Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for a registered Occupational therapist or Physiotherapist to join us as a Discharge Specialist Practitioner within the Integrated Care Transfer Hub. 

This key post will, together with the discharge specialist nurses within the TOC hub, be integral in optimising the bed utilisation for all  patients who no longer meet the criteria to reside, both on the acute hospital site and on Mary Seacole and Gwynne Holford wards at our Queens Mary's Hospital site. The role will also provide support  to increase the number of discharges directly from these departments. The clinical experience of the successful candidate will help to provide both support and critical challenge to the multidisciplinary ward teams in planning for and completing patient discharges. This post will also support with the role out of our new discharge process of Prescribe not Describe model. 

Main duties of the job

The post holder will exercise high levels of judgement, discretion and decision making within the complex discharge process for a wide variety of patients and their needs.

As an experienced autonomous practitioner, they will provide expert advice on complex discharge planning to staff members and partnership agencies, patients and their relatives and carers.

To have specialist assessment skills and be able to use their comprehensive knowledge to identify the most appropriate discharge pathway for patients in the acute setting.

To have excellent knowledge of discharge pathways and be able to work as part of the MDT to support patients with complex discharge needs, whilst ensuring that each patient is provided with the appropriate level of care and support needed to meet their individual needs on discharge.

To participate in daily operational and management activities, including leading daily discharge hub calls with system partners.

The post holder will be the case manager for complex patients . Provide professional support to ward discharge co-ordinators, discharge support workers and patient discharge facilitators.

The post holder will assist with the role out of our new model of working "Describe not Prescribe". The post holder will be expected to internally triage D2A referrals, discuss during daily meetings with social care and CLCH and then as an MDT, prescribe the patients care on discharge. 

Working for our organisation

With nearly 9,000 dedicated staff caring for patients around the clock, they are the largest healthcare provider in southwest London.

Their main site, St George’s Hospital in Tooting – one of the country’s principal teaching hospitals – is shared with St George’s, University of London, which trains medical students and carries out advanced medical research. St George’s Hospital also hosts the St George’s, University of London and Kingston University Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences, which is responsible for training a wide range of healthcare professionals from across the region.
As well as acute hospital services, they provide a wide variety of specialist care and a full range of community services to patients of all ages following integration with Community Services Wandsworth in 2010.
St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust serves a population of 1.3 million across southwest London. A large number of services, such as cardiothoracic medicine and surgery, neurosciences and renal transplantation, also cover significant populations from Surrey and Sussex, totalling around 3.5 million people.

The trust also provides care for patients from a larger catchment area in southeast England, for specialties such as complex pelvic trauma. Other services treat patients from all over the country, such as family HIV care and bone marrow transplantation for non-cancer diseases. The trust also provides a nationwide state-of-the-art endoscopy training centre.