Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities

 Communication Skills

1.       To provide and receive complex information in relation to the child, their current presentation and needs. 

2.    To identify and arrange additional support for parents and carers where there are potential barriers to communication e.g use of an interpreter.

3.       To communicate highly complex and sensitive information effectively with patients and carers to maximise rehabilitation potential and to ensure understanding of condition and implication of management where there may be barriers to understanding. 

4.       Be highly skilled in communicating with children of all ages who have a range of physical and psychological barriers to understanding. Communication skills of persuasion, motivation, explanation, and gaining informed consent are used with a variety of patients, parents and carers. 

5.       To gain valid informed consent in accordance with trust policy and have the ability to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment. 

6.       To communicate effectively and work collaboratively with Allied Health Professionals (AHP’s), social services, education colleagues and voluntary organisations to ensure delivery of a timely and co-ordinated multi-agency service.  This will include initiation and attendance of patient reviews, in variety of settings and the planning of ongoing care.

 Planning and Organising Skills 

1.    To be responsible for a designated area of work, as agreed with the Head of Service for Community Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, and to plan and organise efficiently and effectively with regard to patients’ management and time management. 

2.   To decide priorities for own work area, balancing patient related and professional demands, and ensure that these remain in accordance with those of the team as a whole. 

3.       To be responsible for ensuring the effective selection and use of all treatment resources available both in the department on the wards and community environment. 

4. To be aware of Health and Safety aspects of your work and implement any policies, which may be required to improve the safety of your work area, including your prompt recording and reporting of accidents and incidents (in line with policy), and ensuring that equipment use is safe. 

5. To be responsible for equipment used in carrying out physiotherapy duties, and to adhere to departmental policy, including competence to use equipment and to ensure its safe use by others through, teaching, training and supervision of practice. 

6. To maintain accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date documentation, in line with legal and departmental requirements, and communicate assessment and treatment results to the appropriate parents/carers, internal and external agencies in the form of reports and letters in accordance with Trust Data Protection Policy.

 7.   To be actively involved in the collection of appropriate data and statistics for the use of the department and other specialist groups within the trust, and for national reporting. 

8.       To have knowledge of and comply with the organisational and departmental policies and procedures and to be involved in the reviewing and updating as appropriate. 

9.      To undertake any duties that might be considered appropriate by the Head of Service for Community Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy 

10. To deputise for the Head of Service for Community Physiotherapy and Occupation Therapy in terms of operational issues. 

11.   Co-ordinate and organise in-service staff training, meetings, and internal/external courses.  Co-ordinate educational staff, Social Services, and voluntary carers to assist in the delivery of treatments, programmes, planning and organising clinics/multi-agency meetings. 

 12.   Implement change to service delivery in response to quality initiatives in partnership with Head of Service for Community Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy

 13.   All individuals will have some risk management responsibilities with which you are required to comply, for details of your responsibilities please refer to the current Risk management strategy which is available on the intranet and in the local strategies folder 

 Responsibility for Patient/Client Care

 Clinical 

1.       To be professional and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own work including the management of caseload.  To ensure a high standard of clinical care (for the patients under your management), and support and monitor junior staff to do likewise.

 2.       To demonstrate the ability to carry out advanced physiotherapy assessment and highly specialised interventions including manual therapy techniques and therapeutic handling and demonstrate highly developed dexterity, co-ordination and palpatory sensory skills for assessment and manual treatment of patients.

 3.       To carry out assessment of patients as an autonomous practitioner, including those with highly complex presentations, where expert opinion may differ, using clinical reasoning skills, knowledge of evidence-based practice and expertise to determine appropriate care plans utilising highly specialist treatment skills and a wide range of treatment options.

 4.       To use specialised knowledge to interpret and analyse clinical and non-clinical diagnoses in a wide variety range of highly complex conditions, where there may conflicting evidence or where some information is unavailable.

 5.       To contribute to accurate prognoses and recommend best course of intervention, developing comprehensive management plans, guided by clearly defined principles or occupational policies.

 6.       To refer to other healthcare professionals and agencies as appropriate as part of the overall management of the child to ensure holistic care.

 7.       To continually reassess patients and adjust treatment plans accordingly in order to progress treatments effectively.

 8.       To represent the trust externally (locally and regionally) regarding physiotherapy services provided to patients.

 9.       To accept clinical responsibility for a designated caseload of patients, and to organise this effectively and efficiently with regard to clinical priorities and time management.

  Please see Job Description for full details.