Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical:

To ensure the delivery of a co-ordinated multidisciplinary service, and integrate physiotherapy treatment into the treatment programme. This will include discussion of patient care, patient progress and involvement in discharge planning.

To assess and manage clinical risk concerning the treatment of clients in own caseload and ensure that other staff comply e.g. Manual Handling risk assessment and Trust lone working Policy.

Provide cover across the department during episodes of staff shortage or heavy workload to ensure service delivery.

To work within the standards and guidelines laid down by the Children’s Physiotherapy Service, the Trust, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), the Health Professionals Council (HPC), the Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists (APCP) and other relevant clinical interest groups and the Children’s act.

To communicate with other Services both within and outside the Borough e.g.

• Education
• Social Services
• Voluntary Services
• Wheelchair Services
• Tertiary Service e.g. GOS

To work closely with Education in the Statementing and Annual Review process.

To be involved in the referral process to Secondary or Tertiary Services when deemed clinically appropriate in consultation with senior staff.

To be involved in the transition stage to adult services in Islington and other boroughs as necessary.

To provide copies of all correspondences to the parent/guardian.

To provide a discharge report to the referring source and the parent/guardian.

To ensure that documentation is accurate and meets the standards legally required by the CSP and the Trust.

To assist senior staff in providing supervision to local Children’s physiotherapy staff.

Professional:

To be responsible for maintaining own competency to practice through Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities by keeping abreast of any new trends and developments, and incorporate them as necessary into your work. To undertake reflective practice and maintain a portfolio which reflects personal development.

To be aware of current opinion on the provision of care for Paediatric conditions through:

• Individual supervision
• Reading of physiotherapy related literature
• Reading of National guidelines and standards
• Attendance at peer support groups, in-services training (IST) and courses
• Involvement in the appraisal scheme
• Reflection

To assist senior staff to help local staff to keep up to date on current opinion on the provision of care for Paediatric conditions through:

• Individual supervision
• Reading of physiotherapy related literature
• Reading of National guidelines and standards
• Attendance at peer support groups, IST and courses
• Involvement in the appraisal scheme
• Reflection
• Membership of Special Interest Groups (SIG)
• Attendance at accredited/recognised courses.

To undertake the measurement and evaluation of your work and current practices through the use of Evidence Based Practice projects, audit, clinical guidelines and outcome measures, either individually or with your manager.  Make recommendations for change and audit the outcome.

To aid in the process to ensure provision of care from the service is based on current opinion for Paediatric conditions.

To be aware of the Departments of Health, Education, NHS and CSP guidelines relevant to the Children’s Physiotherapy Service.

To initiate appropriate evaluation audit projects within the Paediatric field.

To assist in the development of the Models of Care provision for the Children’s Physiotherapy Service.

To comply with all mandatory training.

Organisational:

In the absence of senior staff assist with the day-to-day running of local Children’s Physiotherapy service provision.

To be responsible for organising and planning own clinical caseload to meet service and patient priorities. Readjusting plans as situations change/arise.

To manage own diary in respect of the priorities e.g. caseload, IST, supervision and meetings.

To order equipment / orthoses in consultation with senior staff and to be physically able to install specialist physiotherapy equipment in clients’ homes/schools, applying safe manual handling when doing so in restricted spaces.

To ensure that all equipment defects, accidents and complaints are reported to the Service Manager and that the appropriate action is taken, by those concerned.

To comply with all Whittington Health policies and procedures and the Health and Safety at Work Act, and ensure that all staff are aware of these and do likewise.

Effort:

To carry out child management with strong PHYSICAL effort involving:

• Repetitive movements
• Static postures
• Sustained awkward postures
• Moving of equipment e.g. standing frames, special seating, hoists
• Working in restricted spaces
• Use of all forms of public transport on a daily basis.
• Applying techniques requiring dexterity, sensory co-ordination, precision and patience.

To comply with Whittington Health Manual Handling policies.

Please see the Job Description and the Persons Specification for further details about the job role.