appropriate,
8. To provide cover when other members of the team are unavailable.
9. To report incidents and near misses in line with trust processes.
Working for our organisation
Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To carry a personal clinical caseload maintaining a high level of professional competence and demonstrate developing clinical expertise.
To undertake comprehensive assessment of children with complex developmental, neurological and specialist orthopaedic conditions. Investigative and analytical skills should be used to formulate individualised management and treatment plans incorporating a wide range of treatment skills and using clinical reasoning.
To provide physiotherapy treatment of children using clinical reasoning and utilising a wide range of treatment skills and options and provide ongoing treatment programmes.
To provide specialist advice and assessment for the provision of appropriate aids and equipment and monitor their use.
To administer specialist standardised and structured assessments, interpret results and contribute to accurate diagnosis and prognosis within the team responsible for the child’s care.
To assess and treat individual children with complex needs, in their homes and school or clinic setting, working as part of the multi-disciplinary team, and liaising closely with education staff and parents/carers.
To use a range of communication strategies to overcome barriers to communicating e.g. language, communication difficulties or cognitive impairment and English as a second language, to engage and motivate the child and their family/carers in their Physiotherapy treatment.
To attend meetings necessary to co-ordinate multi-agency care of the child e.g. transition planning, child protection.
To make referrals to other services as required to meet the child or family’s identified needs.
To keep accurate and adequate records, and write reports and discharge summaries as required, ensuring that confidentiality and information-sharing standards are met as in Trust and professional standards.
To communicate complex clinical information and care plans to parents, carers, and staff in other agencies, for them to understand and carry out effective treatment or management of the child.
To establish relationships with community services and facilities, and to assist children and their families to make links with resources available to them.
To work effectively with clients, carers, and colleagues around individual case management, providing advice, guidance and support as necessary and involving them in the planning and prioritisation of care wherever possible.
To reflect on clinical practice; adequately identifying strengths & needs of clients, reviewing their response to therapy and providing evidence of sound clinical judgement.
To monitor and review the progress of children on caseload and facilitate the development or modification of packages of care / targets as appropriate using evaluation/outcome measurement tools.
To adapt practice to meet individual client/carer’s circumstances, considering cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
To produce accurate, & detailed reports, therapy programmes, advice and information as necessary in a timely manner.
To respond to the requirements of the 1996 Education Act, The Children’s and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice (2015), by completing written advice for children who may have Special Educational Needs.
To refer children to other Health, Education or Social Services professionals as necessary.
To undertake home visits, as necessary, in compliance with Home Visiting Safety Policy
COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIP SKILLS:
To be able to gather information that may be sensitive or complex and analyse it as part of a full assessment of a client’s strengths and difficulties.
To work closely with clients and carers using empathy, tact, reassurance and active listening to complete assessments, discuss results, and agree treatment options.
To develop skills in motivating clients/carers to engage in the therapeutic process.
To negotiate and manage conflict effectively in a range of settings, with support and supervision from line manager.
To deal with initial complaints sensitively, avoiding escalation where possible
To form effective therapeutic relationships with clients and/or carers who may be under stress and/or having challenging behaviour.
To provide training to a variety of audiences on aspects of physiotherapy.
KNOWLEDGE, TRAINING & EXPERIENCE:
To identify own training needs as part of the Professional Development Review and in supervision with the Band 7 physiotherapist.
To keep up to date with current clinical developments through reading, attendance at courses, meetings and Specific Interest Groups
To attend clinical supervision
To maintain up to date professional registration at all times.
Person specification
Qualifications and Training
Essential criteria
10. Degree in Physiotherapy
Desirable criteria
11. Post graduate qualification in paediatrics (MSc, PGCert, Diploma)
12. UK Safeguarding Children Training
13. CPIPS Trained with User ID
14. Training in any of the following: AIMS, HINE, Bayleys, MABC, Prechtl
Experience
Essential criteria
15. At least 18 months post graduation experience in a Band 5 post
Desirable criteria
16. Completion of a paediatric placement as a student or completion of a Band 5 rotation in paediatrics
17. Experience working with children with disabilities either as a student, Band 5 or in another post or voluntary position
18. At least 6 months experience of working in a Band 6 post within the NHS or equivalent
Knowledge of Assessment
Essential criteria
19. Can undertake a comprehensive subjective and objective physiotherapy assessment
20. Can use a standardised assessment
21. Can analyse the assessment findings to identify strengths and areas of deficit and reflect this in the documentation
Desirable criteria
22. Has used one or more named paediatric standardised assessments
23. Can use a recognised framework to assess a child holistically
24. Can assess a child for equipment
25. Can assess a child for orthotic intervention
26. Can undertake a joint assessment with another member of the MDT
Intervention
Essential criteria
27. Can identify appropriate, evidence based interventions for a patient with neurological impairments
28. Can identify appropriate interventions for patients with MSK conditions
Desirable criteria
29. Can describe main physiotherapy interventions for a child with a neurological disorder
30. Can describe how to progress an intervention for a child
31. Can describe how to evaluate an intervention
32. Demonstrates holistic approach to interventions
Knowledge of child development
Essential criteria
33. Has knowledge of normal child development inc. gross and fine motor, language and social development
Desirable criteria
34. Has completed training on child development
35. Can describe normal sequences of gross motor development
36. Has experience treating children with developmental delays
37. Knows when children may show delays in areas such as speech, fine motor and social development
Knowledge of Disabilities
Essential criteria
38. Has basic knowledge of common paediatric presentations such as cerebral palsy, neuromuscular conditions and musculoskeletal and orthopaedic conditions.
Desirable criteria
39. Has experience treating a child with cerebral palsy, orthopaedic or msk conditions.
Safeguarding
Essential criteria
40. Can demonstrate knowledge of own responsibilities in safeguarding children
Desirable criteria
41. Has completed safeguarding children training
42. Has been involved in safeguarding processes with an adult or a child
Audit and quality Improvement
Essential criteria
43. Can explain what clinical governance means
Desirable criteria
44. Has undertaken QI project and can explain the processes involved
Communication
Essential criteria
45. Has clear spoken and written English
46. Can present written information clearly, concisely, and logically
47. Evidence of writing progress notes, reports and e-mails in line with HCPC standardss
Desirable criteria
48. Has experience writing advice or reviews for EHCPs
Developing oneself and others
Essential criteria
49. Can evidence commitment to CPD which includes reflective practice
50. Has supervised students or assistant staff
SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND ADULTS
To comply with the Trust’s Safeguarding Children and Adults policies, procedures and protocols. All individual members of staff (paid or unpaid) have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults This will require you to:
51. Ensure you are familiar with and comply with the London Child Protection Procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.
52. Ensure you are familiar and comply with the London Multi Agency Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Pan London Procedures.
53. Ensure you are familiar and comply with local protocols and systems for information sharing.
54. Know the appropriate contact numbers and required reporting lines.
55. Participate in required training and supervision.
56. Comply with required professional boundaries and codes of conduct
Whittington Health is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.