Deputy Lead Therapist

at  Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Rapid Access Services is a 7-day community service comprising of three pathways (Urgent Community Response, Discharge to Assess and Virtual Ward) which work together in an MDT comprising nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, paramedics, social workers, doctors and support staff to prevent admission to hospital or facilitate early discharge from the local hospitals for patients both medically fit and add-those not yet medically optimised. We work together to act quickly with an agenda to reduce hospital bed days and holistically care for the patient in the best place possible; their home.
The caseload is highly varied as we work closely with our GPs, London Ambulance Service and acute hospitals as well as other local community teams to provide an urgent crisis response for people in their own homes. There is a focus on being able to identify a deteriorating patient, and escalating appropriately for joint working with nurses and paramedics when required. There may be many barriers to treatment in the community, requiring complex problem solving and working with other external agencies to enable to the best outcome for these people.
Due to career progression, we are looking for a new Band 7 Deputy Lead Therapist (physiotherapist or occupational therapist) to join our amazing. The role would suit someone with previous experience working in a similar service at B7 level and considering progression to a leadership role whilst still maintaining a clinical caseload.
The post holders role will be split into clinical and leadership with variable levels as needs require.
Clinically the post provides rapid specialised assessment and treatment of patients who have complex physical, psychological and sensory impairments and initiate services to safely avoid unnecessary hospital (re)admission. The postholder will participate in the 7-day roster, as all B7s, as well as managing the clinician of the day responsibilities which included triage and allocations of the clinical work that day and the next to ensure the right professional visits the most appropriate patient.
As a leader, the role will entail supporting and deputising for the Therapy Lead and nursing leadership posts, have a leadership role in the day-to-day operational management of junior staff, delegating activities appropriately and monitoring the quality of care given. The post holder will be expected to identify and promote areas for service development and lead on certain roles such a recruitment of junior staff, incident management and rostering.
As the service is seven days, the post will involve occasional evenings and weekend working.
Come and join us and be one of the friendly and supportive 300 Occupational Therapists (OTs) in CNWL. We work in many different teams in both physical and mental health, as well as a number of specialist areas. You could have a career for life with us and maintain your dual skills.
OT in CNWL is very fortunate in having a long-established professional structure and this includes an AHP director, Trust wide Professional Head of OT, borough and specialist Head OTs. This has the huge benefit of ensuring representation of our profession at all levels - both strategically and operationally.
Personal and professional development is a high priority for the profession and is underpinned by our OT R&D strategy, R& D specialist groups and OT clinical networks. This enables us to invest in the development of our staff by providing excellent internal training as well as commissioning specialised external training and providing quality supervision. This ensures all our OTs reach their full potential at every stage of their career. Our commitment to research, audit and evidence-based practice is made possible by our strong links with local universities.

Patient Safety

• Using their clinical judgement and risk assessments to keep the people using our services as safe as possible
• Safeguarding people by recognising and responding when an adult or child might be at risk from abuse but also recognising their own limits and asking for help and escalate concerns when necessary
• Escalating safety concerns and by doing so acting as effective advocates for those who use our services
• Being open and transparent about their own practice
• Supervising the work of others
• Reflecting on everyday practice to identify areas where improvements in safety or quality can be made
• Working with others to create a culture of continuous improvement
• Maintaining accurate, legible, comprehensive records
• Maintaining compliance with their mandatory training requirements

Clinical Outcomes

• Being confident, autonomous practitioners who take responsibility for the care they give to patients but also take responsibility for overseeing the work of others in the team including less experienced therapists and staff without a professional qualification
• Providing skilled, evidence-based care which adheres to agreed policies and procedures
• Working with patients and families in all stages of the care planning process including assessing risks and needs
• Acting as patient advocates in the multi-disciplinary team and overseeing the work of others to ensure that they are also responding to the needs of patients and providing clinically effective care
• Working as autonomous practitioners and taking responsibility for the care they give to patients but also work as team members

Contributing to creating and maintaining high performing teams by:

• Communicating well with all members of the team
• Understanding their role in the team and how they help the team achieve its objectives
• Reflecting on their own practice regularly and encouraging the whole team to reflect on their practices in handovers and team meetings
• Encouraging the team to learn from adverse events or respond to data analysis from audits or benchmarking exercises and implement sustainable initiatives which improve clinical outcomes

Patient Experience

• Working in partnership with patients and their families and carers
• Gaining consent and, as far as possible, involving people in all decision making
• Reassuring people by being professional, responsive, knowledgeable and confident
• Demonstrating clinical leadership and challenging any poor behaviour to patients, families or other staff members and creating a positive, inclusive culture in which everyone is treated with kindness and respect and the trust’s values are embedded in all practice
• Responding to complaints or concerns effectively and quickly in line with the Trust policy.

Supporting yourself and others

• Taking a lead role in gathering and recording evidence which demonstrates that CQC and locally agreed standards are being met: assessing the performance of the whole team by using audit and benchmarking exercises and often contribute to the implementation of quality improvement initiatives
• Contributing to the performance management of teams and creating a positive culture in which the team can learn from mistakes and is enthusiastic to improve
• Deputising for the Therapy Lead and ensuring that there is no fall in performance in their absence. This may include managing the team and coordinating shifts.
• To undertake the role of Practice Supervisor
• Providing supervision and annual appraisals to individuals and giving constructive, regular feedback which helps those individuals reflect on their work, understand their objectives and the CQC standards and monitor their progress towards achieving them
• Participating constructively in their own supervision and annual appraisal processes
• Using continuing professional development funds to develop a relevant clinical specialism, gain sign-off mentorship skills or undertake accredited leadership or management modules.

Service Specific Responsibilities

• To provide supervision, annual appraisal and monitoring the work of RAS therapists (Band 5 & 6), therapy assistants and students.
• Complete DATIX investigations and further PSIRF review such as Initial Learning Reviews, as delegated by the service leads.
• Actively participate / lead in clinical handover.
• Using HealthRoster, participate in rota planning; finalise day to day bank/agency shifts; book temporary workers as required.

Leadership and Management

• To facilitate the data gathering and reporting of service activities
• To contribute to the recruitment and selection of staff for the team and to participate in induction and orientation programmes, with an ability to do so independently from the service’s Therapy Lead, when delegated.
• To manage and co-ordinate the work of occupational therapists, physiotherapists and therapy assistants, monitoring and appraising their performance, offering support, development and training as appropriate.
• To take responsibility for ensuring own mandatory training is up to date and those of the team members are similarly.
• To be responsible for the day-to-day operational management of direct line reports including engaging them in annual appraisal and objective setting.
• Monitoring Statutory and Mandatory training compliance for team, ensuring where staff are not compliant, there is a plan in place to become compliant.
• To support the Therapy Lead within formal processes such as capability management; disciplinary action etc.
• To participate in the investigation of complaints.
• To participate in the investigation of incidents using the Datix system.
• To contribute to the successful implementation of organisational directives within the team and the achievement of annual team aims and objectives.
• To assist with the management of the team budget, identifying opportunities for improving value for money within the team so that the overall aims and objectives of the service are achieved.
• To improve access to services by ensuring that service provision and delivery is culturally appropriate for the targeted client group.
• To monitor activity levels and inform management of any changes. Formulating and adjusting plans of a broad range of complex activities according to service needs.
• Support, teach and assess the developing clinical skills of junior team members in response to the changing needs within the localities.
• Promote evidence-based practice that responds to local and national service standards, and to act as a resource to colleagues.
• Maintain an oversight of the weekly / monthly allocations, ensuring staffing is optimal or sent to bank/agency as appropriate.
• Deputise for Therapy Lead when they are unavailable / otherwise engaged / on leave.

• To provide supervision, annual appraisal and monitoring the work of RAS therapists (Band 5 & 6), therapy assistants and students.
• Complete DATIX investigations and further PSIRF review such as Initial Learning Reviews, as delegated by the service leads.
• Actively participate / lead in clinical handover.
• Using HealthRoster, participate in rota planning; finalise day to day bank/agency shifts; book temporary workers as required