Specialist Physiotherapist (Band 6) - CICC - Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

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Main area: CICC
Grade: Band 6
Contract: Fixed term: 12 months (covering Maternity leave)
Hours: Part time - 28 hours per week (working weekends and bank holidays)
Job ref: 844-6827636

Site: St Catheriens Health Centre
Town: Birkenhead
Salary: £37,338 - £44,962 pa pro rata
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 02/03/2025 23:59

Wirral Community Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust's common purpose:

We will support you and your community to live well.

Our values:

Compassion: Supportive and caring, listening to others.
Open: Communicating openly, honestly and sharing ideas.
Trust: Trusted to deliver, feeling valued and safe.

Wirral Community Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust provides high quality community health and care services which are responsive to the needs of our local population. Services are delivered by our dedicated and innovative multi-disciplinary professionals and supported by equally committed staff behind the scenes. We strive to continue developing and improving our services by working with and listening to our populations, partners, commissioners, and staff.

Job overview

We have fantastic opportunities available for experienced Physiotherapists to join CICC. We are a team of occupational therapists, physiotherapists, assistant practitioners, and technical instructors who work within a ward-based environment in an integrated way with nurses, health care assistants, clinical support workers and also have adult social care staff co-located within the ward environment in order to provide holistic assessment and rehabilitation for people who have been deemed ready to leave hospital, but not yet ready to return home. The work is varied and interesting - no two days are ever the same. You will provide holistic assessments, work collaboratively with the multidisciplinary team and be able to assess, plan and follow up patients to enable them to reach their rehabilitation potential.

The post holder requires a high degree of empathy, understanding, diplomacy, honesty, and integrity as well as good communication and interpersonal skills, and be willing to undertake ongoing training and development.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for an enthusiastic and forward-thinking Specialist Physiotherapist to join our busy, pro-active, integrated services based at the Community Intermediate Care Centre (CICC). The role will involve completing comprehensive assessments for patients with a wide variety of both physical and mental health conditions as well as complex social issues, implementing treatment plans and collaborative working with our experienced MDTs. You will be expected to liaise and refer into wider health, social care, and voluntary agencies, when appropriate, to ensure best possible outcomes are achieved for patients, their Carers and families.

You need to have significant post-grad NHS experience, preferably with both acute and community experience, have a good understanding of risk management and moving and handling. Excellent communication skills and an ability to prioritise a large caseload of complex patients are essential. You will need good time management skills. This post would suit a Physiotherapist wishing to develop their skills and knowledge in a supportive environment. The post holder will be expected to contribute to service improvement initiatives and actively participate in continuous professional development activities. There will be the opportunity for supervision and to attend in-service training and professional development.

Working for our organisation

Current HCPC registration with the relevant therapy qualification is essential to this post. Appointment to the post will be subject to successful interview, references, DBS clearance and Occupational Health checks.

At WCHC, our priority is to provide safe, high-quality care to our communities every day; the kind of care we would want for ourselves and our loved ones. Our services are community-based, and we are one of the first Trusts in England to integrate health and adult social care bringing together teams of Nurses, Allied Health Professionals and Social Workers to deliver truly integrated health and care.

We strive to be a great place to work and thrive and are committed to investing in our staff to help them fulfil their potential through a range of learning and development opportunities.

Our staff are very much valued, and this is why we offer a range of employee benefits including family friendly policies, additional leave purchase scheme, laptops for remote working, free parking, staff wellbeing support services including counselling, inclusive staff network meetings, and a range of engagement roles.

Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (WCHC) offers:

• Supportive induction
• Training
• Opportunities to develop and enhance your skills
• Being part of a multi-disciplinary team of health and social care professionals, and development within the wider Wirral’s NHS services.

Join Team WCHC and be part of our talented Allied Health Professional (AHP) workforce. Together we play a crucial role in treating, rehabilitating, and improving the lives of those we care for.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the job description and personal specification for application requirements. Applicants are requested to provide the required information outlined in these documents in their application to demonstrate their suitability for the post.

Person specification

Experience and knowledge

• Broad experience of working in a variety of clinical areas as a physiotherapist e.g., elderly care, neurology, general medicine, orthopaedics, MSK, respiratory care
• Good knowledge of working in specialist physiotherapy area
• Knowledge of current best practice in specialist physiotherapy area
• Knowledge of team / group dynamics and role of a Physiotherapy specialist within a team
• Evidence of effective working within an MDT
• Excellent clinical reasoning skills
• Broad base of clinical physiotherapy knowledge and different approaches required to clinical interventions
• Knowledge of governance issues
• Supervision of staff and delegation of tasks
• Ability to work under own initiative, be adaptable, flexible, compassionate, and approachable
• Ability to establish and maintain therapeutic relationships with service users and their carers
• Ability to prioritise and work to deadlines
• Effective communication skills, including report writing and presentation skills
• Clinical experience of working in a related clinical area
• Experience as a physiotherapist in the NHS and be able to demonstrate awareness of current NHS and organisation issues
• Respiratory on call competent as relevant to the post being applied for
• Evidence of participation in health, safety, and risk management
• Participation in audit / research

Skills and attributes

• Excellent clinical reasoning skills
• Broad base of clinical physiotherapy knowledge and different approaches required to clinical interventions
• Knowledge of governance issues
• Supervision of staff and delegation of tasks
• Ability to work under own initiative, be adaptable, flexible, compassionate, and approachable
• Ability to establish and maintain therapeutic relationships with service users and their carers
• Ability to prioritise and work to deadlines
• Effective communication skills, including report writing and presentation skills
• Evidence of participation in health and safety and risk management
• Participation in audit and research

Qualifications and Training

• Degree in physiotherapy or equivalent
• HCPC registered physiotherapist
• Evidence of CPD
• Clinical educator certificate
• MSc modules in relevant health studies
• Ability to travel to various hospital and community locations
• Ability to fulfil occupational health requirements for the post, with reasonable adjustments as necessary
• Ability to reflect and critically appraise own performance
• Awareness of relevant national frameworks / guidance relating to area of work
• Commitment to professional lifelong learning
• Able to cover evening clinics as required by the service

By applying for this post you are agreeing to Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Record system.

For further information explaining how we use your information in line with GDPR please see our ‘Guidance for applicants’ document under the section 'Additional documentation'.

We are a Disability Confident and Mindful Employer. WCHC is committed to recruiting and supporting a diverse workforce and we welcome applications from all sections of the community, regardless of disability, age, sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, maternity/pregnancy, marriage/civil partnership or transgender status. We are committed to having a team that is made up of diverse skills, experiences and abilities. We actively encourage BAME, LGBTQ+ and disabled applicants and value the positive impact that difference has on our teams. We are committed to equality and diversity within our workforce and are keen to support reasonable adjustments to support our new and existing staff.

We are proud to support our Armed Forces Community as a Veteran Aware NHS Trust and are pleased to share that we recently achieved Bronze Award accreditation, in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme. We support the armed forces as an employer; recognising the experiences and skills ex-military personnel have gained through their service.

Further Information:

Closing Dates: Candidates are advised to apply early. The Trust reserves the right to close a vacancy prior to the closing date if a high number of applications are received.

Reference Information: Please ensure your application is submitted with referees who can verify your employment/ education history over the last three years and include valid business email addresses for them. The Trust will not accept personal references from friends or family.

Salary Expectations: The Trust pays staff in line with national NHS Terms and Conditions. Relevant experience may be considered when salary offers are made. For all part-time positions, salaries are pro-rata.

A.I. Tools: Please note, the selection processes at Wirral Community Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust are in place to ensure we recruit candidates with the right skills and values, please be advised that the use of AI in applications are monitored. We remain vigilant against candidates who misuse these tools to generate an application that doesn’t accurately reflect their skills.

Restricted Applications: Staff on the Trust's Redeployment Register will be given priority access to vacancies at their substantive band.

Flexible Working: Flexible working is very important to the Trust in both the provision of this to staff and also in staff supporting the provision of our services.

Student Visas: Due to Home Office immigration rules, a full-time permanent vacancy cannot be filled by individuals on a Student visa. Therefore, please be advised that if you are a Student visa holder, we will not be able to offer you a full-time permanent contract unless you have:
- applied for a Graduate visa
- or you will have successfully completed your course and have applied for a Graduate visa before the anticipated start date of your employment.

Wirral Community Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust is committed to discharging its statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and adults and will support staff to fulfil this duty.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Application numbers

This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. Please complete and submit your application in good time to avoid disappointment.