Consultant Respiratory Practitioner (Physiotherapist / Nurse)

Job overview

The Consultant Respiratory Practitioner will provide expert clinical leadership to develop services and promote respiratory care pathways for Powys Teaching Health Board. Taking the lead role and responsibility for the strategic and operational management of the specialist respiratory care services, working with the Clinical Lead for Respiratory, and wider integrated professions. Through clinical leadership and strategic planning, leading on and working in collaboration including pathway and service redesign, deliver a robust and sustainable respiratory service model for Powys Teaching Health Board.

The Consultant Respiratory Practitioner is a highly experienced autonomous clinical leader providing advanced triage, assessment, diagnosis, treatment and management of people with complex respiratory conditions across community, primary and secondary care interfaces. The post holder leads service transformation, education, research and quality improvement aligned with NHS Wales Consultant Practice Framework and Powys Teaching Health Board values.

Key responsibilities include:

• Provision of expert consultant-level respiratory clinical practice across integrated pathways
• Leadership of service redesign, innovation and improvement across community respiratory care
• Development and delivery of education, supervision and workforce capability including Advanced Clinical Practice

Main duties of the job

• Act Acts as the highest-level clinical expert within the organisation for respiratory practice. Provide autonomous assessment and management of complex respiratory patients including COPD, asthma, bronchiectasis, ILD and respiratory failure, and other nonspecific presentations
• Lead specialist respiratory clinics across community and integrated settings and potentially cross border
• Interpret and act upon diagnostic investigations including spirometry, ABGs and imaging reports
• Lead admission avoidance and supported discharge pathways including virtual ward models
• Provide expert advice on oxygen therapy, NIV other areas of and long-term respiratory management
• Act as a consultant resource for MDTs, primary care and acute colleagues
• Receive and advise on referrals of exceptional complexity beyond advanced practice scope, providing expert second opinion and clinical decision support across Powys and relevant cross-border pathways.
• Prescribe independently within professional scope of practice, leading medicines optimisation, respiratory formulary advice and prescribing governance in collaboration with pharmacy and medicines management colleagues.
• Provide advanced and effective triage to referrals and provide advice and guidance to referrers and the wider clinical team.
• Lead redesign of integrated respiratory pathways across Powys and cross-border services. Support integration of cardiac and respiratory services and breathlessness pathway

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will function as an autonomous consultant-level practitioner, providing highly specialised clinical expertise in the assessment, diagnosis, treatment and ongoing management of patients with complex acute and chronic respiratory conditions. This will include advanced clinical decision-making, independent caseload management, expert triage, clinical risk assessment, interpretation of diagnostic investigations and development of personalised management plans across community, primary and secondary care interfaces.

The Consultant Respiratory Practitioner will provide expert assessment and management of patients presenting with undiagnosed and chronic breathlessness, ensuring timely access to diagnostics, specialist assessment, treatment optimisation and referral to appropriate services. The post holder will support the delivery of a coordinated, patient-centred approach to breathlessness management, recognising the interaction between respiratory, cardiac, metabolic, psychological and functional causes of breathlessness.

The post holder will lead the strategic planning, redesign and transformation of respiratory services across Powys, ensuring services are aligned to national policies, NHS Wales priorities and population health needs.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.

Welsh language skills are desirable