Senior Orthotist

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  Duties and Responsibilities

Clinical Practice 

· Provide clinical and professional supervision to junior staff during the operation of specialist and general clinics (both inpatient and outpatient caseloads) across all Trust sites.

 · Take a leading role in one or more specialist areas, demonstrating an in-depth knowledge and supporting/training junior team members in these areas.

·Provide clinical advice to staff, including advice on therapeutic management, progression of input, clinical risk management, and discharge planning.

·Provide Orthotic clinical expertise, ensuring clients and/or carers are involved in decision making and care planning wherever possible.

 ·Provide orthotic advice and offer second opinions within clinical field regarding the management and care of patients/clients with complex conditions and disorders.

 · Implement relevant national and local guidance i.e. NSFs, NICE guidance, policies and procedures, e.g. promotion of infection control.

 · Work collaboratively with other principal colleagues and Service Manager at all times.

 ·   Ensure effective clinical service provision to clients, assessment and evaluation of care, outcome measurement, and interdisciplinary working.

 · Develop team processes to ensure individually tailored treatment plans are delivered using advanced clinical reasoning and demonstrating critical thinking, reflection, and analysis.  Aim to develop person centered, outcome orientated treatment plans.

 · Ensure team communicates effectively to gain client and carer informed consent and understanding of treatment programs that intervention is effective and staff work within legal framework for capacity, consent and safeguarding.

 Supervision and Leadership

 · Provide supervision and act as a mentor to junior members of staff during the running of orthotic clinics. 

·Provide organisational support to junior staff members with appropriate delegation of tasks and coordination of clinical resource.

 · Ensure junior orthotists adhere to national and local professional protocol/policies and codes of conduct.

 · Contribute to the management of clinical risk, the monitoring of orthotists’ performance against agreed quality indicators and standards across the service, and ensure an effective peer review/supervision structure is in place for orthotists across the service.

 · To liaise with clinical lead in the appraisal of staff at the end of each year according to Trust appraisal guidelines, discuss outcomes with individuals and inform the clinical lead with recommendations. 

 · When required, be able to initiate the opening stages of the grievance and disciplinary process in collaboration with the clinical lead / service manager.

 ·Assist the Clinical Lead Orthotist in addressing incidents and complaints by providing professional clinical support for devising and implementing action plans.

 · Contribute to rota management across the service, recommending changes to staffing according to local needs and waiting times.

 · Contribute to the department’s student placement program, an extensive program covering multiple Universities.

·Assist in the mentoring and support of students on placement and manage the induction of new staff into their posts.

 Personal and Professional Duties

 ·  To be responsible for own personal/professional status and development evidenced by Personal Development Plan/ Professional Portfolio and attend relevant training and development in order to ensure the maintenance of good practice in the Orthotic profession.

 ·To actively participate in internal and external post registration education programmes in specialist and advance skills to support orthotic practice so as to provide expertise and expert opinion to others within the team.

 ·To share expert clinical knowledge with colleagues and peers at local and national level.

 · Develop and maintain effective professional networks and represent the Service (or the profession) at Trust or external agency meetings, as delegated by the Clinical Lead Orthotist.

 · Assist in the development and implementation of clinical supervision throughout the service.  Ensure there are appropriate arrangements for clinical supervision for all team members within designated areas.

 ·To be responsible for implementing evidence-based practice and research, and develop strategies for implementing best practice. To actively research current developments within the specialist field, both clinically and relating to policy.

 ·Facilitate and monitor progress of junior staff members assisting in CPD and professional development of the individual team members, in line with HCPC requirements, and service and individual requirements.  This will involve the requirement to negotiate training events with education providers, individual consultants, attendees and venue providers.

 Service Development

 ·  In conjunction with the senior clinical team provide advice on professional issues of service delivery such as service pressures and to describe the service redesign or resource requirements to meet service pressures.

 ·  Contribute to the development of the service, working in line with the national and local quality, productivity and other development agendas.

 · Act as a role model and clinical expert within orthotic services, promoting and demonstrating first class care through evidence-based practice and research

· Provide specialised clinical input to assist others in managing their caseloads.

 · Provide knowledge and expertise across the range of work undertaken by the orthotists in the service

·Contribute to the management of clinical risk within the orthotic services implementing national and local guidelines for best practice.  Propose changes to these guidelines to the Clinical team & Specialist Regional Rehabilitation Service Manager to maximise clinical effectiveness and implement any agreed changes.

 ·  Ensure the team communicates and negotiates with individual service users, their carers, and all those involved in their care to gain informed consent, or to work within a legal framework with patients/clients who lack capacity to consent to treatment. 

·         Participate in the monitoring and evaluation of individual service users progress, record changes, and outcomes.  Reassess and amend treatment programmes as required in collaboration with other team members.

·         Attend team meetings and assist in the planning and organisation of workload relating to responsibilities.  Ensure there are minutes of meetings to record actions and agreements.  Also, ensure they are followed through to completion. 

·         Actively develop and promote the Orthotics service, actively seeking feedback and reviewing performance, and seeking opportunities to develop the scope and effectiveness of the service offered.

·         Assist in defining targets and objectives for the team, ensuring information is routinely collected and reviewed to monitor and manage the activity and performance of the team. 

·         Maintain a high standard of written documentation in client records, and participate in audit to check all documentation is of a high standard.

·         Support the development of policy proposals and implement policy changes within one or more specialist clinics.

·         Ensure the service responds to the development and application of national, Trust, professional and local guidelines and legislation relating to health and social care in orthotic practice.

·         Promote the importance of patient and public involvement at all levels of service provision and strategy.

·         Regularly liaise with service professional heads in a constructive and timely manner.

·         Use the principles of service modernisation in all aspects of patient care delivery e.g. capacity and demand analysis, skill mix.

Collaborative and Partnership Working

·         Co-ordinate joint professional initiatives across care pathways, other disciplines, and partner agencies to improve the efficiency of the service.

·         Share information with other professions and agencies observing confidentiality and data protection guidelines.

·         Instigate, maintain, and develop effective lines of communication with all stakeholders and relevant professionals across the health and social care settings. 

·         Utilise excellent interpersonal skills to effectively communicate with patients and carers, making full use of the Trust interpreting service.

·         Able to receive and interpret complex, sensitive or contentious information on a regular basis.  Frequently use negotiation skills with stakeholders in order to facilitate the department’s business plan in a courteous and understanding manner.

Quality and Clinical Governance

·         To be involved in all relevant aspects of clinical governance. To support the development of evidence-based practice through the implementation and evaluation of new and innovative approaches to orthotic practice.

·         Ensure staff are able to provide evidence of CPD in line with HCPC recommendations.

·         Ensure staff are aware of clinical and non-clinical guidelines and are adhering to them.

·         Ensure standards of orthotic care are monitored through professional supervision and facilitated clinical supervision and act upon accordingly.

·         Ensure the service demonstrates a high level of clinical effectiveness by use of evidence-based practice and outcome measures. To both initiate and design audit and research pertaining to the speciality

·         To represent the department and Trust at local and national level through presentations and publications.