Highly Specialist Paediatric Physiotherapist & Therapy Team Lead

Job overview

The post holder will provide a highly specialist physiotherapy service for children/young people with severe and complex learning difficulties in Perseid special schools, in accordance with the ServiceLevel Agreement for Sutton Health and Care Alliance.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will contribute to the development of the special schools physiotherapy service for children/young people.  They will plan and provide highly specialist physiotherapy assessment, advice and treatment to a defined caseload of children/young people with severe and complex needs.  They will work in partnership with the children/young people, their families and other professions and agencies, including school staff and the wider health team, to reduce the impact of these difficulties on the children's/young people's social and emotional development, their learning and ability to participate in daily life.  They will provide clinical supervision and support for the AHP Therapy Team on site and undertake appraisals and 121s.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities

• Provide a highly specialist level of clinical skill in paediatric physiotherapy
• Be responsible for a clinical caseload of children/young people attending Perseid special schools as identified by the service specification, managing the defined caseload independently and prioritising own workload to ensure effective service provision
• Use clinical assessments, interview and observational skills to determine physiotherapy needs of children/young people and effectively set goals and plan intervention
• Communicate complex assessment findings and treatment plans with clients, families, school staff and the wider community staff, dealing sensitively with distressing or emotional circumstances and being realistic about clients' and families expectations
• Assess and treat individual children/young people with complex needs in school, their homes or clinical setting, working as part of a multidisciplinary team and liaising closely with education staff and parents/carers
• Provide written advice for Educational Health and Care Plans (EHCP) and contribute to Annual Reviews
• Monitor the effectiveness of intervention through goal setting, outcome measures and evaluation of practice and to communicate these to the relevant parties
• Contribute to the development of information that enables families, school and the wider community to understand and self-manage the client's condition whenever possible
• Recommend, provide and advise on equipment related to physiotherapy programmes.  This may include, but is not limited to, postural management equipment
• Organise equipment demonstrations and wheelchair clinics within school as necessary
• Identify clients, complex seating needs, attending specialist seating clinics with the clients and their families as necessary
• Have a full understanding of the working of any equipment and ensure regular checks are completed to maintain safety
• Liaise and establish communication networks with the multidisciplinary team, external volunteers and statutory organisations, as appropriate, in planning of the clients' treatment.

Management Responsibilities/Professional Leadership

• Assist the Service Manager in planning and providing the commissioned physiotherapy input to children/young people attending Perseid schools, including attendance at appropriate meetings, development guidelines and protocols and reviewing service provision
• Keep the Service Manager up to date with service provision issues and report promptly any untoward incidences cooperating with an investigation undertaken
• Be responsible for reviewing efficacy of service delivery and facilitate setting up of new standards or amendment of existing ones, in close liaison with the Service Manager
• Actively contribute to formulating policies for specialist areas and proposals for general service changes
• Take the lead in developing the physiotherapy service in the special schools, facilitating development and implementation of effective client/care pathways and outcomes for children/young people in conjunction with the Service Manager
• Keep up t date with the Department and Trust standards and policies and facilitate dissemination of this knowledge to colleagues
• Develop good working relationships with multidisciplinary teams, outside agencies and voluntary agencies to ensure that professionalism and service delivery are maintained
• Provide support and supervision to other physiotherapy staff including assistants, where appropriate, monitoring the standard of treatment and giving training and instruction where required.

Education, Training and Personal Development

• Be responsible for training/education for families and school staff to ensure understanding and need for treatment advised
• Be aware of changing trends in treatment, promoting evidence based practice within own team and interpreting this into own specialist area of work in order to provide the highest standard of care for service users
• Participate in clinical audit, service development activities and research programmes as required
• Carry out continual professional development as identified through supervision and PDR, including in-service training and courses as agreed and work towards objectives
• Take responsibility for identifying suitable courses and training programmes to enhance own professional development, keeping abreast of new developments within relevant clinical fields
• Actively participate in delivering in-service training, tutorials, individual training sessions, external training and peer review.  Demonstrate own willingness to learn
• Participate in the clinical education of students on placement
• Comply with SHC/Trust and physiotherapy service mandatory training requirements.  Be actively involved in peer support and relevant specialist section support groups.

Clinical Governance

• Ensure that statistics and notes are kept in accordance with local and national policies
• Work in accordance with the standards and policies issued by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Health and Care Professions Council, the Trust and the physiotherapy department and to meet legal requirements
• Keep up to date with clinical developments and changing trends in practice, including National Service Frameworks and Special Interest Groups
• Be responsible for demonstrating safe use of equipment to other staff and outside agencies
• Be in involved in monitoring and evaluation of physiotherapy intervention as part of the multidisciplinary service and to liaise, as necessary, with other departments/disciplines and the wider physiotherapy service
• Undertake specific projects, as necessary, and support clinical governance and quality initiatives and assist in developing audit tools within integrated therapy.

Managing People and Resources

• Ensure that satisfactory systems are in place to maintain effective communication within your area and be responsible for ensuring that any Trust communication systems are utilised
• Observe and comply with the Trust's policies and procedures for health and safety ensuring the environment in which you and your staff work is safe, clean and tidy
• Comply with standard infection prevention precautions to prevent or minimise the spread of micro-organisms and communicable diseases to clients, staff and surrounding community
• Observe and continually promote equal opportunities in compliance with the Trust's policies on Equality and Diversity and Dignity at Work
• Ensure the benefits to clients are maximised through careful, economical and appropriate use of NHS resources including equipment, property, time, money etc.