Rapid Response Specialist Physiotherapist | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Important Sponsorship Information: We are currently unable to offer a certificate of sponsorship for this post.

A great opportunity has arisen for an experienced specialist physiotherapist to join our Rapid Response (RRT) / Urgent Community Response (UCR) Service on a fixed term/secondment basis. This role supports integrated collaborative working between Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and Bexley Adult Social Services to improve health, social care and community support for residents of Bexley.

RRT has operated since 2013 and was involved in the rollout of the NHS Urgent Community Response initiative. RRT is a multi-professional team (Nurses, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists and Social Workers) aiming to respond to crisis referrals within 2 hours, to prevent unnecessary hospital presentations and residential care admissions.

The team provides holistic health and social care assessments for adults (18+) registered with a Bexley GP and living in the Borough of Bexley. They are based at Goldie Leigh, Lodge Hill, Abbey Wood and operate 7 days a week, 8am-8pm, delivering urgent community response to vulnerable people in the community.

• Work as part of the multidisciplinary Rapid Response Team to meet patient needs and maintain high standards of practice.
• Deputise for the Deputy Managers in clinical management of patients referred to the team when required.
• Conduct specialist physiotherapy assessments for patients in the community and participate in integrated multi-professional assessments of health and social care needs.
• Assess and lead on recommendations for admission to intermediate care facilities for rehabilitation, or referrals to integrated health and social care community services for intervention, follow-up and case management.
• Provide equipment necessary to maintain clients at home when urgently required following assessment.
• Contribute to preventing inappropriate hospital admissions, reducing unnecessary ED attendances, and facilitating early discharges by acting as a gateway to Community Services within the Borough of Bexley.
• Lead or participate in MDT meetings and complex family conferences as appropriate.
• Identify and manage clinical risk with complex patients using advanced clinical reasoning skills.
• Identify when to terminate involvement or refer onwards to appropriate teams/services and ensure timely, seamless input.
• Seek guidance from more experienced colleagues when required.

• Demonstrate specialist theoretical knowledge of complex acute and long-term pathologies and impairments in patient assessments.
• Work closely with other health professionals and social services to provide specialist physiotherapy advice aligning with client needs.
• Conduct thorough holistic assessments with informed consent in line with professional guidelines and local team procedures.
• Recommend appropriate physiotherapy interventions to promote independence and safety using evidence-based practice and clinical reasoning.
• Possess ability to formulate individual plans of care for patients requiring input from integrated community services for bed-based or home-based rehabilitation.
• Maintain effective multidisciplinary communication to ensure client needs are met.
• Provide specialist physiotherapy advice and support to clients, carers and relatives based on clinical evidence and reasoning.
• Use specialist knowledge to inform sound clinical judgments and decision making for case management.
• Ensure safe, appropriate and effective provision, installation and demonstration of equipment.
• Demonstrate ability to participate in and, when appropriate, lead MDT meetings and family conferences.
• Maintain high standards of clinical risk management for complex patients.
• Understand when to terminate involvement or refer to appropriate teams/services and ensure timely input.
• Seek guidance from more experienced colleagues when required.

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure settings. Services include district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities, and mental health care. We work with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 staff work in hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes. We operate over 125 sites in the South of England, including London boroughs and Kent. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services in several counties. We are dedicated to improving lives by providing the best possible care to patients and their families, guided by our values: We’re Kind, We’re Fair, We Listen, We Care.

This advert closes on Tuesday 4 Nov 2025.