Specialist MSK physiotherapy Manager

at  University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust

Post – Musculoskeletal Specialist Physiotherapist in Occupational Health
Care Group – corporate Services
Department - Occupational health & Wellbeing service
Contract – Permanent, full time
Salary - £43,742 - £50,056
Location – Royal Lancaster Infirmary, with travel to other sites.
Annual leave – Up to 33 days dependant on NHS Service

A Band 7 Physiotherapist is a highly experienced clinician, with specialist clinical skills they manage a significant caseload of often complex patients, utilising expert clinical reasoning strategies, knowledge of treatment planning and management.

• You will demonstrate clinical expertise to an advanced level for patients with musculoskeletal conditions.
• You will deliver MSK specialist clinics providing advice to managers and employees to enable staff with musculoskeletal health conditions to remain at work, or to return to work at the earliest opportunity.
• You will complete health at work assessments providing fitness to work opinion/ recommendations as required for persons starting in a new post.
• You will support where necessary the delivery of the Physio Direct telephone assessment, advice and triage service.
• You will be responsible for mentoring of Band 6 physiotherapists

We operate from three main hospitals-Furness General Hospital (FGH) in Barrow, the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI), and Westmorland General Hospital (WGH) in Kendal, as well as a number of community healthcare premises including Millom Hospital and GP Practice, Queen Victoria Hospital in Morecambe, and Ulverston Community Health Centre.
FGH and the RLI have a range of General Hospital services, with full Emergency Departments, Critical/Coronary Care units and various Consultant-led services.
WGH provides a range of General Hospital services, together with an Urgent Treatment Centre, that can help with a range of non-life threatening conditions such as broken bones and minor illnesses.
All three main hospitals provide a range of planned care including outpatients, diagnostics, therapies, day case and inpatient surgery. In addition, a range of local outreach services and diagnostics are provided from community facilities across Morecambe Bay.
Main Duties and Responsibilities

Clinical

• To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of work in accordance with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) Core Standards of Physiotherapy Practice and the Health Professions Council standards of proficiency, conduct performance and ethics.
• To provide highly specialist clinical assessment of patients using expert clinical reasoning strategies, and formulating and implementing appropriate and effective management packages.
• To provide specialist occupational health DSE and work place assessments
• To provide expert advice and second opinions to Physiotherapy colleagues, peers and team members as appropriate.
• To demonstrate expert communication skills with patients, carers, and colleagues. Communication may be with patients who have complex emotional, physical and psychological conditions that will require expert use of a range of verbal and non- verbal communication tools. Other barriers to effective communication may be hearing loss, mental illness, fear, pain, anxiety, unrealistic expectations, etc.
• To communicate sensitive information to patients and carers accessing occupational health regarding diagnosis, prognosis and management options in an empathetic manner.
• To be responsible for organising and planning own caseload to meet the both service and patient priorities.
• To be responsible for maintaining comprehensive, accurate and clear clinical records and recording of activity data in accordance with departmental, Trust and Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) standards.
• To work within Trust/local clinical governance framework and CSP/other national frameworks/guidelines to ensure quality of practice is in accordance with national and local standards.
• To assess capacity for consent with all patients and whenever possible ensure informed consent is agreed. Where patients lack the capacity to consent, to work within the legal framework.
• To manage clinical risk within own caseload
• To provide peer support and clinical advice for colleagues as required.
• To be aware of and work within clinical & professional boundaries within the remit of a dedicated competencies package.
• To work as a musculoskeletal specialist adviser alongside Occupational Health Physicians, providing patient assessment and opinion regarding fitness to work

Managerial

• To undertake immediate line management for Band 6 members of the Occupational Health Physiotherapy team. This includes staff appraisals, performance/capability management, sickness absence return to work interviews, etc.
• To provide induction to new staff members
• To assist the team in ensuring appropriate staffing levels across their sub-speciality, considering issues of service demand and capacity planning.
• To organise and implement changes to working practice and service delivery in conjunction with the team.
• To deal with informal complaints and support the Occupational Health Lead Physiotherapist in the management of formal complaints in line with the Trust guidelines
• To be actively involved in the collection of appropriate service data and statistics for the use of the Physiotherapy service, including completing audits/ peer reviews.
• To set annual objectives for the service with the Occupational Health Lead for physiotherapy; which are relevant to the Partnership objectives.
• To regularly attend team meetings and 1:1 meetings with the Occupational Health Lead for Physiotherapists regarding operational/service issues
• To work with partner Trusts, Health and Safety and Manual Handling Teams to ensure a smooth pathway between services.

Clinical Supervision & Education

• To undertake regular measurement and evaluation of current practices through the use of Evidence Based Practice projects, audit, research, outcome measures and make recommendations for change based on the findings.
• To develop and maintain skills required to practice at an advanced specialist level through

regular CPD activities, complying with a competencies package relevant to that area of work, and maintaining a portfolio which reflects personal development.

• To be an active member of departmental in-service training and other training opportunities as identified through Trust Individual Development Plan.
• To mentor and undertake staff appraisals and Individual Personal Plan meetings with staff as required.
• To provide specialist advice, teaching and training to Physiotherapy colleagues and other members of the MDT regarding the management of patients within their sub- speciality.
• To ensure the integration of evidence based practice within their sub-speciality service.
• To undertake operational audits as appropriate.

Organisational

• To ensure effective communication within the team by cascading information both up and down using IM&T, Internet, Intranet and email to collect and disseminate information.
• To comply with the Trust and departmental policies, procedures, protocol standards and guidelines and to be involved in reviewing, updating or writing as appropriate.

Please refer the Job description for details