Job summary
- Main area
- Clinical Lead Physiotherapist
- Grade
- Band 7
- Contract
- 12 months (fixed term for career break cover)
- Hours
- Part time - 30 hours per week (per annum pro rata)
- Job ref
- 150-KB2577-CC-A
- Employer
- Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- 3rd Floor Southfield House
- Town
- Worthing
- Salary
- £49,387 - £56,515 per annum pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 23/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Clinical Lead Physiotherapist - Community Therapy Team
Band 7
Job overview
If you’re an ambitious, proactive, and experienced Physiotherapist looking to be part of a supportive team and use your expert skills to provide excellent community care, we’d love to hear from you. Our aim is to maximise opportunities for the people living in our communities to be as independent as possible in what matters to them, living full and active lives within their family circles, social networks, and the workplace.
We have an exciting opportunity for a Clinical Lead Community Physiotherapist in our West Community Therapy Team Chichester to come and work in the service delivering the aim above via holistic, personalised, therapeutic care. You will work as part of well-established wider Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDTs) across our local communities, where you will provide support across both proactive community rehabilitation and urgent care pathways. Our teams work flexibly to provide a five-day service, between 8am and 6pm.
We will support you to make full use of your skills at whatever stage of your career to:
- Provide specialist, holistic assessments, and reviews to improve or maintain quality of life.
- Support individuals to take increased ownership and control over their health through rehabilitation interventions, personalised care planning and goal setting.
- Provide an urgent response to minimise crisis situations and the need for emergency interventions or hospital admissions.
Main duties of the job
In this role, you will provide clinical and professional leadership, ensuring effective governance and clinical support for staff working within the service.
Working with the operational leads, you will ensure the clinical effectiveness of the service and the delivery of an excellent patient experience. You will develop key partnerships, working to ensure successful system working through effective communication and networking with other disciplines, by working across professional and service boundaries.
You will be part of the development of the service through reflective practice, clinical supervision, and quality improvement initiatives. Central to this is supporting the principles of interdisciplinary working and cross skilling for all staff, supporting each other, and learning together.
You will use your specialist clinical assessment and intervention skills for complex patients and provide clinical advice and support to colleagues to enable individual and team development. You will be responsible for staff management, supervision, and development, including shift coordination, allocation of visits, and the performance development reviews of members of the team.
You will need to able to drive with a full UK licence due to the geographic area covered by the team.
Working for our organisation
We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex, with 6,000 staff serving 1.3 million people. We deliver essential care to adults and children, helping them manage their health, avoid hospital admissions, and reduce hospital stays.
Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community. We offer opportunities across medical, clinical, support, and corporate services.
Why work for us?
• Positive 2024 NHS Staff Survey results, highlighting compassionate leadership and wellbeing
• Varied environments: community hospitals, patients’ homes, and bases across Sussex
• Flexible working options: part-time, flexi-time, annualised hours, and flexi-retirement
• Excellent training, development, and research opportunities
• Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove, and Brighton
• Active EMBRACE, Disability & Wellbeing, LGBTQIA+, and Religion & Belief networks
• Level 3 Disability Confident Leader and Veteran Aware Trust
• Beautiful Sussex location near the South Downs and coast
Our values—Compassionate Care, Working Together, Achieving Ambitions, Delivering Excellence—guide everything we do.
We embrace diversity and encourage applications from all backgrounds, particularly from ethnically diverse, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. We aim to create an inclusive environment and support reasonable adjustments during recruitment.
This post may close early if sufficient applications are received.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Our Trust and leadership teams are committed to supporting your work/life balance via flexible working and tailored support to help you advance your clinical practice and leadership skills in style that suits you, your health and wellbeing and your future career aspirations. This is an ideal opportunity to bring your skills and develop them in a flexible, supportive, and positive community service.
Further information is available in the attached job description and person specification.
Person specification
Qualifications and/ or professional registration
Essential criteria
- Professional qualification such as a degree or equivalent in Physiotherapy or Occupational Therapy
- Currently registered with the Health and Care Professions Council
- Post registration qualification or training to Masters level or equivalent, or be willing to undertake
Desirable criteria
- Advanced Physical assessment course or Masters level module
- Mentoring course or equivalent or Qualified Practice Assessor
- Recognised Leadership Qualification
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience within clinical case management
- Experience working within a multi-disciplinary team
- Evidence of a consistent pattern of learning from education and training
- Experience working across the boundaries of primary, community and secondary care
Desirable criteria
- Experience of clinical leadership within a service
- Experience of leading service development and change
- Experience of active participation in research
Skills and knowledge
Essential criteria
- Up to date knowledge and skills within clinical area (Physiotherapy or Occupational Therapy)
- Up to date knowledge of health and social care policy
- Up to date knowledge of Professional code of Conduct
- Up to date knowledge of clinical governance, risk management and clinical audit
- Able to use advanced reasoning and assessment skills in a wide range of approaches to treatments and management of conditions
- Able to analyse complex situations and problem solve as necessary
- Able to direct and co-ordinate programmes of care working autonomously and collaboratively
- Able to advocate for patients to improve their outcomes
- Able to mentor, supervise and develop other professionals
- Able to communicate effectively where barriers or obstacles exist and able to deploy strategies to overcome these
- Able to work in a fast-paced and dynamic health service
- Able to use recognised IT packages e.g. Microsoft Office including Excel
- Able to use IT systems and keyboard skills including accurate data recording skills
- Able to identify the training needs of self and others and to provide relevant and appropriate learning
- Knowledge of team dynamics and strategies to develop high performing teams
- Able to work in partnership and collaboration with other professionals in other services and challenge and negotiate with them as needed
- Able to meet conflicting deadlines, prioritise effectively and manage own and others workload
- Able to manage, diffuse and resolve conflict
- Able to teach patients and carers to participate and manage their own care as appropriate
- Able to monitor, maintain and improve standards of care
- Able to demonstrate a high level of understanding of self and able to identify their own personal limitations and an openness to addressing them
Other requirements
Essential criteria
- Car driver (Valid Driving License for use in the UK) Unless under the Equality Act for reasonable adjustments
- An understanding of the principles of equal opportunities in relation to staff and patients
- Willingness to undertake training to develop within the role
Desirable criteria
- Flexible working
- Access to a vehicle for work purposes
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Application numbers
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Melanie Henson
- Job title
- Team Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07557205752
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