Lead Physiotherapist

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

·         Provide expert physiotherapy input to patients within CICC with the aim to facilitate effective assessment and rehabilitation of intermediate care patients (Stroke/Frailty/IMC) encouraging independence and recovery.

• Manage and co-ordinate a caseload of patients with complex conditions, including unstable fractures, complex neurological, frailty and stroke conditions.
• To oversee care provision and ensure that accurate records and risk assessment are maintained and regularly reviewed
• To provide expert leadership to Physiotherapy staff through support, supervision and appraisal

• Work in close liaison with Social Services, Hospital Discharge Team, Community Contact Centre, other Rehabilitation providers and Commissioners to achieve and maintain smooth care pathways for patients
• Work in conjunction with the Intermediate Care Matrons, Head of Intermediate Care and Commissioners on strategic development of IC services in line with future service changes
• Assist in the collation of information to support the evaluation of services once commissioned.

Principle Duties and Responsibilities

1. Service Provision 

·         Ensure that rehabilitation opportunities are maintained and encouraged within CICC in order to support active rehabilitation programs for individual patients working collaboratively with all members of the team to achieve this.

·         Organise and maintain own diary and time to meet the demands of the Intermediate Care Service and clinical case load as well as supervision and support of other Physiotherapy Staff

·         Use and monitor use of IC services to ensure the best use is made of resources across the locality

·         Participate in weekly MDT meetings and daily board rounds to review individual patient progress within CICC and organise onward referral to external services as required

·         Contribute to service development through involvement in project teams and steering groups to provide expert operational advise to enhance decision making

·         Be responsible for advising on the resources necessary to fulfil patient needs and requirements as the service develops

·         Take responsible care of the health and safety of self and others, ensuring policies and procedures for maintaining the provision of a safe environment are adhered to

·         Support and assist staff across Intermediate Care to maintain practice in line with the Health and Safety at Work Act

·         Identify and report on practices and areas of work that may have risk management implications to ensure the safety of patients and colleagues

·         Ensure that all risk events are reported promptly and in co-ordination with the Service Manager investigate incidents and complaints. Identifying remedial action plans and ensuring that actions are implemented in a timely fashion

·         Ensure the completion of Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and Service Incident Reports (SI) if necessary, to ensure that if problems do arise they are analysed, managed and lessons are learnt as effectively as possible

·         Work in partnership with the Service Manager and Director of Integrated Services to ensure that where harm to patients has been identified, patients and or their families are informed accordingly, kept abreast of the investigation and are notified in writing of the findings of the investigation, in line with the Trust’s Duty of Candour

2. Clinical responsibilities

·         To work as a specialised and autonomous practitioner and be professionally and legally responsible for all aspects of work, including the clinical management of patients including unstable fractures and those with complex needs.

·         To provide high quality assessment and treatment for a wide variety of medical diagnoses including use of standardised assessments/outcome measures, within the Intermediate care setting

·         To have skills in falls prevention, neurological rehabilitation, orthopedic rehabilitation, complex discharge planning and community rehabilitation.

·         To use expert knowledge to analyse and interpret data from multiple sources, including standardised tests to inform clinical diagnosis

·         To use this assessment information to work with clients to identify client centred therapy goals as part of the overall multi-disciplinary care plan

·         To use knowledge and experience of clinical conditions, together with clinical judgment and reasoning skills, to determine a client’s fitness for rehabilitation at the time of assessment

·         To implement, monitor, evaluate treatment plans and modify interventions in order to measure progress and outcomes to ensure effectiveness of intervention

·         Communicate with patients, relatives, carers and members of the multidisciplinary team – by telephone, face to face, in writing or electronically to ensure that discharge takes place in a timely fashion

·         Use excellent interpersonal skill to effectively communicate discharge information to patients/relatives who may sometimes be hostile and emotional regarding the options available

·         Ensure appropriate information is available to patients, relatives and carers in order for them to understand their rehabilitation journey and make informed decisions.

·         Ensure accurate records are maintained to allow for the effective auditing and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions

·         Contributes towards development of specialist policies and procedures, to ensure the effective delivery of care for patients with Intermediate Care

·         Be responsible for implementing agreed policy related to IC and informing members of the multi professional team of any changes

·         Participate in research audit programs as appropriate, being aware of relevant research finding and there implications that relate directly to the service.

·         Be a credible role model, able to demonstrate good practice to junior staff to maintain local, national and professional standards

·         Lead/participate in training and education programs as required

·         Continue to update and develop own clinical/theoretical knowledge.

·         Participate in the supervision and written assessment of Physiotherapy/AHP students on practise placement with the organisation

·         Comply with the CSP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and local policies and procedures

3. Professional Advice

·         Act as a specialist resource to IC staff offering specialist advice and help in all aspects of therapy

·         Lead/attend case conferences as appropriate, giving specialist advice and input as required

·         Attend multi-disciplinary meetings with other agencies involved in IC including Social Service, housing, Southend Hospital and Long Term Providers acting as the representative from IC ensuring accurate and timely information is available to facilitate patient care

·         Ensure effective partnership working with other services, notably other Intermediate Care Services, Wider Community Health Service GP’s, Southend Hospital and Social Services

4. Management Responsibilities

·         To provide line management to Physiotherapist within CICC and wider intermediate care services as appropriate.

·         Ensure effective staff management including adherence to policies and procedures to safeguard the well-being of patients and staff, to include staff appraisal and supervision, mandatory training, probationary and sickness policies

·         Identify staff training and development needs in order to ensure the workforce is fit for purpose and appropriately skilled to deliver the contracted activity, ensuring that care and compassion are central to all that we do and patients are treated with respect and dignity at all times.

·         Ensure staff receive feedback from audit, compliments and investigation of complaints to encourage staff to improve the patient experience

·         Participate together with the Service Manager to ensure effective utilisation of the resources, so as to remain within the allocated budget

·         Effectively manage resources including the skill mix and use of temporary staff.

·         Support the directorate in the implementation and achievement of CQUIN and CIP targets where necessary

·         Be responsible for the collection and collation of evidence to support CQC compliance

·         In liaison with the Service Manager set objectives for the delivery of care and rehabilitation within the unit and devise ways of implementing and monitoring these.

·         Deal appropriately with complaints, concerns and compliments related to intermediate care therapy provision across Intermediate Care

·         Participate in research and/or audit programmes relevant to IC/Stroke as necessary, disseminating findings at local level.

ADDITIONAL DUTIES

In addition to the above duties you will also be expected to perform the below key activities in line with your job role;

-       Complete mandatory training in line with Trust policy and procedures

-       To participate in the staff appraisal process and to undertake for any staff you manage

-       To keep yourself updated on all matters relating to Trust policy

-       To provide management supervision where appropriate

-       You will be expected to work collaboratively with key partner organisations, service users, carers, clinicians and other practitioners within the multi-disciplinary team in delivering services; providing a 7-day a week, 24-hours a day service for 365 days a year working shifts, where appropriate and operationally required.