Community Therapy Assistant

Job overview

Alder Hey's Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Service in Sefton Community are seeking a caring and enthusiastic part time (22.5hours) Therapy Assistant to join the team and support children to achieve their therapy goals!

The successful candidate will support experienced Physiotherapist’s and Occupational Therapist’s to assess and deliver intervention to children aged 0 – 19 years with functional, developmental, and neurological difficulties in community settings across Sefton.

You will be an integral member of the Community Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Team and as such will have regular supervision, training, and development opportunities.

Please note that this advert may close early if there are high volumes of applications.

Main duties of the job

• To be an integral member of the physiotherapy and occupational therapy team, assisting the therapists to deliver management and treatment of the children referred to the service.
• To follow agreed treatment plans provided by the therapist, delivering a high standard of paediatric physiotherapy and occupational therapy and providing on-going liaison with the therapist regarding children’s management.
• To provide a high standard of paediatric physiotherapy and occupational therapy working without supervision, following treatment plans set out by the therapist.
• To assist in the provision of a high standard of paediatric physiotherapy and occupational therapy care in a variety of community settings, working with children aged 0-19 years with a variety of conditions and needs including neuro disabilities, developmental delay and learning disabilities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• To be an integral member of the physiotherapy and occupational therapy team, assisting the therapists to deliver management and treatment of the children referred to the service.
• To follow agreed treatment plans provided by the therapist, delivering a high standard of paediatric physiotherapy and occupational therapy and providing on-going liaison with the therapist regarding children’s management.
• To provide a high standard of paediatric physiotherapy and occupational therapy working without supervision, following treatment plans set out by the therapist.
• To assist in the provision of a high standard of paediatric therapy care in a variety of community settings, working with children aged 0-19 years with a variety of conditions and needs including neuro disabilities, developmental delay and learning disabilities.

Communication Skills

• Use effective communication tools, verbal and non verbal to communicate treatment programmes to patients who may have barriers to understanding or communicating, e.g. visual impairment, hearing impairment, severe learning difficulties, or who do not have English as a first language.
• To be able to respond to questions from parents, carers and other agencies appropriately but recognise the need to report and refer back to the therapist as necessary.
• To contribute to development of patient care by attending relevant team, departmental or other appropriate meetings.
• To be able to provide information related to the child and their therapy programme to parents, carers and education staff.
• To be able to provide information related to a child’s equipment and provide handover, training and support on the use of the equipment to parents, carers and education staff.
• To be able to adapt communication style and approach to ensure that information is shared appropriately.
• To identify and arrange additional support for parents and carers where there are potential barriers to communication e.g. request the use of an interpreter.

Planning and Organising Skills

• To manage and prioritise own patient caseload as delegated by the physiotherapist or occupational therapist.
• The Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is committed to supporting all staff to balance work and other life needs. This is the responsibility of all employees and will be achieved by consultation, open communication and involvement of all team members.

Responsibility for Patient

• To assist the therapist in the rehabilitation of patients using a range of delegated exercises and manual physical therapy treatments.
• To assess patient understanding of treatment proposals, gain valid informed consent and have the capacity to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment.
• Deliver individual therapy programmes as provided by the physiotherapist or occupational therapist and to instruct patients and carers in the use of these.
• To liaise when appropriate with the therapist regarding patient care. In particular highlighting any variations to expected outcomes from treatment programmes you deliver.
• To be able at times to work without direct supervision in a variety of settings, including clinics, patient’s home, nurseries and schools and to be responsible for assessing patient progress and reporting back to the therapist.
• To undertake skilled support work to treat patients, both individually or in a group, without direct supervision or the presence of a therapist, making decisions relating to clinical presentation.
• To visit children in homes, schools and other settings, instructing parents and carers on the use of specialist equipment and to carry out safety checking of this equipment.
• To organise the repair and maintenance of therapy equipment with guidance and support from the therapist.
• To be responsible for ensuring that therapy equipment and aids used by patients are safe and that patients and carers have been instructed and are competent in their use

Responsibility for Policy/Service Development

• To have knowledge of and comply with organisational and departmental policies and procedures.
• 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 of accidents and incidents to senior staff including participating in risk assessments.

Responsibility for Financial & Physical Resources

• To monitor and order both clinical and non-clinical supplies for the department. To participate in the use of the ordering system.
• To carry out safety checks of therapy equipment within a designated area and report and deal with faults accordingly.
• Be responsible for departmental administrative arrangements as required e.g. booking meeting rooms etc.
• To be responsible for the safe use of therapy equipment and aids used by patients in your care, including standing frames, seating, crutches, and orthotics.

Responsibility for Human Resources

• Actively participate in the PDP process in order to identify personal development plans and training needs.
• Monitor and develop own performance, aiming to achieve and maintain a high standard.
• To be accountable for all aspects of own work.
• To participate in in-service training and to contribute to the training programme.
• - Please see full Job Description attached for more details -

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.