Paediatric Complex Respiratory Physiotherapist Band 7 (Community)

at  Alder Hey Childrens NHS Foundation Trust

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and proactive paediatric physiotherapist (Band 7) to join the respiratory physiotherapy service in Sefton Community at Alder Hey.
We are a community team of paediatric physiotherapists and occupational therapists who work with and support children and young people across the Sefton. Our service supports children, young people and their families aged 0-19 who have a neuro-disability and/or developmental delay and musculoskeletal problems. The service is delivered in a wide variety of community settings including mainstream and special schools, nurseries, homes and clinics.
You will have access to regular clinical and managerial supervision and be supported by our team of experienced band 7 respiratory physiotherapists and our band 8a clinical leads and management team across the physiotherapy and occupational therapy services within the Alder Hey Community Teams.
You will be expected to work closely with our community matrons, acute physiotherapy staff, respiratory colleagues and community paediatricians to provide a holistic service to our children and families, working in an integrated way with our colleagues in education and social care.
Alder Hey community physiotherapy service covers Liverpool, South Sefton and North Sefton. This post is primarily based in Sefton, although the post will support all patients across the service. Some travelling to and working from the other bases may, at times, be required.
To be a team member of the Community Paediatric Physiotherapy Service
and as such, assist in the provision of Respiratory Physiotherapy services for children and young people with complex neurodisability in Sefton.
To assume a clinical role in the advanced assessment and treatment of
patients within this specialty, providing a comprehensive community
respiratory physiotherapy service for patients with complex health
needs, formulated around evidence based practice and recognized
national standards.
Develop standards of practice and clinical guidance in this area using
audit and current models of best practice.
To work as an autonomous clinician using specialist skills to assess, plan,
implement and evaluate interventions in the treatment of patients within
this specialty who have acute and long term, serious and terminal
medical conditions.
To use highly developed analytical and judgment skills to be directly
involved in the clinical decision making process as part of the
multidisciplinary team, using and interpreting the results of diagnostic
tests to progress the management of the child’s condition and
respiratory status.
To be a key part in the clinical decision making process as part of the
respiratory and community medical team, providing appropriate advice
and education to families and colleagues to promote optimal
management of the children’s long term condition.
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is a provider of specialist health care to over 275,000 children and young people each year. Alder Hey has a presence in community outreach sites and, in collaboration with other providers, our clinicians help deliver care closer to patients’ homes by holding local clinics at locations from Cumbria to Shropshire, in Wales and the Isle of Man. The Trust also provides inpatient care for children with complex mental health needs at our Sunflower House building newly relocated, and opened on the hospital site.
We currently have more than 4,000 staff working across our community and hospital sites. We’re also a teaching and training hospital providing education and training to around 540 medical and over 500 nursing and allied health professional students each year.
As black and minority ethnic (BME) employees are currently under-represented in this area, we particularly welcome applications from members of our BME communities. All appointments will be made on merit.
You can expect a warm welcome at Alder Hey Childrens NHS Foundation Trust, our staff are friendly and welcoming. We listen to each other and work together to embed our Trusts values and behaviours. At Alder Hey we appreciate our staff and reward them with an outstanding benefits package including:
Great flexible working opportunities
Lease car scheme and Home Electronics Scheme
Generous annual leave and pension scheme
Extensive staff health and well-being programmes
1. To be professional and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own work including the management of caseload. To ensure a high standard of clinical care (for the patients under your management), and support and monitor junior staff to do likewise.
2. To demonstrate the ability to carry out advanced physiotherapy
assessment and highly specialised interventions including manual therapy techniques and therapeutic handling and demonstrate highly developed dexterity, co-ordination and palpatory sensory skills for assessment and manual treatment of patients.
3. To carry out assessment of patients as an autonomous practitioner,
including those with highly complex presentations, where expert opinion
may differ, using clinical reasoning skills, knowledge of evidence based
practice and expertise to determine appropriate care plans utilising highly specialist treatment skills and a wide range of treatment options.
4. To use specialised knowledge to interpret and analyse clinical and nonclinical diagnoses in a wide variety range of highly complex conditions, where there may conflicting evidence or where some information is
unavailable.
5. To contribute to accurate prognoses and recommend best course of
intervention, developing comprehensive management plans, guided by clearly defined principles or occupational policies.
6. To refer to other healthcare professionals and agencies as appropriate as part of the overall management of the child to ensure holistic care.
7. To continually reassess patients and adjust treatment plans accordingly in order to progress treatments effectively.
8. To represent the trust externally (locally and regionally) regarding
physiotherapy services provided to patients.
9. To accept clinical responsibility for a designated caseload of patients, and to organise this effectively and efficiently with regard to clinical priorities and time management.
10. To provide spontaneous and planned advice, teaching and instruction to relatives, carers and other professionals, to promote understanding of the aims of physiotherapy, and to ensure a consistent approach to patient
care.
11. To provide specialist advice, teaching and training to other members of the multi-agency team regarding the physiotherapy management of
patients.
12. To communicate highly complex and sensitive information effectively with patients and carers to maximise rehabilitation potential and to ensure understanding of condition and implication of management where there may be barriers to understanding.
13. Be highly skilled in communicating with children of all ages who have a range of physical and psychological barriers to understanding.
Communication skills of persuasion, motivation, explanation, and gaining
informed consent are used with a variety of patients, parents and carers.
14. To gain valid informed consent in accordance with trust policy and have the ability to work within a legal framework with patients who lack
capacity to consent to treatment.
15. To provide highly specialist advice to physiotherapy colleagues working within other clinical areas.
16. To train and supervise more junior staff including assistants and students. This will include the use of formal appraisal documentation.
17. To ensure competence and risk management of junior staff to ensure
good quality of care produced by all
18. To manage clinical risk within own caseload and to contribute to that of designated team at all times.
19. To be responsible for maintenance of accurate written records and
supervision of team record keeping. To compile comprehensive progress
and discharge reports, legal reports and disability reports to multiagencies and carers as appropriate.
20. Analyse and understand the impact on the child and family of various
treatment plans/diagnosis from other disciplines.
21. To assess children for specialist equipment and recommend its purchase and to be responsible for the safe use and maintenance in homes and schools.
22. To use experience and judgement in clinical situations not covered by
existing protocols to make appropriate clinical judgements, particularly
when away from the hospital setting, on a home, school or nursery visit
to recommend/arrange admission to hospital due to the acute presentation of the patient.
23. To use specialist knowledge to make recommendations on appropriate management strategies for a range of complex respiratory patients which
may include oxygen therapy, nebuliser therapy, the use of other respiratory equipment, medication (where appropriate) and physiotherapy programmes.
24. Utilise specialised knowledge to arrange appropriate investigations and to analyse and interpret findings, using results to modify treatment.
25. Provide clinical opinion and assessment which contributes to the
development of clinical pathways in collaboration with other multi-disciplinary leads within the Trust and the community.
26. To back fill in providing highly specialised advice to other physiotherapists within this Trust, regionally and nationally, and in response to specific individualised queries when a Band 8A Physiotherapist is unavailable.
27. To discuss and negotiate changes in treatment options or additional
recommendations with local services e.g. Care workers, social workers,
school nurses, teachers based on assessment findings, demonstrating
understanding and sensitivity to the unique pressures experienced in the
community
28. To act in accordance with the Rules of Professional Conduct and
Standards of practice set by the CSP and HCPC.
29. To maintain own clinical professional development (CPD) by keeping
abreast of any trends and developments and incorporate them as
necessary into your work. Being responsible for maintaining written
evidence within CPD portfolio.
30. To be an active member of the in-service training programme available via staff meetings, tutorials, training sessions, external courses and
reflective practice by regular attendance and participation in the former
including the delivery of presentations.
31. To participate in the staff appraisal scheme and personal development
plan (PDP) as both appraiser and appraisee.
32. Ensure others in the team are completing CPD, have training
opportunities and measure and evaluate their performance giving
effective and timely feedback.
32. Identify staff who are not meeting expected levels of practice and
facilitate improvement by mentoring and training and development of
improvement plans
33. To undertake the measurement and evaluation of your work and current practices through the use of evidence based practise projects; research
and audit; and outcome measures either individually, with colleagues or
as part or a multi-agency team. Make recommendations for change.
34. To communicate effectively and work collaboratively with Allied Health Professionals (AHP’s), social services, education colleagues and
voluntary organisations to ensure delivery of a timely and co-ordinated
multi-agency service. This will include initiation and attendance of
patient reviews, in variety of settings and the planning of ongoing care.
35. To demonstrate a sound understanding of Trust values, Clinical
Governance and Risk Management and apply to the work situation.
36. To attend Mandatory Training and incorporate these within working
practices.
37. To attend Child Protection training and work in accordance within the
national guidelines.
38. To be responsible for a designated area of work, as agreed with the
Head of Service for Community Physiotherapy and Occupational
Therapy, and to plan and organise efficiently and effectively with regard
to patients management and time management.
39. To decide priorities for own work area, balancing patient related and
professional demands, and ensure that these remain in accordance with
those of the team as a whole.
40. To be responsible for ensuring the effective selection and use of all
treatment resources available in the community environment.
41. To be aware of Health and Safety aspects of your work and implement
any policies, which may be required to improve the safety of your work
area, including your prompt recording and reporting of accidents and
incidents (in line with policy), and ensuring that equipment use is safe
42. To be responsible for equipment used in carrying out physiotherapy
duties, and to adhere to departmental policy, including competence to
use equipment and to ensure its safe use by others through, teaching,
training and supervision of practice.
43. To maintain accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date documentation, in line with legal and departmental requirements, and communicate
assessment and treatment results to the appropriate parents/carers,
internal and external agencies in the form of reports and letters in
accordance with Trust Data Protection Policy.
44. To be actively involved in the collection of appropriate data and statistics for the use of the department and other specialist groups within the trust, and for national reporting.
45. To have knowledge of and comply with the organisational and
departmental policies and procedures and to be involved in the reviewing
and updating as appropriate.
46. To undertake any duties that might be considered appropriate by the
Head of Service for Community Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy
47. To deputise for the Head of Service for Community Physiotherapy and
Occupation Therapy in terms of operational issues.
48. Co-ordinate and organise in-service staff training, meetings, and
internal/external courses. Co-ordinate educational staff, Social Services,
and voluntary carers to assist in the delivery of treatments,
programmes, planning and organising clinics/multi-agency meetings

Please refer the Job description for details