Therapy Assistant Practitioner

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and flexible individual to join a friendly and dynamic service at Lewisham and Greenwich Trust. The role will be based in the inpatient physiotherapy department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) and rotates between the following clinical areas:
+ Medical Rehabilitation, including elderly care
+ Trauma and Orthopaedics
+ Intensive Care and Surgery
+ Medical Respiratory
+ Emergency Department Therapy Team
You will need to be enthusiastic and willing to develop your assessment and treatment skills.
The post will provide therapy intervention to patients in the acute hospital wards, according to the rotation assigned.
The Physiotherapy Assistant Practitioner will work under the supervision of qualified Therapy staff, providing assessment and treatment programmes for patients in the in hospital. This will include working in a wide variety of settings including the ward, the Emergency Department, the inpatient gym and activities of daily living suites., The Physiotherapy Assistant Practitioner is able to carry out a full episode of care from assessment to discharge, for a specified and designated clinical caseload identified by a qualified clinician.
The post holder will assist in the administration and clerical duties for the team and department.
A comprehensive in-service training programme is provided and we support staff in continual professional development.
We will also support you to contribute to exciting service developments on site as part of the emerging changes to therapy services and rehabilitation in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Working in Therapies
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Working for our organisation
Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:
1. Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
2. Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
3. Improving the experience of staff with disability
4. Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
5. Making equalities mainstream, The post will provide therapy intervention to patients in the acute inpatient hospital wards.
The Physiotherapy Assistant Practitioner will work under the supervision of qualified Therapy staff, providing assessment and treatment programmes for patients in the in hospital. This will include working in a wide variety of settings including the ward, the inpatient gym and activities of daily living suites.
The Physiotherapy Assistant Practitioner is able to carry out a full episode of care from assessment to discharge, for a specified and designated clinical caseload identified by a qualified clinician.
The post holder will assist in the administration and clerical duties for the team and department.
KEY RELATIONSHIPS
INTERNAL INCLUDE: Supervising specialist clinician team leads and clinical pathway leads, clinical pathway teams, referring clinicians, MDTs, therapy administrative team.
EXTERNAL INCLUDE: GPs, Community Services, Social services, Local authorities, Voluntary Services, DoH Networks.
Key Result Areas & Performance:
1. To undertake all aspects of clinical duties and to carry a full caseload of patients under the supervision, direct and indirect, of an Occupational Therapist or a Physiotherapist.
2. To work to departmental standard operating procedures and clinical protocols and in conjunction with the supervising clinician to decide priorities for own work area, balancing other patient related and service demands.
3. To be responsible for implementing programmes of care assessing patient progress and using initiative to suggest changes to treatment plan within agreed competencies. When care deviates from standard operating procedures report back to therapist.
4. To own competency level to be accountable for all aspects of own work. This will include the management of clinical risk, clinical governance, knowledge of indications and precautions of chosen techniques in line with National and Trust clinical guidelines and protocols where they exist.
5. To assess patients' capacity, gain valid informed consent to treatment and where such capacity is lacking/absent to work within a legal framework in the management of the patient.
6. To undertake the assessment and treatment planning for patients identified within a specific and designated caseload.
7. To carry out home visits and access visits, with or without a therapist, as required.
8. To implement individualised clinical management programmes, utilising a range of treatment skills and options to plan a suitable programme of care.
9. To use recognised outcome measures to evaluate the effect of Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy interventions and ensure that treatment programmes are progressing appropriately.
10. To provide information, teaching and instruction to relatives, carers, other disciplines and agencies. To promote understanding of the aims of Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy.
11. To participate in multidisciplinary/multi-agency team meetings and case conferences to ensure the co-ordination of patient care. This may include the review of patient progress and discharge planning.
12. To ensure accurate, comprehensive and up to date clinical records are maintained in accordance with Trust guidance and agreed criteria.
13. Deliver and install simple aids and equipment in the patient's home and instruct patients and carers in use of this equipment as appropriate.
14. To identify and employ suitable verbal and non-verbal communication skills with patients where there may be barriers to understanding or the inability to accept diagnosis. To facilitate the best possible communication outcome in every situation and use appropriate services e.g. interpreters, SALT.
15. To ensure that individual practice and that of the local pathway team is user focused and patient views are incorporated into treatment planning.
16. To employ appropriate skills such as persuasion, motivation and negotiation to gain co-operation in the continuation of the agreed treatment programme.
17. To communicate with empathy, patient information which may be of a complex and sensitive nature
18. To receive complex patient related information from patients, relatives, carers and other professionals to effectively plan and develop individual case management.
19. To communicate and advise regarding complex patient related information effectively to ensure collaborative working within the Therapy service and with other professionals across health and other agencies to ensure the delivery of a coordinated multidisciplinary service.
20. To be integral in discharge planning including liaison with referring hospitals or community staff to which patients are discharged, providing timely discharge reports.
21. To produce patient related reports for other disciplines or agencies relating to assessment findings and/or treatment outcomes.
22. To participate in the measurement and evaluation of own work through audit, outcome measurement.
23. To follow service policy regarding current clinical and service developments.
24. To be accessible and provide clinical information to colleagues.
25. To fully participate in whatever pattern of working is required by the service in the future.
Financial
Ensure adequate activities of daily living equipment is available and accessible, and work with Transferring Community Equipment Services (TCES) agenda.
Service Development
1. To contribute to the development of a designated Therapy speciality in line with Trustwide Pathway development.
2. To contribute to the implementation of service agreed policy and service changes for local work area in line with policy agreed for Pathway as a whole. The post holder will work with the other members of the Pathway Team to achieve this.
3. To contribute to developments within the Therapy service and the wider multidisciplinary/multi-agency team and if requested participate in related project groups.
We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date, please apply early. We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.
As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women's staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.
Please note, not all roles will meet the criteria for a skilled worker visa.

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.
Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup.
We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 - the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.
To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone. You can read more about our visions and values here
Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as "good" or "outstanding" in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.
Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.
LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King's College London's GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.
We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.