East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Therapy Assistant Practitioner - ESEOC

The closing date is 14 July 2025

Job summary

Essex and Suffolk Elective Orthopaedic Centre (ESEOC), situated in the Dame Clare Marx Building, opened its doors in the Autumn of 2024. This cutting-edge facility specializes in elective Orthopaedic surgery and Orthopaedic day cases.

With eight laminar flow theatres, three wards, recovery facilities, and comprehensive support services, ESEOC is poised to become one of the largest centres of its kind in Europe. The Centre is committed to delivering high-volume, low-complexity cases locally, fostering excellence, and contributing to education, training, and research in the field.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and motivated individual to join our Therapy Team as a Band 4 Assistant Practitioner.

We are looking for a dynamic and caring person with experience in supporting therapy assessments and interventions to take a key role in the daily planning and delivery of therapy and rehabilitation goals. Our team is an integrated Therapy Team, with Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists and Assistants.

Experience of working in an acute hospital setting, or working alongside an occupational therapy or physiotherapy team would be an advantage. The ability to work well within a team environment is essential. It is desirable that you have experience of working with post-operative elective orthopaedic patients however not essential.

Main duties of the job

We offer a very supportive approach to personal development and the opportunity to be a key part of shaping the future of how therapy services are delivered. We are dedicated to providing high quality patient care.

Under the supervision of a registered Physiotherapist, the you will be expected:

  • To manage and organise a designated caseload of patients and own professional activities across the hospital wards.
  • To provide specific skilled support to the registered therapists in providing technical therapy interventions to patients in a variety of settings.
  • To use an evidence-based, person-centred approach in the planning, implementation, evaluation and monitoring of agreed interventions following guidelines and protocols to promote the functional fitness of patients to aid discharge from hospital in a way that is consistent with their abilities, preferences and cultural beliefs.
  • To be able to work flexibly over a 7 day service.
  • To communicate complex and sensitive information effectively to patients using skills of persuasion, motivation, explanation, negotiation and empathy. There may be barriers to understanding such as hearing loss, speech difficulty, anxiety, fear and depression.

About us

One of the largest Trust's in East Anglia, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) provide hospital and community health services to people living across a wide geographical area. We deliver care from two main hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, six community hospitals and in patients' own homes. You will be joining a team of over 11,000 amazing colleagues providing care to 800,000 residents.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health & Wellbeing programme offer a range of services including mental health support. We offer a range of flexible working opportunities.

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which do not work or cause time delays for our staff and patients.

To support our employees to achieve their career aspirations you may be eligible to obtain a qualification via an apprenticeship. All successful applicants will be required to undertake a skills review to facilitate this. For full details please see the attached Apprenticeship Handbook

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge then we are keen to hear from you.

Find out about living and working with us - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A

Details

Date posted

07 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£26,530 to £29,114 a year per annum pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

432-HR455-25

Job locations

Colchester Hospital

Turner Road

Colchester

CO4 5JL


Job description

Job responsibilities

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.

Job description

Job responsibilities

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • CGSE Maths and English Grade C/4 or above or equivalent.
  • Level 3 Heath and Social Care / foundation degree / BSc in Healthcare / Sports Science

Desirable

  • Care cerfificate
  • CGSE Science
  • CGSE / ECDL in computing / IT

Knowledge

Essential

  • oKnowledge and understanding of role of therapies in Elective Orthopaedics

Desirable

  • Basic knowledge of Elective Orthopaedic surgery protocols

Experience

Essential

  • oExperience as a Therapy Assistant or experience at a similar level in a related field of health and social care.
  • oDemonstrable experience of delivering person centred care.
  • oKnowledge of conditions and functional needs within trauma and orthopaedics or similar context.

Desirable

  • oKnowledge of discharge pathways from the acute/community hospital settings.
  • oExperience of NHS IT systems
  • oExperience of working with Elective Orthopaedic patients
Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • CGSE Maths and English Grade C/4 or above or equivalent.
  • Level 3 Heath and Social Care / foundation degree / BSc in Healthcare / Sports Science

Desirable

  • Care cerfificate
  • CGSE Science
  • CGSE / ECDL in computing / IT

Knowledge

Essential

  • oKnowledge and understanding of role of therapies in Elective Orthopaedics

Desirable

  • Basic knowledge of Elective Orthopaedic surgery protocols

Experience

Essential

  • oExperience as a Therapy Assistant or experience at a similar level in a related field of health and social care.
  • oDemonstrable experience of delivering person centred care.
  • oKnowledge of conditions and functional needs within trauma and orthopaedics or similar context.

Desirable

  • oKnowledge of discharge pathways from the acute/community hospital settings.
  • oExperience of NHS IT systems
  • oExperience of working with Elective Orthopaedic patients

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

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Colchester Hospital

Turner Road

Colchester

CO4 5JL


Employer's website

https://www.esneft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Colchester Hospital

Turner Road

Colchester

CO4 5JL


Employer's website

https://www.esneft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Professional Lead for Physiotherapy

Christina Richardson

Christina.Richardson@esneft.nhs.uk

07873704526

Details

Date posted

07 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£26,530 to £29,114 a year per annum pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

432-HR455-25

Job locations

Colchester Hospital

Turner Road

Colchester

CO4 5JL


Supporting documents

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