First Contact Physiotherapists

Job description

Job responsibilities

Work independently, without day to day supervision, to assess, diagnose, triage, and manage patients, taking responsibility for prioritising and managing a caseload of the PCN’s Registered Patients;

Receive patients who self-refer (where systems permit) or from a clinical professional within the PCN, and where required refer to other health professionals within the PCN; 

Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role, using their expert knowledge of movement and function issues, to create stronger links for wider services through clinical leadership, teaching and evaluation; 

Develop integrated and tailored care programmes in partnership with patients, providing a range of first line treatment options including self management, referral to rehabilitation focussed services and social prescribing; 

Make use of their full scope of practice, developing skills relating to independent prescribing, injection therapy and investigation to make professional judgements and decisions in unpredictable situations, including when provided with incomplete or contradictory information. They will take responsibility for making and justifying these decisions; 

Manage complex interactions, including working with patients with psychosocial and mental health needs, referring onwards as required and including social prescribing when appropriate; 

Communicate effectively with patients, and their carers where applicable, complex and sensitive information regarding diagnoses, pathology, prognosis and treatment choices supporting personalised care; 

Implement all aspects of effective clinical governance for own practice, including undertaking regular audit and evaluation, supervision and training; 

Develop integrated and tailored care programmes in partnership with patients through: 

Effective shared decision-making with a range of first line management options (appropriate for a patient’s level of activation); 

Assessing levels of patient activation to support a patient’s own level of knowledge, skills and confidence to self-manage their conditions, ensuring they are able to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of self-management interventions, particularly for those at low levels of activation; 

Agreeing with patient’s appropriate support for self-management through referral to rehabilitation focussed services and wider social prescribing as appropriate; and iv. designing and implementing plans that facilitate behavioural change, optimise patient’s physical activity and mobility, support fulfilment of personal goals and independence, and reduce the need for pharmacological interventions; 

Request and progress investigations (such as x-rays and blood tests) and referrals to facilitate the diagnosis and choice of treatment regime including, considering the limitations of these investigations, interpret and act on results and feedback to aid patients’ diagnoses and management plans; 

Be accountable for decisions and actions via Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registration, supported by a professional culture of peer networking/review and engagement in evidence-based practice. 

The following sets out the key wider responsibilities of First Contact Physiotherapists: 

a. work across the multi-disciplinary team to create and evaluate effective and streamlined clinical pathways and services; 

b. provide leadership and support on MSK clinical and service development across the PCN, alongside learning opportunities for the whole multidisciplinary team within primary care; 

c. develop relationships and a collaborative working approach across the PCN, supporting the integration of pathways in primary care; 

d. encourage collaborative working across the wider health economy and be a key contributor to supporting the development of physiotherapy clinical services across the PCN; 

e. liaising with secondary and community care services, and secondary and community MSK services where required, using local social and community interventions as required to support the management of patients within the PCN; and 

f. support regional and national research and audit programmes to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of the First Contact Practitioner (FCP) programme. This will include communicating outcomes and integrating findings into own and wider service practice and pathway development.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Has completed an undergraduate degree in physiotherapy;

Experience

Essential

• Can demonstrate working at Level 7 capability in MSK related areas of
• practice or equivalent (such as advanced assessment diagnosis and
• treatment);

Additional Requirements

Essential

• Is registered with the Health and Care Professional Council;
• Holds the relevant public liability insurance;
• Has a Masters Level qualification or the equivalent specialist knowledge,
• skills and experience;
• Can demonstrate ability to operate at an advanced level of practice;

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Bromley Connect Primary Care Network

Address

South View Lodge

South View

Bromley

BR1 3DR

Employer's website

https://dysartsurgery.co.uk/practice-info/bromley-connect-pcn/ (Opens in a new tab)