Senior Rapid Access Physiotherapist

The main Physiotherapy role as part of the Discharge To Assess (D2A) and Geriatrician led Virtual Ward (VW) pathway, is to support timely discharges from acute hospitals. These are variable in complexity, consisting of simple risk assessments for those below their usual functional ability, but also for those whereby it is crucial they have an immediate same day assessment in their own home environment to ensure their safety and optimal function upon discharge.
Within the Urgent Community Response (UCR) pathway, the key is to provide an urgent physiotherapy assessment, treatment and intervention in patient's homes to prevent hospital admissions. This can also consist of supporting same day discharges from A&E. Within the role, you will be expected to provide complex assessments and interventions and will make high impact clinical decisions whilst sharing a caseload due to the 7-day working pattern.
The cohort of patient's within RAS are regularly of a high acuity and have a variety of conditions, such as delirium, exacerbations of COPD, TLSO and C-Spine braces, non-weight bearing upper or lower limbs, and falls. Within this setting there is a key focus on identifying deteriorating patients, and escalating appropriately through joint working with Nurses, Paramedics and/or Geriatrician as required. There may be many barriers to treatment in the community, requiring complex problem solving and working with other external agencies to enable to the best outcome for these patients.

Working for our organisation
Regular CPD sessions and in-services are held, along with training opportunities identified from yearly appraisal. Within the Rapid Access Service, therapists can be upskilled in venepuncture to support timely clinical decision making in line with the MDT.
Within Camden Rapid Access Service, we are proud of our high staff retention rate, and have played a significant part in the upskilling and of development of many clinicians within the team.
As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings., As a senior member of the Rapid Access Service, you will be expected to be a highly skilled Physiotherapist who is approachable, an excellent communicator, and who is flexible and able to adapt to the needs of both patients and service.
As part of your role you will also have the opportunity to be 'Clinician of The Day' (COD). This consists of screening all referrals for all pathways. This is a key leadership role in which the COD is required to challenge where necessary the appropriateness of referrals, and ensure all the relevant information is gained to ensure safety for all parties. The COD co-ordinates and oversees the therapists' caseload on that given day, and allocates new referrals as they are discharged from hospital. This is a balancing skill in order to ensure the team have capacity and the discharge is well co-ordinated in line with the integrated discharge teams.
There is much scope for development of both clinical and non-clinical duties within this role. As a Senior Physiotherapist you will have the opportunity to develop leadership skills through undertaking CNWL's 21st Century Leadership modules, as well as non-clinical duties to support the Therapy Lead. You will also be encouraged to identify and undertake service development projects, and supervise junior staff and students. As a leader you will have the opportunity to develop skills in managing people, and identifying and participating in service development through supervisory roles and QI projects.
The 7-day working shift patterns are a mix of the following: 9am-7pm, 12pm-10pm, or 9am-10pm.
CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) has almost 8,000 staff providing integrated healthcare to a third of London's population, Milton Keynes and areas beyond. We involve service users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way that we are run.
Our catchment area spans diverse communities, with over 100 first languages spoken. It contains areas of great affluence as well as areas of much deprivation. We are committed to providing services that meet the needs of the people who use them, and we actively encourage involvement from local people who can help make a difference. We're proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME and people with disabilities to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.
We are recognised locally, nationally and internationally for providing high quality, innovative healthcare. We aim to employ only the best people, and our experts are frequently called upon to contribute to national health strategy and policy, and many models of our care have been adapted for use in other countries.

We are seeking a motivated and highly skilled Senior Physiotherapist to work within the Rapid Access Services (RAS); a 7-day community service. This comprises of three pathways; 'Urgent Community Response', 'Discharge to Assess', and the 'Virtual Ward'. You will also be involved in leading the therapy 'Urgent Response' pathway for non-injured fallers.
This is a challenging and highly rewarding role within a fast-paced, and ever evolving primary care team. The role will enable you to develop your skills in the holistic assessment and treatment of complex, frail patients. This will include knowledge of medications and their impact on function; being competent in taking observations and completing NEWS2 scores to identify deteriorating patients; being exposed to an array of medical and long-term conditions in people over the age of 18; identifying the need for a medical review as part of diagnostics, and being competent in liaising directly with the appropriate specialist community teams to ensure seamless care.
Experience of working autonomously is essential, as our team is often faced with challenging situations which present themselves in the home environment. As a Senior Physiotherapist, you will be working as part of an accomplished team to provide high quality, evidence-based interventions, whilst providing clinical support and having oversight of junior members of the team.

We offer a generous relocation package (subject to eligibility assessment) and flexible working options, including bank assignments for most roles. See attached Staff Reward and Wellbeing Handbook detailing our benefits, discounts and wellbeing initiatives for staff.
Become part of our team. We care for you as much as you care for others.
CNWL NHS Foundation Trust are committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children and vulnerable adults.
Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible.
Our Agenda for Change employment contracts are subject to a contractual 13 week probationary period.
If you are offered a job, information will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.