Therapy Assistant Practitioner - Early Intervention Team
Band 4
Main area Corporate - Occupational Therapy / Physiotherapy Grade Band 4 Contract Permanent Hours
* Full time
* Part time
* Flexible working
37.5 hours per week (Full Time or Part Time / Flexible working hours may be considered.) Job ref 180-B-263028
Employer Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type NHS
Site Addenbrookes Hospital-Division Corporate
Town Cambridge
Salary £26,530 - £29,114 per annum pro rata
Salary period Yearly
Closing 16/02/2026 23:59
Job overview
We are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for a Band 4 Therapy Assistant Practitioner to work within the Early Intervention Therapy Team (EIT) at Cambridge University Hospitals.
You will work alongside the EIT Therapy team to provide appropriate therapy assessments and treatments for patients with acute and long term conditions such as, but not limited to, stroke, falls, neurological conditions, trauma / fracture management, acute MSK conditions and patients with highly complex needs.
You will be responsible for supporting and working alongside EIT Therapists to provide a high standard of assessment, advice and evaluation of patients to formulate appropriate plans of care for patients discharged into Community settings and refer on to appropriate MDT members for patients admitted to the hospital setting.
If some patients were deemed appropriate by the EIT Therapy team, you may be expected to complete simple mobility assessments and collect collateral information with the aim of admission avoidance and early supported discharge. You will be expected to manage your own caseload under the guidance of a qualified Clinician.
The EIT Therapy team are dynamic and are constantly looking at ways to improve the service. They work very closely with members of the Multidisciplinary team and are constantly collecting data with the aim of service improvement.
Administrative responsibilities will be required within this role to support qualified Therapists.
Main duties of the job
Support and assist the Early Intervention Team with admission avoidance and early supported discharge in the Emergency Department and Emergency Short Stay areas.
In addition, you will work closely with Frailty Specialist Nurses, Discharge Planning Specialist Nurses, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists.
Provide a high standard of assistance to Therapy staff (Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists) in order to support admission avoidance and early mobility where appropriate.
This role is paramount in supporting patient flow throughout the Trust and provides the opportunity to work with the MDT and our service partners in best practice, while providing expert advice on the management of patients with complex discharge planning needs.
You will be a key resource to the MDT supporting patients and their families with decisions around discharge, completing appropriate onward referrals to ensure their care needs will be met safely, and supporting ward staff with the preparations of discharge.
EIT is a very proactive and innovative multidisciplinary team of Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Frailty Specialist Nurses and Discharge Planning Specialist Nurses. EIT is well respected and has been acknowledged for providing Admission Avoidance, early supported discharge and proactive Frailty screening. EIT works in the Emergency Department including short stay areas, Urgent treatment Centre, and Medical Assessment Units.
Working for our organisation
Our Trust
Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust comprises Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge. With over 13,000 staff and over 1100 beds the priorities of the Trust focus on a quality service which is all about people – patients, staff and partners. Recognised as providing ‘outstanding’ care to our patients and rated ‘Good’ overall by the Care Quality Commissioner, is testament to the skill and dedication of the people who work here. CUH’s values – Together - Safe, Kind, Excellent – are at the heart of patient care, defining the way all staff work and behave. The Trust provides accessible high-quality healthcare for the local people of Cambridge, together with specialist services, dealing with rare or complex conditions for a regional, national and international population.
CUH is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community - a place where we can all be ourselves. We value our differences and fully advocate and support an inclusive working environment where every individual can fulfil their potential. We want to ensure our people are truly representative of all the communities that we serve. We welcome applications for all positions in the organisation irrespective of people’s age, disability, ethnicity, race, nationality, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity status or social economic background.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Applicant Information Pack (combined Job Description and Person Specification) for key duties and responsibilities.
Due to Home Office immigration rules, a full time permanent vacancy cannot be filled by individuals on a Student visa. Therefore, please be advised that if you are a Student visa holder, we will not be able to offer you a full time permanent contract unless you have:
- applied for a Graduate visa
- or you will have successfully completed your course and have applied for a Graduate visa before the anticipated start date of your employment
- or the Trust has agreed that they will Sponsor you as a Skilled Worker and you will complete your studies within 3 months of the anticipated start date of employment
This vacancy will close at midnight on 16th February 2026
Interviews are due to be held on 2nd March 2026
Benefits to you
At Cambridge University Hospitals, we want to do all we can to support good working days. We offer development opportunities and a wide range of benefits, including on-site leisure facilities, shopping concourse and day nurseries. Our good work programme currently includes providing reduced cost Stagecoach bus travel to and from Cambridge University Hospital site. Park and Ride bus journeys between Babraham Road and Trumpington sites are free, as is the route to and from Cambridge train station and our hospitals. We also subsidise the cost of parking on site for eligible staff.
On CUH campus, hot food is available 24/7 and at a reduced cost for colleagues. Recently we launched the first of our staff pod break spaces. Located in the Deakin Centre, we have a purpose-created colleague-only café, with free tea and coffee, a break space and private outside area for colleagues to rest, refuel and recharge. Just one of the ways we are working hard to support good working days at CUH.
CUH is committed to assisting employees in achieving a good work-life balance irrespective of role or personal circumstances. Flexible arrangements may include, but are not limited to, part-time working, job-share, term-time working and flexible start and finish times.
Please note if you would like to discuss the required hours of this role further, you should approach the contact given. In some cases, alternative working hours will be considered.
We welcome applications from the Armed Forces.
Person specification
Qualifications
* Good general education to GSCE or similar level of attainment
* NVQ Level 3 or equivalent level of knowledge and experience in a health care setting
* Evidence of relevant in service training
* NVQ Level 3 Care certificate
* Willingness to undertake relevant training in line with the demands of the role
Experience
* Experience of managing a delegated workload, independently assessing, prescribing appropriate interventions and evaluating outcomes
* Working in a variety of health / caring settings in a direct patient role
* Working as a team member
* Prioritising, planning and organising own tasks
* Working within guidelines
* Experience of working with challenging and complex patient groups
* Working independently with indirect supervision
* Assisting with personal care
* Experience of moving and handing patients and equipment
* Working with individuals with a disability / illness including assisting with personal care activities
* Working in project groups on service development, contributing to the development of learning environment
* Experience of working in the NHS
* Experience of working in an acute hospital
* Experience of working in a Therapy team
Knowledge
* Knowledge of the role of confidentiality within healthcare
* Knowledge of the roles of Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Nurse and Discharge Planning
* An awareness of commonly encountered medical conditions in an acute hospital settling such as falls, confusion, stroke
* Awareness of frailty and admission
* To recognise how disability can affect patients performance in activities of daily living
Skills
* To exhibit effective and adaptive communication skills
* IT skills including e-mail, Word and Excel
* Close team working
* Professional attitude and appearance
* Seeks guidance appropriately and proactively
* Work under pressure
* To work independently under the supervision of qualified clinician
* To administer clinical assessments, formulate treatment plans and carry out interventions with a specified patient group as determined by a qualified Clinician
* To be able to make informed decisions under guidance of a Team Leader
* Good observation skills
* Able to report on patient related activities accurately both verbally and in documentation
* Able to effectively organise own time
* Able to report / react to unexpected circumstances appropriately
* Personal time management
* Able to work within boundaries of job role
* literacy and numeracy skills
* Dealing with inappropriate and challenging behaviour
* Ability to complete risk assessments
* Prioritisation skills in order to manage a case load with indirect supervision from team leader
* Awareness of needs of other members of the team
Additional Requirements
* The ability to understand and behave at all times, towards patients, visitors and colleagues according to the Trust values of Safe, Kind, Excellent.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
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