Senior Physiotherapist - Trauma and Orthopaedics

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for a Band 6 Physiotherapist to join our Trauma and Orthopaedic Therapy Team at Ashford and St Peter's Hospital. This static post is in the Orthopaedic trauma team at St Peter's, Chertsey.

The team provide acute inpatient therapy intervention for trauma patients with fractures such as NOF, spinal and limb fractures, and some elective procedures such as joint arthroplasty and spinal surgery.

The successful applicant will have the ability to use their initiative and be an effective team worker. They will have strong clinical knowledge and problem solving skills in orthopaedics with the ability to apply these skills in a trauma setting.

There is an expectation to participate in the weekend service to ensure our service is provided to a high standard and meets best practice guidelines. The successful candidate will support and supervise physiotherapists, students and therapy assistants, and work closely with the multi-disciplinary team to provide high quality care & improved outcomes for patients.

Main duties of the job

The main duties of the role include the requirement to:

• Work as an autonomous practitioner and manage a specialist trauma and orthopaedic caseload
• Complete comprehensive patient assessments, formulate clinical problem lists and provide physiotherapy intervention as per orthopaedic pathways
• Contribute to MDT handovers or problem patient sessions
• Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team, putting patient care and experience first
• Support junior staff with caseload management, prioritisation and clinical reasoning
• Actively participate in service development and contribute to monitoring of standards of practice, and take personal responsibility in your professional development and professional registration requirements
• Show passion for providing a high level of care and safeguarding to patients known to our service
• Use initiative, communicate with empathy and be an effective team player
• Demonstrate leadership skills and deputise for the team lead whenever necessary
• Participate in the development of physiotherapists and support staff within orthopaedics through training, competencies and supervision
• To take part in the weekend orthopaedic service
• Form good working relationships with Orthopaedic consultants and ensure inpatient physiotherapy meets clinical expectation.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for full details of the role and the essential and desirable criteria for applicants.

Clinical or technical

To undertake comprehensive assessments of patients including those with diverse or complex presentations/ multi-pathologies.

To use investigative and analytical skills to assess complex patients and support other more junior therapists with their patients as required.

To devise individualised physiotherapy management and / or treatment plans, using clinical reasoning skills.

Leadership or managerial

To attend all relevant training in order to maintain competency and confidence.

To be responsible for and actively record your own personal development. This may include active participation in journal clubs, clinical reasoning and problem patient sessions as participant and facilitator.

To participate in the appraisal as appraisee and appraiser.

To disseminate any training received to other staff and health care professionals

To be responsible for the supervision of Band 5 Physiotherapists on rotation, Students and Assistants as required.

Service improvement

To make recommendations when appropriate to changes in practice leading to improvement in the service.

To be involved with implementing policy and service development changes.

To demonstrate physical ability to carry out assessments and interventions, including moving and handling techniques. This involves frequent light to moderate physical effort.

Communications and Engagement

To be able to communicate highly complex information sensitively to patients in order to gain their cooperation for treatment and valid consent.

To communicate effectively with all disciplines involved in a patient’s care, both those from within the organisation and those outside to ensure efficient multidisciplinary working

To use a range of verbal and non-verbal communication tools to communicate effectively with patient in order to progress treatment programmes. This may include patients who will have difficulties in understanding or communicating

To be able to manage frequently highly stressful, upsetting or emotional situations in an empathetic manner.

To maintain accurate records in line with professional body (CSP), Trust and service standards and policies. To ensure that records of directly managed staff also comply with these standards

General responsibilities

To support the department and organisation by carrying out any other duties that reasonably fit within the broad scope of a job of this grade and type of work.

To have responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of self and others at work. This includes being conversant with relevant trust safety policies and procedures. To report incidents and near misses at work; take part in the risk management process; attend all mandatory training courses in the agreed duration as defined by trust policy and carry out tasks and use equipment only when competent to do so.

To ensure confidentiality at all times, only releasing confidential information obtained during the course of employment to those acting in an official capacity. To comply with the requirements of the Data Protection act.

To support the department and organisation by carrying out any other duties as qualified and able.

To comply with the trust’s corporate and local policies and procedures on such subjects and clinical management and human resources.

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.