Job overview
Provide a high standard of specialist physiotherapy input to the designated physiotherapy team. Hours to be between 08.00am and 08.00pm including weekends and bank holidays, depending on service need.
This post will provide specialist respiratory care predominantly to outpatients but will be expected to support Critical Care, Acute Medicine or Surgery teams at times.
Work within Trust clinical guidelines and Chartered Society of Physiotherapy guidelines and have a good working knowledge of national and local standards and monitor own and others quality of practice as appropriate.
When working in the community and domiciliary settings, work as a lone practitioner with telephone support from a more senior physiotherapist if required.
Be responsible for maintaining accurate and comprehensive patient treatment records in line with Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) standards of practice.
Supervise junior physiotherapists and assistants’ record keeping system according to professional and the physiotherapy service standards.
Represent physiotherapy service and/or individual patients at any multi-disciplinary team meetings, to ensure the delivery of a coordinated multi-disciplinary service, and integrate physiotherapy treatment into the treatment programme. This will include discussion of patient care, patient progress and involvement in discharge planning.
Main duties of the job
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated, dedicated and innovative Physiotherapist to join our highly experienced and supportive Acute Therapy In-Patient Service. This post will provide specialist respiratory care and will rotate between Critical Care, Respiratory Medicine and Surgery.
We are looking for a Physiotherapist with a special interest in respiratory patients, and experience in the assessment and treatment of critically ill, medical, neurological and surgical patients. You will have outstanding interpersonal skills and a passion for delivering excellent patient centred care to ensure the best possible outcomes for our patients.
Active involvement in training and development of yourself and others is a key requirement. You will participate in service improvement, new models of working, clinical audit, and continued professional development.
Within Acute Therapies we will offer professional support and an individualised job plan which includes protected service development time and regular clinical supervision. There will be opportunities to contribute to wider departmental developments via working party groups and signposting and support for continuous professional development.
If you are seeking the opportunity to develop in an acute respiratory therapy setting and are excited by a dynamic team and working environment then this role is definitely for you.
Working for our organisation
Established in 2003 East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) is a large integrated health care organisation providing high quality acute secondary healthcare for the people of East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen. We are committed to delivering the best possible healthcare services to the local population while ensuring the future viability of our services. This will be achieved by continually improving the productivity and efficiency of services. Our core focus has enabled demonstrable improvement in our key access, quality and performance indicators.
Our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We currently provide high quality services and treat over 700,000 patients a year from the most serious of emergencies to planned operations and procedures. We employ over 8,000 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work and achievements.
At ELHT our objectives are to:
* Put safety and quality at the heart of everything we do
* Invest in and develop our workforce
* Work with key stakeholders to develop effective partnerships
* Encourage innovation and pathway reform, and deliver best practice
Our values are:
* Put patients first
* Respect the individual
* Act with integrity
* Serve the community
* Promote positive change
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Perform advanced physiotherapeutic assessment of patients with diverse presentations and complex physical and psychological conditions, to provide a diagnosis and develop and deliver an individualised treatment programme.
Hold responsibility for own caseload and be responsible for a defined area of the service or a particular patient type, working without direct supervision. Supervision takes the form of regular formal training and clinical reasoning sessions, peer review, case conferences. Access to advice and support from a more senior physiotherapist is available if required, clinical work is not routinely evaluated.
In the absence of the senior clinician, supervise, educate and assess the performance of physiotherapy students; this would be to a graduate standard and involve working with universities to ensure the standard of practice and teaching meets the standards set by the degree level qualification.
Undertake evidence-based audit and contribute to research projects to further own and team’s clinical practice. Make recommendations to clinical lead/manager of service for improvement to practice by the team. Lead the implementation of specific changes to practice or contribute to service protocols as agreed with the team leader.
Be professionally and legally accountable for all aspects of own work, including the management of patients in your care.
Undertake a comprehensive assessment of patients including those with diverse or complex presentations/multi pathologies; use advanced clinical reasoning skills and manual assessment techniques to provide an accurate diagnosis of their condition.
Formulate and deliver an individual physiotherapy treatment programme based on a sound knowledge of evidence based practice and treatment options using clinical assessment, reasoning skills and knowledge of treatment skills e.g. manual physiotherapy techniques, patient education, exercise classes, and other alternative options.
Take delegated responsibility from the Band 7 physiotherapist for managing patients with particular conditions and be responsible for providing specialist physiotherapy assessment and treatment plans for patients with these conditions.
Formulate accurate prognosis and recommend best course of intervention, developing comprehensive discharge plans
Participate within 7 day working providing a service at weekends on a rota basis, and participating within the emergency respiratory on-call service
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
* Diploma/Degree in Physiotherapy or equivalent
* Health Professions Council Registration
Desirable criteria
* Membership of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
* Involvement in Special Clinical Interest Group
Experience
Essential criteria
* Experience in all core rotations eg, Medicine, Surgery, Orthopaedics, Older People, Neurology and musculoskeletal conditions
* Experience of working as part of a physiotherapy team and/or multi-disciplinary team
* Student or physiotherapy assistant supervision
* Contribution to clinical education of less experienced staff or students or assistants
* Experience of working with patients with dementing illness, confused patients and patients with severe physical limitations to mobility/neurological deficit
Skills
Essential criteria
* Able to present information, written and orally, in a clear and logical manner
* Ability to organise, prioritise and delegate
* Ability to cope working in a stressful environment and with emotional or aggressive patients and carers