Job responsibilities
Nature of work
Post holder will be part of multidisciplinary therapy team including Physiotherapists, Occupational therapists, Speech & Language Therapists, Clinical Psychologists and other Assistant practitioners.
Post holder will be responsible for delivering direct clinical care and delegated therapy interventions for service users referred to Neurotherapy service.
To involve patients and carers in the planning of care/rehabilitation programmes and encourage self-management where appropriate.
To communicate effectively with all members of the Neurotherapy service and the wider Bedfordshire Community Health Services. To support and promote team working generally.
To maintain accurate patient records, which include patient held records.
To provide written reports and verbal feedback to the team regarding clients performance/progress in areas of self-maintenance, productivity and leisure.
To act as named person for the client to contact within the department and to feedback relevant any issues to senior staff.
To have a basic level of knowledge of support services within the community.
Planning
Plan and implement daily work within the team and wide geographical area in the knowledge that this can be unpredictable and may change to meet the demands of the service and the changing priorities of clinical/health needs.
Participate in team planning, by organising new referrals as to who needs to be assessed within an agreed service time frame, and on-going work allocations, to enable the team to work effectively and efficiently.
To support other members of the multidisciplinary team in planning and managing their own caseload particularly in the event of absence.
To attend caseload meetings and multidisciplinary therapy meetings as appropriate and ensure information on individual patients is fed back to the team for planning purposes.
To be responsible for prioritising and managing own workload, expecting some conflicting demands on your time.
Patient contact
To promote the team philosophy that embraces a holistic approach to patients, carers and relatives.
To carry out initial screening and assessment of clients on behalf of multidisciplinary therapy team.
To review and re-assess interventions delegated by the multidisciplinary team, keeping relevant clinical staff informed of any progress/concern.
To undertake clinical procedures/ therapeutic activities within a mutually agreed goal orientated programme under direction from a variety of multidisciplinary team members.
To feedback all relevant information regarding clients to the appropriate clinician/therapist, including any changes in the condition and circumstances.
To be responsible for fitting and demonstrating equipment to clients and their carers.
To order equipment from the community equipment Store and use the PIN number provided responsibly.
To be an advocate for patients i.e. making team members aware of any concerns if it is in the patients best interest.
To identify areas of shared assessment with other team members.
Identify other agencies whose intervention the patient would benefit from, liaise with them and refer to accordingly.
Actively promote good health and development and participate in Public Health Initiatives.
To carry out any other clinical duties under instruction from senior staff within the Neurotherapy service covering other staff across the localities to meet patient needs.
To safely travel between patients homes and other venues on a daily basis adhering to relevant policy and guidelines e.g. mobile phone policy, and the Highway Code.
Regularly undertake the moving and positioning of patients and equipment adhering to the Trust Moving and Handling Policy.
This role requires regular participation in patient handling and mobility tasks, including transfers, gait training, passive exercises, and use of hoists and other equipment. Staff must be able to safely support patients with significant physical impairments as part of rehabilitation programmes.
Significant part of Assistant Practitioners responsibilities involve physical/manual handling activities, requiring stamina, safe moving and handling skills, and the ability to work in varied home and community environments.
Undertake clinical procedures within own scope of competencies utilising a variety of clinical interventions and equipment safely and precisely.
To competently demonstrate and advise on a range of equipment to clients and relatives.
To have adequate keyboard skills and knowledge of IT systems provided by the Trust.
To develop and deliver enhanced skill in a specific therapy domain.
CommunicationInclude details of patient/family contact
Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex, sensitive information to a wide variety of professionals in a variety of methods.
Provide updates and reports as required related to service users needs and care both written and verbal.
Work within Trust Policy in all matters related to communication of clinical risk, including the need for information sharing.
Clearly understand the issues surrounding confidentiality.
Important relationships job holder must maintain
Internal:
i. Leadership team
ii. All members of Neurotherapy service
iii. Discharge Planning Team
iv. Specialist Nurses i.e. Safeguarding leads, Tissue Viability etc.
External:
i. Hospital nursing and therapy staff
ii. Patients, relatives and care agencies
iii. Local Authorities including adult social care
iv. General Practitioners
v. Emergency Care Practitioners
vi. Clinical Commissioning groups
The nature of the issues the job holder must communicate on and to whom
To form professional relationships with clients and communicate condition related information to them in a way that respects their views, autonomy and culture.
Where barriers to understanding exist staff will need to use tact, motivational negotiating and reassurance skills. Information received and given may be sensitive and will need to be handled in a empathic and professional manner maintaining confidentiality within Trust Policies and professional codes of conduct.
Communicate and work together with other teams within the provider services, and other providers to ensure optimum patient centred care. Using various methods of communication, this will include oral, written, electronic or other verbal or non-verbal methods.
People Management
Maintaining own professional development and requirement to take part in appraisal and KSF process.
Complete relevant stroke competencies as required for the post.
Develop own clinical knowledge and participate in the development of clinical knowledge for others.
Maintain up to date skills and knowledge and maintain an awareness of professional issues.
Research & Development Activity
To contribute to meetings about clinical governance and service development.
To participate in the delivery of the Neurotherapy service development plan.
