Therapy Assistant - Early Supported Discharge Team

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 3 Therapy Assistant to join the Early Supported Discharge (ESD) Team at Salisbury Hospital on a 10 month fixed term basis. The ESD Team was formed in 2016 as a pilot scheme to support patients with an early transition home from hospital and to provide Occupational Therapy (OT) and Physiotherapy in their home environment. The initial focus was to enhance the speed and quality of discharges for hip fracture patients. The team has since evolved into a 'discharge to assess' therapy team and works alongside patients from: orthopaedic, stroke, elderly, medical and surgical wards. Due to the teams success, the ESD team is now a well established and evolving team within the hospital.

The ESD team consists of Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapist, Therapist Assistant Practitioners and Therapy Assistants. You will be responsible mostly for supporting patients in the community, to increase their independence and achieve what matters to them. You will do this through functional rehabilitation and goal setting under supervision of a qualified therapist. There will be opportunities for you to work alongside qualified staff on the inpatient wards to establish discharge plansand follow this through. You will also have the chance to share and develop new ideas and partake in service development initiatives.

Main duties of the job

The team work both within the acute hospital and in the community, to enable a smooth transition and consistency of care through the discharge process. Patients may require a discharge home visit and/or follow-up visits in the community to assess them in their own environment. The main focus is always to assess functional ability in a familiar environment where possible, to support people to regain their optimal level of functioning, and to achieve what matters to them.

This post will particularly suit a motivated, organised and flexible individual who ideally has rehabilitation or caring experience, however this is not essential. The ESD team is a 7 day service, including extended hours (08:00-18:00) most week days so some flexibility in working pattern is required. Having a full driving license and daily access to a car is essential.

Please see attached Job description and person specification for full details of roles and responsibilities.

About us

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust (SFT) is an innovative hospital with a proud heritage and over 250 years of experience behind us. Here we're driven to deliver an outstanding experience for everyone and have been well regarded for the quality of care and treatment we continue to provide for our patients and also our staff.

We are an acute Trust, rated "Good" by the CQC, with a track record of high performance providing regional and super regional specialist services such as: Burns, Plastics & Reconstructive Surgery, Wessex Regional Genetics Laboratory, Wessex Rehabilitation, Spires Cleft Centre and the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre. We have about 470 beds and employ over 4000 staff.

We support flexible working and will consider requests taking into account the needs of the service. We think working here is pretty rewarding. You can access a range of NHS discounts, receive a minimum of 35 days paid holiday (pro rata), and we offer a generous pension scheme. On-site benefits include car parking (fee applies), leisure centre, day nursery and holiday play scheme.

Salisbury is an attractive place to live and work and really gives you the best of everything. With easy access to London and local airports, the city of Southampton is only a short train or car journey away or if you prefer the sea, Bournemouth is also accessible. Don't just take our word for it, why not explore what Salisbury has to offer by visiting www.experiencesalisbury.co.uk