Job responsibilities
Patient/Clinical care
1. Manage a complex clinical caseload with autonomy, guided by policies, procedures, codes of practice and departmental working practices, guiding the patients treatment independent of medical advice.
2. Clinically supervise less experienced staff and students in the provision of patient care.
3. Provide planned and spontaneous expert advice to patients, staff, other disciplines, carers and relatives, where there may be conflicting evidence.
4. Develop the Upper Limb Musculoskeletal Therapy Service in line with patient need, national and local drivers and up to date clinical research and guidance.
5. Lead the organisation and co-ordination of patient care for the physiotherapy assessment and treatment of patients with musculoskeletal problems, with a strong focus on patient experience and customer care.
6. Provide expert clinical leadership by demonstrating best practice in the clinical environment, engaging with both staff and patients, and other members of the MDT to observe performance of care from all levels; challenging, correcting, or encouraging as practice is observed. Ensuring high standards are maintained.
7. Work closely with the Therapy Manager to demonstrate clinical effectiveness of treatments for upper limb presentations and the wider musculoskeletal therapy service.
8. Ensure compliance with Trust and departmental policies and procedures and take a lead role in developing and implementing new policies and procedures.
Safeguarding
- Ensure that services are provided in a way that ensures a safe environment for patients and minimises any risks; this includes the need to investigate clinical incidents/complaints and inform the designated/named professionals in cases that may have implications for safeguarding.
- Be responsible for monitoring the actions of their staff to safeguard and promote safe care for all patients in their care.
Education and Training and Development
- Promote a culture and environment which facilitates lifelong learning within the multi-professional team.
- Promote role development and redesign, ensuring safety, accountability and the continuing development of the team members skills and roles.
- Maintain personal professional competence through maintaining own Continual Professional Development (CPD) and portfolio.
- Lead in performance reviews and the setting of objectives, ensuring effective implementation of Trust performance management standards.
- Work closely with the Therapy Manager to proactively manage poor performance in line with Trust performance management standards and policies.
Research and Audit
- Continually review clinical practice to ensure that the most effective research based, and timely care is provided for patients and their families.
- Ensure clinical benchmarking and horizon scanning is undertaken to improve and maintain effective clinical practice.
- Ensure that there are comprehensive audit and quality monitoring systems in place to reduce risk and improve standards of care and that lessons are used to inform and improve practice.
- Ensure staff are encouraged to access clinical evidence in a timely fashion to positively influence their care delivery.
Management and leadership
- Working alongside the Therapy Manager to ensure resources are utilised effectively and demonstrate clear value for money.
- Work with the Therapy Manager to review establishments and skill mix, ensuring effective utilisation of staff within financial limits
- Ensure all Trust policies are implemented efficiently and effectively.
- Promote and maintain multi-professional teamwork where required.
- Contribute to the Therapy services business planning cycle, identifying key service developments and help prepare business cases to support new developments as required.
- Assist with the review of clinical areas Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats both internal and external to the Trust to ensure the service proactively develops and promotes best practice and has an action plan to ensure that it recognises areas for development.
- Assist with the review of service delivery in response to changes in the political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental situations both internal and external to the Trust.
- Lead on improving the patient environment and involve service users in service planning.
- Liaise with other members of the multidisciplinary team to ensure seamless patient care through the development of protocols and pathway working.
- Provide reports, on target areas as requested by the Therapy Manager and CBU team, assist with the collection, validation, and submission of key performance information.
Governance
- Contribute to the delivery and development of Clinical Governance within the Therapy service to ensure core standards are met and provide leadership for other team members in relation to governance issues at team level.
- Develop clinical governance within the MSK service, managing clinical and non-clinical risk and health and safety within the team and actively encouraging patient involvement.
- Support the coordination of risk assessment for the MSK Therapy team - identify, plan and evaluate remedial action as appropriate.
- Investigate and resolve any clinical complaints in conjunction with the senior management team. Responding fully, taking corrective action, implementing action plans and monitoring for continuous improvement, ensuring lessons learnt are effectively communicated.
Financial
- When required, work in collaboration with the Therapy Manager to review skill mix of staff to ensure that a robust, efficient, and effective service is provided.
- Ensure that all staff understand the need for rigorous budgetary control and effective monitoring to ensure provision of cost-effective patient care.
Service Development
- Contribute to the delivery of performance targets for the team, ensuring a focus on continuing improvement.
- To contribute to and be aware of the Trust business plan and its implication for service delivery
- Proactively seek feedback on patient and public experience to address concerns in a timely manner and build on success.
- Contribute to continued transformation of the MSK service, working collaboratively with partners, including community services, general practice, and social care.
- Identify opportunities to develop new ways of working and challenge, change and review roles, working in partnership with the Education Team, Therapy Manager and Lead AHP/Head of Therapy.
Communication and relationships
- To communicate effectively with patients, with due regard to physical, sensory and cognitive difficulties, respecting their views, autonomy and culture
- To be able to reassure and persuade patients to undertake the necessary therapeutic activities.
- To work as a member of a multi-disciplinary team, but also as a member of the wider multi-disciplinary team, fostering professional relationships with other team members
- To report effectively in both written and oral formats, both to the team and supervising therapists on patients performance and progress
- To be able to deal with distressed patients and their relatives in a tactful and supportive way.
Knowledge & Expertise
1. To support a culture where staff proactively encourage feedback from patients, carers and their families, and listen to the views of staff and other stakeholders using patient experiences, patients stories, friends and family tests results and quality data, to ensure that care and compassion is constantly reviewed and improved.
2. Working with the Therapy Managers to embed a learning organisational culture to review risk, learning from incidents and near misses, including things which have gone well, using a solution focused approach to review, ensuring that lessons are learned and shared.
3. Ensuring that ongoing quality, innovation and service improvement plans are underpinned by a strong evidence base for improving patient outcomes and/or patient experience, and in line with service strategies and business plans.
This job description outlines the current main responsibilities of the post. However, the duties of the post may change and develop over time and this job description may, therefore, be amended in consultation with the post holder.
