Physiotherapist / Exercise Specialist in Cardiac Rehabilitation

Job overview

Job Summary

• To assist in providing an integrated cardiac rehabilitation (CR) service primarily for residents within Lambeth & Southwark, working closely with primary and secondary care.
• To work as an independent and autonomous practitioner within a multi professional team, ensuring that patients with multiple pathologies due to cardiac disease receive the highest standards of care.
• To ensure delivery of a high quality, effective and efficient cardiac rehabilitation service within allocated resources.
• To manage cardiac rehabilitation patient caseloads. The post holder will also run their own clinics and jointly manage the cardiac rehabilitation programme of exercise and education sessions.
• To provide professional support, clinical expertise and appropriate education and training to all those professionals involved in providing care to patients with cardiac disease.

Main duties of the job

To manage cardiac rehabilitation patient caseloads. The post holder will be expected to run their own clinics, jointly manage the cardiac rehabilitation exercise programme and play a key role in patient education.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities

• Draw on advanced specialist knowledge and use professional skills of the highest standard to act as an autonomous practitioner to assess, plan and provide specialised cardiac rehabilitation services for cardiac patients. This will require the ability to make critical judgments and decision-making.
• Maintain a caseload of cardiac patients at various stages of disease progression, delivering specialist care across hospital and community settings.
• Liaise with Primary, Secondary and Tertiary services to ensure a seamless transition between services and across boundaries.
• Provide specialist cardiac rehabilitation advice, support and education to patients and carers as appropriate to their individual needs.
• Make and receive patient referrals undertaking a specialist assessment of individual need and integrating an appropriate raft of health and social care provision for the individual, facilitating inter agency and cross boundary collaboration.
• Use counselling skills and experience to manage and impart highly sensitive and often complex information to patients and relatives or carers in a dignified and sensitive manner.

Education and Research

• Provide written and clear oral information for clients and carers about all aspects of cardiac rehabilitation and cardiac care, to help patients make informed choices as to their treatment plan and continuing management.
• Participate in the delivery of the health education component of the cardiac rehabilitation programme.
• Attend meetings and conferences as appropriate ensuring that you are fully conversant with current issues within the trust and within cardiac rehabilitation.
• Participate in clinical audit within the team as directed and by the entry of accurate data for local and national databases.
• Participate in any appropriate/relevant trust approved research or projects conducted within the team.
• To be aware of and actively apply research and evidence-based practice relevant to cardiac rehabilitation.
• Able to work with other staff in clinical areas where changes to practice are required, also where opportunities exist to improve treatment and support for patients.
• Communication
• To consult appropriately with senior specialist staff regarding patients with particular problems.
• Effectively assist patients with lifestyle changes and symptom management. Addressing their risk factors for CHD as applicable, by motivating patients through effective communication skills.
• Ensuring all patients are fully informed of the risks and benefits of proposed procedures/treatments, contributing to the process of securing informed consent.
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers to maximise rehabilitation potential and to improve understanding, ensuring an appropriate response to individual patients’ level of communication, facilitating the best possible communication outcome e.g. use of interpreters.

Management

• To participate in any local change programmes to improve standards and communication links from acute trust through to Primary Care.
• Network with the team of clinical specialists within the Trust and other cardiac rehabitlion centres to evaluate and promote the specialist role.
• To keep accurate patient data, via the data information system to aid audit and to maintain contemporaneous and accurate treatment records.

Personal Professional Development

• To achieve a range of clinical competencies as required within the team, such as exercise programmes and undertaking relevant training.
• To keep up to date with current literature and research within cardiac rehabilitation.
• To undergo and actively participate in your own performance appraisals.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.