Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Specialist Mental Health Physiotherapist

The closing date is 28 April 2026

Job summary

Mental Health Physiotherapy is a fast-growing and exciting specialism within Physiotherapy. This is a unique opportunity to join a team of mental health physiotherapists working across the Trusts adult mental health wards. This is a Specialist Physiotherapist (Band 6) role and would ideally suit an experienced practitioner with the desire to help deliver a high-quality service to people with mental health conditions.

You will be supported by a Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist (Band 7). The team will be led by a Professional Lead Physiotherapist (Band 8a) in Mental Health. You will not be expected to supervise any physiotherapists initially, but the plan is to grow the service to include Band 4 and Band 5 Physiotherapists, and at which point you would be responsible for supervision. There are currently opportunities to support student Physiotherapists.

The post holder will be based in East Sussex and provide input onto wards in Hastings and Eastbourne. Please note the Eastbourne site is due to move to Bexhill soon. The post holder will help at Mill View Hospital in Hove, as needed.

You will manage a caseload of adult patients with mental health conditions. You will provide input for adult, older adult and potentially dementia wards. Experience in mental health is advantageous but not essential.

Main duties of the job

You will manage a varied caseload across a range of care pathways including, mobility and falls, older adults/dementia care, pain management, posture care, musculoskeletal, orthopaedic and neurological conditions. Due to the specialist nature of the role and broad range of care pathways we offer, support and CPD to develop skills gaps.

As well as direct interventions and group classes, physiotherapy will be delivered by increasing the skills and competencies of other staff on wards.

You will have support from and work collaboratively within the physiotherapy professional group which spans the whole of Sussex and includes a large team of learning disability physiotherapists, as well as mental health physiotherapists.

You will be collaborating across services to deliver results. We work closely with colleagues in Social care, Primary Care and other specialist secondary services.

This is a great opportunity to use the skills you have developed across a broad range of care pathways.

About us

Sussex Partnership provides mental health and learning disability care for all age groups across Sussex and for children and young people in Hampshire.

We encourage flexible working. We know that a positive work/ life balance brings about huge health-related benefits, which has a positive impact on the care we provide. Please speak to us about flexible working, for example, part time hours, flexible start/ finish times or anything else. If it works for you and works for the role, we'll do our best to make it happen.

We'd love you to join our Trust, rated 'good' overall and 'outstanding' for caring by the CQC. Our staff agree, in our recent staff survey 82% told us that they recognise that care for patients is our top priority.

Other key survey results:

70% highlighting flexible working as a key point for satisfaction at work

79% reporting feeling able to make suggestions to improve the work in their team

77% identifying opportunities to show initiative in their roles

Date posted

14 April 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£39,959 to £48,117 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

354-CO-21878

Job locations

Hastings, Eastbourne/Bexhill

TN37 7RD

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see the Job Description document which includes the posts main responsibilities attached for full details.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see the Job Description document which includes the posts main responsibilities attached for full details.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Degree or graduate diploma in physiotherapy.
Level 2 English qualification or equivalent
Registered with the Health Care Professions Council

Knowledge/Experience

Essential

Knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act and issues of consent in mental health.
Knowledge of the health inequalities and comorbidities in people with mental health conditions
Extensive experience of working in a range of related areas e.g. older people and falls and mobility
Broad experience of working with clients with a range of physical health problems e.g. neurology, musculoskeletal and orthopedics
Knowledge of current good practice in the prevention of falls
Knowledge of good practice in manual handling
Experience of working as part of an MDT
Experience of providing training

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Degree or graduate diploma in physiotherapy.
Level 2 English qualification or equivalent
Registered with the Health Care Professions Council

Knowledge/Experience

Essential

Knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act and issues of consent in mental health.
Knowledge of the health inequalities and comorbidities in people with mental health conditions
Extensive experience of working in a range of related areas e.g. older people and falls and mobility
Broad experience of working with clients with a range of physical health problems e.g. neurology, musculoskeletal and orthopedics
Knowledge of current good practice in the prevention of falls
Knowledge of good practice in manual handling
Experience of working as part of an MDT
Experience of providing training

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).