Highly Specialist Physiotherapist

The post holder will work as an integral part of the team responding to the needs of the service and its stakeholders and taking a leading role in team developments and day-to-day running of the department in the Acute and Crisis directorate. The post holder will be based on Holbrook Ward, Woodlands Unit, and Oaktree Lodge at Memorial Hospital, and will work with working age adults across the Acute & Crisis Directorate. The Older People's Mental Health directorate provides assessment and intervention to those primarily aged over 65 with a mental health diagnosis, which can be functional and/or organic in nature. There are 4 wards within the directorate: Holbrook (specialist dementia care), Oaktree Lodge (continuing care for mental health conditions), and Shepherdleas and Scadbury (acute care predominantly with functional diagnoses). The physiotherapy staff provides a full assessment for all service users on the wards and identifies appropriate intervention plans.

• To provide a high standard of physiotherapy to inpatients on the older people\'s wards as an autonomous practitioner. The post holder will be responsible for their own caseload, providing advanced clinical assessment, diagnosis, planning treatment and appropriate discharge from the service, adapting practice to suit the needs of the patients, many of whom may have acute, complex and/or chronic presentations.
• To have extensive knowledge of physiotherapy in older people mental health settings, with a special interest in falls management.
• To develop partnership working within the multi-disciplinary team and wider working environment. Actively work to maintain these relationships and be influential within them.
• To supervise, appraise junior physiotherapy and support staff working in this area in the assessment, diagnosis, treatment and management of patients.
• To co-ordinate the placements of physiotherapy students allocated to the Older People\'s Mental Health Directorate, assisting clinical educators as required in the supervision, education and assessment of therapy students.
• To develop care protocols/packages relating to the specialist area in liaison with ward managers and Directorate Allied Health Professional Lead to improve patient care (e.g., development of care pathways).
• To take the lead in the development of policies and protocols as negotiated with the clinical team manager.
• To assume delegated tasks as requested by the Service Managers, ward managers and Directorate AHP Lead.
• To use specialist knowledge to inform service/policy developments as appropriate.
• To contribute to the planning, co-ordinating, delivering and evaluating of the Physiotherapy Service provided to inpatients across the wards and on a day-to-day basis.
• To be an active member of local leadership teams to focus on service development throughout the directorate.
• Contribute towards the management of risk within the department, including review of policies and standards.
• To lead on incident investigations as deemed appropriate by the Directorate Management Team, including serious incident investigations into falls on inpatient units.
• To attend/contribute to directorate and trust Patient Safety Boards.

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that welcomes and supports individuals of all abilities. If you meet the minimum criteria for this role and you have a disability, you can be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme. Please select this on your application form. We encourage openness about needs to design a comfortable and accessible interview experience. Any information regarding disability or need for adjustments will be treated in confidence and shared only with colleagues supporting this request. If you require adjustments to participate fully in the interview process, please let us know when scheduling your preferred interview date and time. Please contact the appointing manager to discuss your needs. We encourage applicants to contact the hiring manager before their interview with questions about the role or process.

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Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure settings, including community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities, and mental health care. Our multidisciplinary teams work with people of all ages and in partnership with other NHS parts, local councils, and the voluntary sector. Our 4,300 staff work across hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children\'s centres, schools, and people\'s homes. We operate over 125 sites in the South of England and parts of London and Kent, including Queen Mary\'s Hospital, Sidcup, Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, and the Bracton Centre. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services. Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care, guided by our values: We\'re Kind, We\'re Fair, We Listen, We Care.