Specialist Therapist / Team Lead for IRAS
The closing date is 22 June 2026
We are looking for an enthusiastic, self‑motivated, innovative Physiotherapist to lead our Emergency Care Team.
As a Band 7 Physiotherapist you will have the opportunity to develop your own supervisory and management skills through supporting and supervising junior therapists, students and/or therapy support workers.
You will need excellent clinical and leadership skills as well as a keen interest in research. A flexible approach and excellent team working, organisational and time management skills are essential. You will need experience working as a qualified Band 6 or 7 Physiotherapist therapist within the acute hospital setting.
You may be required to travel to different sites across the Essex, Suffolk and Tendring area.
Main duties of the job
- To be responsible for providing specialist assessment and treatment for patients in A+E and Assessment units, ensuring appropriate pathways of care and communications via liaison and referral to other agencies as required.
- To co‑ordinate a team of physiotherapy, nursing and Occupational Therapy staff and assist in the implementation of the services' Clinical Governance action plan.
- To undertake a team leader role in planning, co‑ordinating, delivery and evaluating the IRAS service provided by urgent care on a day to day basis.
- To take a major / lead role in the advanced assessment and treatment of patients within the speciality who may have complex acute or chronic presentations, and to determine clinical diagnosis and treatment indicated, and to maintain records as an autonomous practitioner.
- To plan, deliver and evaluate the rehabilitation and discharge programme in partnership with MDT colleagues, and together lead the planning, delivery and evaluation of all elements of the programme.
- To undertake audit of both clinical practice and processes to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
- To undertake weekend working as part of a seven day service.
About us
We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.
We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.
We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.
Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.
Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.
We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.
If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.
Job responsibilities
For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.
Person Specification
Experience
- Proven experience at Band 6 level (rotational) experience of working in a relevant speciality
- Highly specialist knowledge and experience of a wide range of approaches to the management of complex and chronic conditions, demonstrated by expert clinical reasoning.
- Demonstrated understanding of the role of therapy within the current evolving health environment
- Experience of working within a multidisciplinary / interdisciplinary team
- Clear understanding of other disciplines' roles and expectations
- Experience of working within a multidisciplinary / interdisciplinary team
- Clear understanding of other disciplines' roles and expectations
- Previous experience of student supervision and clinical education
- Previous experience of formal presentations to multi professional groups
- Experience of research methodology
- Robust understanding of all aspects of Clinical Governance including previous experience of quality issues, audit and risk management
Qualifications
- BSc /MSc Physiotherapy Therapy
- BSc/ MSc Occupational Therapy
- Member CSP/ RCOT
- HCPC Registration
- Commitment to advanced clinical and professional development
- Recognised post graduate qualification e.g. MSc
- Member of SIG
- Member of relevant appropriate multi professional interest group
Knowledge
- Ability to comprehend and work within the Trust's policies including data protection, equal opportunities and Health and Safety to meet the differing needs of the patient
- In-depth Knowledge of relevant diagnoses and their management
- Principles and practices of acute rehabilitation
- Clinical reasoning
- Literature search/review
- Current evidence based practice
- Proven clinical leadership ability
- Excellent presentation skills
- Previous Community experience
- Previous experience working in emergency environment providing urgent unplanned care
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
£49,387 to £56,515 per annum pro rata
