Sports and Exercise Technician | Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust

An opportunity has arisen to recruit a Sports and Exercise Technician who has a keen interest and enthusiasm in Sports and Exercise within the well-established Physiotherapy team . We are keen to recruit an individual who has a wide knowledge of health and wellbeing related to sports and exercise.

Littlebrook Hospital is an acute inpatient mental health hospital which provides care to adults with mental health conditions.

Sports and Exercise Technicians are recognised as essential, core and supportive members of the multi-disciplinary team.

You will be part of the sport tech team which is within the physiotherapy service. We are looking for an individual that is motivated in taking part in service development projects.

We offer regular supervision, Personal Development Plans, in-service training and support for Continual Professional Development activities.

To provide and promote sport and exercise to service users in an acute mental health inpatient setting, through individual sessions and group setting.

To educate & motivate service users to adopt healthier lifestyles and provide a range of health promotion activities including the importance of regular exercise, healthy eating, weight management and smoking cessation.

To work and plan alongside other members of the immediate team and wider MDT, communicating effectively about service users and service changes/developments

Come and work with us in the Garden of England where we combine exceptional professional development opportunities with a tremendous quality of life.

We are Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), providing mental health, learning disability and specialist services, serving 1.8 million people in Kent and Medway, as well as specialist services for adults in Sussex and Surrey. We are rated Good overall by the CQC.

Each year we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 people in the community.

We are proud to employ over 3,800 people from 66 nationalities, and to serve an increasingly diverse range of communities across rural and urban areas.

You will be joining friendly, passionate colleagues, rich in their diversity, who are committed to providing excellent care to our service users and their loved ones.

The nature of our work attracts kindness and compassion as standard and everyone from our cleaners and porters to the chief executive and chairman are recognised as playing a vital role in providing an exemplary service.

Our strategy

Our mission is what we set out to do every day
We deliver brilliant care through brilliant people

Our vision is where we want to be in the future
To provide outstanding care and to work in partnership to deliver this in the right place, for every service user, every time.

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To deliver exercise/fitness programs and group sessions within an acute inpatient setting to aid improvement and support physical and mental health.

To continually review and evaluate service user's progress, treatment plans and risk assessments as the patient's condition changes, making suitable alterations to their sports and exercise programmes.

To identify conditions that may limit or compromise participation.

To induct service users in the safe use of the gym equipment.

To be able to manage own caseload appropriately and using evidence-based intervention strategies.

To understand consent and gain consent from service user for intervention.

To recognise when service users have achieved their goals and to set, review and re-design programs collaboratively with the service user.

To ensure accurate and reliable documentation of patient records are maintained in accordance with local and Trust standards.

To ensure the Fitness to Exercise form (FtE) is completed for each service user who wishes to engage in sports and exercise individual and/or group sessions during their inpatient admission and prior to participation in gym-based exercise. To discuss concerns around any identified medical contra-indications to sports and exercise with the ward-based medical team.

To have excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills including motivational skills.

To be familiar with the service user's medication and the possible side effects when planning and/or designing sports and exercise sessions.

To use outcome measure to aid in the evaluation of sports and exercise interventions and service.

To support service users in engaging in community activities as part of their discharge planning and social prescribing.

To contribute to the completion of patient care plans and assessments.

To seek handover information of service users on own caseload and, to provide feedback of the service user progress to MDT or ward staff

To assess risk and manage it effectively within clinical settings, ensuring a safe environment in which to exercise

To be able to manage challenging behaviour and set clear boundaries within a sport/exercise setting.

To work with patients, carers, relatives and friends who often have distressing or challenging social/clinical experiences/behaviours.

To work within scope of practice and adhere to current clinical guidelines where appropriate.

Ongoing referral to appropriate services including health professionals such as physiotherapy.

To have excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills

To induct patients to the safe use of the sports and exercise equipment including gym equipment on site.

To work flexibly adjusting priorities according to the needs of the service

Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to .