Clinical Lead Physiotherapist - Urgent Care and Frailty

at  Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust

Band 7 Clinical Lead Physiotherapist - Urgent Care and Frailty
Northampton General Hospital
Are you looking to develop your career as a senior clinician? Or looking to specialise in an exciting, fast paced, specialist area in Urgent Care and Frailty?
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced, motivated and passionate Physiotherapist to join our highly regarded Urgent Care Therapy team. This post would suit senior Physiotherapists looking to specialise in the Urgent Care and Frailty setting and is also appropriate for current Physiotherapists currently working in a similar role, who would like to broaden their experience and specialise.
You will need previous experience of working as a Physiotherapist across a broad range of specialities including Acute Medicine, Elderly Care, Respiratory and Orthopaedics. Experience in major trauma, MSK and neurology would be an advantage in this field.
You will work jointly alongside the Clinical Lead Occupational Therapists and will provide senior clinical and professional leadership and development to the therapy team. You will manage the team on a day-to-day basis and will also be a point of contact for advice and support for colleagues across the Therapies department.
It is well known that the NHS is facing significant pressure at this time. NGH has determined that increasing resources in Urgent Care is the best strategy to support the trust with patient flow and provide high class intervention for patients.
Alongside the Clinical Lead Occupational Therapists and other Therapy colleagues, the successful candidate will not only be required to work clinically as an autonomous practitioner and manage a demanding caseload but will also be required to evaluate and develop the service. Therefore, experience in service development and audit to evidence efficiency and efficacy would be beneficial, as well as contributing to departmental and trust improvements.
As a senior Physiotherapist, you will be required to join the Respiratory on-call rota covering a range of weekday evenings until 10pm and weekends. Our therapy service is currently moving from a 5-day service to 7 days per week. The successful candidate will be expected to be part of the weekend service rota and the possibility of developing into extended hours.
As a joint Therapy Lead , you will also be responsible for supervision, training and development of the Therapy team (consisting of Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Therapy Support staff and students). NGH is proud to offer practice placements to students from Coventry University and the University of Northampton, therefore, the successful individual will be required to be a practice placement educator. Furthermore, NGH is proud to offer a successful preceptorship programme for our newly qualified staff and, therefore, you will receive preceptorship training to become a dedicated preceptor.
Northampton General Hospital is one of the largest employers in the area and we are on an exciting journey. All of our divisions are committed to doing things better, with more efficiency as we update, modernise, and advance. We have also entered into a Group Model with neighbouring Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and become University Hospitals of Northamptonshire.
Our Excellence Values
Compassion
Accountability
Respect
Integrity
Courage
We want to recruit the best people to deliver our services across the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire and help to unleash everyone’s full potential. As an organisation, we value how we communicate and promote our vacancies to all communities.
We are a Defence positive trust, supporting our reservists, veterans, spouses and partners.
The Hospital Group encourages applications from people who identify from all protected groups, especially those from BAME, Disabled and LGBTQ+ backgrounds as these are underrepresented in our hospitals.
We understand that we need to work with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and make sure the environment they work in is inclusive and collaborative.
We have active Networks that promote and support colleagues from all backgrounds. This ensures everyone feels supported and has a sense of belonging working for Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals.

JOB SUMMARY:

To perform a specialist Physiotherapy role within the Directorate clinical specialty, for patients on own caseload, many with complex / highly complex needs.
To act as a role model for clinical, operational and professional leadership, setting and upholding agreed standards and processes to enable patients to receive high quality evidence-based care.
To participate in the planning, development and evaluation of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy services within the trust, holding responsibility for defined projects and activities and providing regular feedback to therapy and clinical leads.
To regularly educate and supervise therapy staff and students and lead on teaching and training healthcare colleagues on aspects of clinical care relating to Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy.
Provide effective input into the work of the trust, to support the achievement of our vision and values.

IMPROVING PATIENT AND VISITOR EXPERIENCES:

Be a point of contact for patients and relatives
Lead on the development and sharing of patient and carer information
Implement methods of gathering and using patient feedback to improve and develop services.
Respect the individuality, values, cultural and religious diversity of patients and contribute to the provision of a service sensitive to these needs.
Reflect on ethical issues which impact on Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy service provision and provide guidance to other staff as required.
Develop working guidelines, protocols and practices that enhance the patient experience in the clinical area in line with national and trust policies in liaison with therapy leads.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Clinical specialist Physiotherapist for the Urgent Care and Frailty Therapy Team.
Manage a clinical caseload in area including dealing with complex cases.
Work flexibly to provide cover to other clinical areas according to the needs of patients and demands of the service.
To participate in 7-day working patterns, including Bank Holidays
To participate in a respiratory on call service covering evenings (until 10pm) and weekends
Provide clinical expertise and leadership to a large team of Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Therapy Support staff within the clinical area in the management of patients on the wards and in departments.
Lead on the annual appraisal of allocated staff, collating a training needs analysis for the Head of Therapies to inform the development of workforce and training plans.
Participate and assist in the continual learning of all staff so that personal development plans progress and succession planning is promoted reflecting the needs of the therapy services.
Be responsible for the identification and management of clinical performance issues within therapy staff in the clinical area.
Develop working guidelines, protocols and practices that enhance the patient experience in the clinical area in line with national and Trust policies in liaison with the Therapy and Care Group leads,
Under the direction of the Head of Therapies lead on the implementation of action plans from both national and local strategies, benchmarking standards and clinical audits.
Represent the therapy services at specialty and trust wide forums and provide feedback to therapy teams, leading on actions arising from them as appropriate.
Deputise for other therapy leads as required.
Lead the therapy team within the directorate on a day-to-day basis, co-ordinating cover for absence, addressing minor operational issues and leading on the informal elements of human resource management
Work closely with the Head and Deputy of Therapies on the operational management of the budget, facilities and resources to provide a safe, high quality and cost-effective service
Lead on the recruitment of staff within the team with support and guidance from the Deputy Head of Therapies
Participate in the operational planning and implementation of policy and service development within the directorate, leading on delegated projects under the guidance of the Deputy Head of Therapies.
Ensure that all staff have access to and are made aware of the content of Trust policies, protocols and other documents taking appropriate action where compliance is breached
Be responsible for ensuring that all pre-registration and work experience students allocated to the team are adequately mentored and assessed and that the placement achieves and maintains the standard required.
Provide a regular verbal report to the Deputy Head of Therapies regarding the management and performance of the team, escalating significant risks or incidents to the appropriate lead in a timely and effective manner.
Provide regular opportunities for staff within the team to receive information and support an have a forum for discussion, debate and planning.

TRUST WIDE RESPONSIBILITIES:

Act as a resource for members of the multi-disciplinary teams across the trust through involvement in multi professional teaching and training in the area of expertise.
Act as a role model in customer service towards visitors to the hospital
Regularly attend and participate in and professional meetings, facilitating leadership of these meetings when required