First Contact Physiotherapist Enable Work and Health Service in Barrow in Furness

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job details

Job title

First Contact Physiotherapist Enable Work and Health Service

Salary

£40,000 (pro rata)

Hours

18.75 hours per week (0.5 WTE), worked flexibly across the week by agreement

Contract

Fixed term to the end of the DWP Fit Note Reform Pilot (12 months)

Employer

Morecambe Bay Primary Care Collaborative (MBPCC)

Base

Enable service, Barrow and Mid Furness Primary Care Networks; face to face at participating practices plus telephone and video consultations

Responsible to

Enable Operational Lead (line management)

Clinically accountable to

Enable Clinical Lead (GP / Occupational Health)

Registration

HCPC registered Physiotherapist

About Enable and MBPCC

Enable is one of four national pilots funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to test a better fit note process, and it is the most clinical of the four. MBPCC delivers it under an NHS contract across the Barrow and Mid Furness Primary Care Networks.

For participating practices, every fit note is issued by the multidisciplinary Enable service rather than the GP practice. Working patients who agree to take part receive a workability assessment and a personalised workability plan that focuses on what they can do and how to stay in, or return to, work. The pilot generates data and learning for the DWP to shape future national policy.

Job purpose

The First Contact Physiotherapist is the Enable team's MSK specialist for working-age adults whose MSK condition affects their ability to work. You will assess, diagnose and manage patients referred through Enable triage without the need for a GP appointment, and agree a work-focused plan that supports them to stay in or return to work.

You will also be the team's source of MSK expertise. You will advise and upskill colleagues completing workability plans, and help shape how the pilot manages MSK presentations. Patients needing investigation, specialist or longer-term treatment are referred on through agreed pathways.

Key responsibilities

Clinical assessment and management

1. Work as an autonomous first contact practitioner, assessing and diagnosing adults with undifferentiated MSK conditions by telephone, video or face to face.

2. Screen for serious pathology and red flags at every contact, and escalate urgent concerns the same day through the GP and relevant emergency or specialist pathways.

3. Provide evidence-based management including advice, education, self-management support and exercise prescription, and agree realistic goals with each patient.

4. Give the patient's GP and the referring clinician clear, concise feedback, including any recommendations on medication for the prescriber to consider.

5. Use validated outcome measures at agreed points (such as the MSK-HQ and the Work and Social Adjustment Scale) to track progress and inform decisions.

6. The post holder will work within their professional registration, accredited competencies, local commissioning arrangements and MBPCC governance framework.

7. The post holder may request investigations where permitted by professional standards, local policy and individual competency sign-off, including diagnostic imaging and pathology tests relevant to musculoskeletal assessment and management.

8. Investigation requests must be clinically justified, recorded within the patient record and undertaken in accordance with local referral and diagnostic pathways.

9. Any investigations or referrals outside the post holder's authorised scope of practice must be discussed with, or referred to, the Enable Clinical Lead, GP or other appropriately qualified clinician.

10. The post holder will maintain evidence of competency for all investigation requesting activity and participate in audit and clinical supervision arrangements.

Work and health

1. Complete workability assessments and workability plans for patients whose main barrier to work is an MSK condition.

2. Assess the physical demands of the patient's job and recommend practical adjustments (phased return, amended hours or duties, workplace or equipment changes).

3. With the patient's explicit agreement only, communicate with employers to support adjustments and a sustainable return to work.

4. Assess fitness for work and issue fit notes in line with DWP guidance, once signed off as competent by the Clinical Lead. Physiotherapists are legally able to certify fit notes.

5. Meet the service turnaround standards for fit notes and workability plans, raising early any capacity pressures that put them at risk.

Multidisciplinary working and advice

1. Act as the MSK lead within the Enable team, giving same-day advice to Occupational Health Nurses, the ANP and other colleagues on MSK presentations.

2. Take part in multidisciplinary case discussions and present complex cases, particularly where physical and mental health needs overlap.

3. Develop and deliver short training sessions for the team on MSK conditions, red flags and work-focused conversations.

Records, data and governance

1. Keep accurate, contemporaneous clinical records in EMIS, using the agreed Enable templates and codes, and use AccuRx and Florey questionnaires as the service requires.

2. Record the data items needed for the DWP evaluation fully and on time. Data accuracy is a condition of the pilot's funding.

3. Check that each patient's consent and eligibility for the service and for DWP data sharing are in place before completing a workability plan, and follow the Enable privacy notice.

4. Report incidents, near misses and safeguarding concerns through MBPCC processes, and take part in audit, case review and service evaluation.

Service development

1. Help design and refine the Enable MSK pathway, including triage criteria, referral thresholds and escalation routes, as the pilot moves from the first two practices to all practices in both PCNs.

2. Feed patient experience and clinical learning into pilot meetings and DWP reporting.

3. Contribute to written protocols, patient information and the final pilot evaluation.

Professional development

1. Maintain HCPC registration and practise in line with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) Code of Professional Values and Behaviour.

2. Attend monthly clinical supervision and annual appraisal, and use reflective practice to improve your work.

3. Complete MBPCC mandatory training and the DWP fit note training for healthcare professionals.

Working relationships

Internal

Enable Clinical Lead

Enable Operational Lead

Enable team including: Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Occupational Health Nurses

Enable administrative team

External

Patients, and their families and carers with the patient's agreement

GPs and staff at participating practices in Barrow and Mid Furness PCNs

MSK, orthopaedic, rheumatology and community physiotherapy services

Imaging and diagnostic services

Employers, with the patient's explicit agreement

Department for Work and Pensions and the pilot evaluators

Voluntary sector, Access to Work and local support services

General responsibilities

Safeguarding: Follow MBPCC and local multi-agency safeguarding procedures for adults and children, and complete safeguarding training at the level required for the role.

Information governance: Handle all personal and patient information in line with UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, the Caldicott Principles and MBPCC policy. Share data with the DWP only as set out in the Enable privacy notice and data sharing agreement.

Health and safety: Take reasonable care of your own health and safety and that of others, follow the MBPCC lone working policy, and report hazards and incidents promptly.

Infection prevention and control: Follow infection prevention and control policies when seeing patients face to face.

Equality, diversity and inclusion: Treat patients and colleagues with dignity and respect, challenge discrimination, and make reasonable adjustments so that the service is accessible to everyone.

Professional conduct: Work within the HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics, and within the limits of your own competence.

Flexibility: This job description reflects the role at the start of the pilot. Duties may change as the service develops, in discussion with the post holder.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• - Degree or equivalent in physiotherapy, with current, unrestricted HCPC registration
• - Completed Stage 1 of the First Contact Practitioner Roadmap (or equivalent evidence of FCP competence)
• - Evidence of continuing professional development

Desirable

• -Master's-level modules or qualification in MSK or advanced practice
• -Completed Stage 2 of the First Contact Practitioner Roadmap
• -Injection therapy or non-medical prescribing qualification

Experience

Essential

• - Substantial post-registration MSK experience, including autonomous outpatient practice at Band 6 or above
• - Assessing and managing undifferentiated MSK conditions, including recognising serious pathology
• - Managing your own caseload and making autonomous clinical decisions
• Working in a multidisciplinary team and with other agencies

Desirable

• - Experience as a First Contact Practitioner in primary care
• - Experience of issuing fit notes or advising on fitness for work
• - Occupational health, vocational rehabilitation or work-conditioning experience
• - Experience of delivering training to other professionals; experience in a pilot or service development project

Knowledge and skills

Essential

• - Evidence-based assessment and management of MSK conditions, including red flags
• - Safeguarding, the Mental Capacity Act and informed consent
• - Psychosocial factors in MSK pain and their effect on work
• - Excellent verbal and written communication, including clear and concise clinical letters
• - Advanced clinical reasoning and shared decision-making
• - Confident with IT and accurate data entry

Desirable

• - The fit note, the DWP's work and health agenda and the link between good work and health
• - Employment law relevant to reasonable adjustments, such as the Equality Act 2010
• - MSK services and pathways in South Cumbria
• - Using validated outcome measures to evaluate interventions
• - Using EMIS, AccuRx and Florey
• - Analysing and presenting service data

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Morecambe Bay Primary Care Collaborative

Address

The Strand

Barrow in Furness

Cumbria

LA14 2HG

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://mbpcc.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)