Therapy Assistant

Job description

Job responsibilities

Permanent Hours: up to 30 hours a week

Location: INS Bases: 82 Hampton Road, Twickenham

Other venues in boroughs of Hounslow or Richmond as required. In the private homes of clients Any venues as befits the needs of the service.

Accountable to: CEO/Clinical Lead

Reports to: Travel with Confidence Occupational Therapist

JOB PURPOSE: To work with the INS team to support service users to maintain independence, reduce social isolation and improving well-being for clients with long-term conditions and their carers. This is achieved through carrying out a range of activities and supporting the therapy team with group and one to one, face to face and online work.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Travel with Confidence 0.5 FTE to support Travel with Confidence project; Delivering advice and form filling support. To support with organising and preparation of engagement, information, one to one and training sessions To assist therapists in delivering group and one to one sessions. To collate information relevant to travel and share with team. To support with booking of clients for one to one and group sessions. Therapy assistant tasks for occupational therapy and speech and language therapist. To record activity on Salesforce database. To support booking of individual and group sessions for OT and SLT To support individual and group sessions with OT and SLT. To be responsible for supervising volunteers within sessions. To be responsible for session set up.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES: Knowledge: Understanding of the concept of holistic and integrated rehabilitation Basic understanding of the central nervous system anatomy, physiology and how disease, trauma or illness led to impairment and disability. Working knowledge of confidentiality practices such as GDPR Skills: Team working, excellent communication and interpersonal skills Ability to plan own day to day work diligently and follow rehabilitation plans. Ability to work without constant supervision. Ability to provide personal care as required. Ability to motivate clients and carers. Motivated to actively engage in own professional development. IT (Windows) competent Experience: Providing therapy support for adults in either community or home setting Leading exercise/group sessions Leading social and leisure activities Risk assessment and risk reduction.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Clinical To assist with the setup, planning and execution of INS weekly group programme as instructed by therapy team. Under supervision of Occupational Therapist (OT), Physiotherapist (PT) or Speech and Language Therapist (SALT), evaluate client's progress and report back to supervising practitioner when appropriate. To undertake administrative tasks to support clinical team Undertake telephone/face to face information gathering activities. To support off site activities and satellites To support external group providers. To support trained volunteers within group setting. To lead group sessions for INS clients. To complete specific assessments with clients following instruction/teaching/induction by therapists; for example, Well-Being Scale, MOCA, physical outcome measures To provide administrative support to the therapy/counselling service as required To support office manager with reception/dealing with client and carer queries. To research, collate and distribute useful information to staff and service users. To undertake feedback projects. Communication To communicate, in a professional and sensitive manner, with service users, volunteers and other staff in a way that respects their views, autonomy and culture. To provide explanations about the intervention carried out and overcome barriers to participation/acceptance where possible. To use knowledge and experience to deal appropriately with client's questions and concerns, using judgement on the need to involve supervising practitioner. To attend and participate in team meetings and training as required. To report to and discuss with the Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist and other team members, the clients' capabilities, performance, progress, and responses to rehabilitation programmes. To communicate effectively with clients and relatives/carers to gather information about social and environmental circumstances and functional abilities and provide information about intervention and other relevant Services. To record all client interventions in the client's record in a timely way, in line with HCPC standards of documentation. To work effectively as part of a multi disciplinary integrated team. To liaise with other services and agencies as required, e.g., social services and community rehabilitation teams. Supervision and appraisal To meet regularly with a supervisor to review and reflect on your own practice and performance through regular participation in supervision and appraisal. Training staff, students, and volunteers To assist with the induction, training and education of students and other staff in the work setting. To participate in relevant training and development opportunities.

Service Delivery & development.

To work according to the INS ethos, policies, and procedures. To assist in identifying and developing appropriate and effective systems to ensure effective use of time. To participate in regular reviews of risk within area of work, and to be responsible for highlighting risks to senior staff at any time. To manage own workload, prioritising workload with guidance from supervising Therapist. To actively contribute to review and development of services within team time and during development of new services. To participate in audit and evaluation activities in area of work, as agreed with your supervisor. To be responsible for checking everyday safety and cleanliness of therapy equipment. To oversee the contractual servicing and maintenance of therapy equipment, ensuring timeliness of servicing as per required schedule.

Line Management, Staff, Resources To exercise good personal time management, punctuality, and consistent reliable attendance. To be responsible for safe use of equipment, advising on resources needed to carry out the job, including the responsible use of petty cash. To follow INS guidelines on the prescription and issuing of equipment and adaptations. To promote the care and safe use of equipment issued to clients. To be responsible for supervision of volunteers within sessions.

Competences To demonstrate on-going continuous professional development. Express learning requirements, necessary to fulfil the post and develop the special interest accompanying this post. At no time should the post-holder work outside their defined level of competence. If the post-holder has concerns regarding this, they should immediately discuss this with their Manager/Supervisor. The post-holder has the responsibility to inform those supervising their duties if they are not competent to perform a duty. To attend mandatory training including fire, manual handling, resuscitation, and safeguarding and be familiar with local procedures within speciality area of work.

Health and Safety/Risk Accept responsibility for yourself and others in relation to managing risk, health and safety and will be required to work within the policies and procedures laid down by INS. Inform your line manager about required staff support, relevant to yourself and others in times of need and advice.

Flexibility Statement This job description is flexible and is an outline and account of the main duties. Any changes will be discussed fully with the post-holder in advance. This job description will be reviewed periodically to take into account changes and developments in service requirements. Confidentiality The post-holder must maintain confidentiality of information in accordance with INS policy. The post-holder may access information only on a need-to-know basis in the direct discharge of duties and divulge information only in the proper course of duties

Person Specification

Working in the community

Essential

• Ability to work independently in the community with service users.

Communication skills

Essential

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with service users and colleagues.
• Ability to accommodate style to meet needs of individuals with communication or cognitive challenges.

Moving and handling

Essential

• This role will involve moving and handling following appropriate training.

Qualifications

Essential

• Good level of secondary education

Desirable

• Relevant qualification in Healthcare Level 2
• Relevant undergraduate degree.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with people with disabilities in community setting.

Desirable

• Experience of working adults with neurological conditions.
• Understanding of the working of multi-disciplinary teams.
• Experience of working within a team.

Information technology skills

Essential

• Ability to record activity accurately, effectively and with appropriate time limits on a database.
• Excellent skills on Microsoft packages

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.

Employer details

Employer name

INS - Integrated Neurological Services

Address

82 Hampton Road

Twickenham

TW2 5QS

Employer's website

https://www.ins.org.uk (Opens in a new tab)