We are looking for an enthusiastic & inquisitive Physiotherapist who enjoys a challenge & takes a holistic approach to patient care. This role offers the opportunity to contribute to service development while continuing your own professional growth within an evolving specialist area.
Our Inpatient Mental Health Physiotherapy Service is committed to high-quality, person-centred care. We combine musculoskeletal, orthopaedic, neurological, falls management & rehabilitation skills with mental health practice to help service users maximise independence, wellbeing & quality of life. We value collaboration, innovation & co-production, encouraging healthy discussion to continually improve our service.
Previous mental health experience is not essential. You will be supported by experienced clinicians, specialist practitioners & the Lead Physiotherapist to develop the knowledge & skills required for this rewarding area of practice.
We are looking for someone who can:
- Deliver evidence-based, person-centred physiotherapy assessment, treatment and rehabilitation.
- Work effectively both independently & within a multidisciplinary team.
- Demonstrate excellent communication, organisational & interpersonal skills.
- Support patients & families with education on safety, relapse prevention & self-management.
- Engage in continuing professional development & contribute to shared learning through in-service training, journal clubs, peer supervision & observed practice.
The post holder will be required to:
undertake physiotherapy assessments and deliver evidence-based treatment plans to maximise independence, safe discharge from hospital and identify onward referrals.
work as a Band 5 Physiotherapist within the Gloucestershire inpatient mental health units and will be responsible for providing physiotherapy as a member of the Inpatient Mental Health Physiotherapy Team.
manage their own clinical caseload with the support and guidance of Specialist Physiotherapists.
be involved in prioritising of workload on a daily basis, including delegation and assignment of work to support staff.
provide clinical supervision to Physiotherapy Technicians, Assistants and/or Therapy Support staff on a day-to-day basis.
be responsible for representing physiotherapy at Multidisciplinary Team meetings including discharge planning meetings.
provide input into the other Inpatient Units as required, i.e. at times of sickness, annual leave, etc.
We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people’s homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.
Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:
72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust’s priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.
This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.
Clinical
- To undertake all aspects of clinical duties as an autonomous practitioner, holding professional and legal accountability for your practice, with support and supervision from senior clinical colleagues including Clinical Specialist Physiotherapists.
- To be responsible for the day-to-day provision and coordination of physiotherapy with adults with mental health challenges and/or organic disease.
- To undertake triage and subsequent comprehensive initial assessment of admissions and referred patients, using investigative, analytical and clinical reasoning skills and to formulate an individualised problem lists and care plans.
- To organise a caseload effectively and efficiently regarding clinical priorities and use of time, working in co-operation with members of the wider multi-disciplinary team, both internal and external to the trust.
- To assess capacity and gain informed consent to assessment and treatment. Where capacity is lacking work within a legal framework in the management of the service user.
- To communicate effectively using a wide range of verbal and nonverbal communication techniques, interpersonal skills, and mediums, to enable and support service users to engage with physiotherapy, maximise treatment potential, ensure understanding of the condition and the rationale for treatment. e.g. negotiation, motivation, explanation, treatment programmes.
- To formulate and employ individualised clinical management programmes, utilising an appropriate and wide range of treatment skills and options (including equipment prescription), ensuring that the dynamic relationship of mental health and physical health, and the subsequent treatment plans are sensitively and appropriately considered; under the supervision of senior clinical colleagues including Clinical Specialist Physiotherapists.
- Complete treatments within a group or individual setting.
- To continually evaluate outcomes, reassess and modify treatment plans and safety assessments accordingly; as the service user’s condition changes, including efficient discharge from physiotherapy.
- To provide advice and physiotherapy education to service users, carers, families and other health professionals as required; to support service users and ensure continuation of the treatment programme.
- To undertake comprehensive service user and environmental safety assessments (Risk Assessments) and manage risk within own caseload; where appropriate, share assessments with other multi-disciplinary team members, health care providers or partnership agencies. This may include complex decision-making regarding physiotherapy care, with support from senior clinical colleagues including Clinical Specialist Physiotherapists.
- To liaise with members of the multi-disciplinary team, other health care professionals, private and external organisations to coordinate service user care and recovery. Including, multi-agency service user planning meetings, Multidisciplinary Team Meetings, service user case reviews, ward and department meetings and discharge planning.
- To produce and maintain accurate, comprehensive and timely clinical records. Ensuring documentation, care plans, risk assessments, safety assessments, letters, reports and discharge summaries are produced as required and in line with the Trust Record Keeping Policy and HCPC standards. This may include comprehensive service user related reports for other disciplines or agencies relating to assessment findings and/or treatment outcomes.
- To assist service users, families and carers in managing with complex and sensitive information and with the consequences of having a long-term, sometimes progressive physical or mental health illness.
Professional
- To maintain continuous professional development using a wide variety of learning methods, to keep up-to-date with new evidence-based approaches and developments, incorporating them into the work of the service as appropriate.
- To demonstrate adherence to Health and Care Professions Council and Gloucestershire Health & Care clinical guidelines and policies, and have a good working knowledge of relevant national standards to which quality of practice should be monitored
- To be an active member of the physiotherapy and multi-disciplinary teams' Continuing Professional Development programme to ensure maintenance and improvement in knowledge related to Mental Health Physiotherapy, physical health and mental health. (This may include: Inservice Training, Peer Supervision, 1:1 supervision, Journal Club and Observed practice)
- The post holder will present at staff meetings and provide training sessions and tutorials for both the team and the wider MDT.
- To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects own work. To ensure a high standard of clinical care for the patients and physiotherapy management.
- To engage in appraisal and supervision as required within Trust Policies
- To act as a clinical educator, complete practice educator training and undertaking assessment in line with placement objectives
- To offer supervision and guidance to non-registered staff including physiotherapy assistants, physiotherapy technicians and therapy assistants
Service
- To contribute to the development of the Physiotherapy service by developing new initiatives, e.g. evaluating, auditing and adjusting as indicated.
To undertake non-clinical tasks as delegated by senior staff.
