Senior Hand Physiotherapist

North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) have merged as of 1 st July 2026 to become Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. This creates an exciting future that brings together the best of both organisations. As a single, strong and sustainable organisation, we will not only be able to deliver better outcomes for our patients and fairer care for our population, but it will also provide greater opportunities for our people.

Bristol NHS Foundation Trust recognise the value of a healthy work-life balance. When applying, speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate flexible working, so your work life fits around your home life.

We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as they are under-represented within the Trust.

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Job overview

Band 6 Senior Hand Physiotherapist

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a band 6 Physiotherapist to work in the Regional Plastic Surgery and Specialist Hand Physiotherapy team at Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. The Brunel Bristol Hand & Upper Limb Centre provides high quality care in a highly specialised clinical area for the Southwest of England. We are a friendly team committed to providing outstanding patient experience working closely alongside our surgical colleagues.

We are looking for a Senior Physiotherapist with a Musculoskeletal or Plastic Surgery background to join the team.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be a senior member of the specialist hand and upper limb physiotherapy team with responsibility for a mixed caseload of primarily hand trauma patients including the management of complex patients requiring daily treatment. The position requires caseload management & organisation duties within the team on a day-to-day basis. The post-holder routinely covers other Senior Staff during their regular periods of absence.

Working for our organisation

Bristol NHS Foundation Trust brings together more than 28,000 staff to deliver over 160 clinical services across thirteen hospital locations, operating from three main sites at Southmead, Bristol city centre and Weston.

With an annual turnover of £2.3 billion, we are now one of the largest NHS trusts in the United Kingdom. Our hospitals are spread across Bristol and Weston, join us and you can enjoy the very best of both worlds; city living within a stone’s throw of the countryside or beside the seaside, both with easy access to all that the South West has to offer. Bristol NHS Foundation Trust values all people as individuals. As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce which represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them. Anonymous information will be used from your application in order to ensure we’re meeting our pledge.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Practice

• Assess and treat referrals from all sources (GP, A&E, Pain and Hand and upper limb clinics, whether acute or chronic and often with complex hand and upper limb dysfunction
• Assess patients following complex hand trauma, diagnose, set realistic goals for rehabilitation & healing, devise appropriate patient specific treatment programmes, monitor progress and determine the final rehabilitated outcome
• Assess patients using specialist physiotherapy methods based upon the Biopsychosocial model, devise appropriate treatment plans, regularly re-assess and monitor progress
• Maintain a high standard of clinical practice and self-directed CP
• Continually evaluate physiotherapy standards of practice; participate in audit and to help ensure patient management is effective and best practice
• Provide in service training for Physiotherapy colleagues, ensure skills and knowledge is shared
• Maintain full and effective clinical records and communications within departmental policy
• Supervise, support, develop and coach staff under post-holder's supervision to ensure they meet the high clinical standards, skills and dexterity required of the
• Gather, analyse and evaluate information to identify relevant problems with patients, carers and colleague
• Teach patients how to manage their condition, engage in home treatment programmes to and effectively limit their activities to protect their condition
• Monitor and manage engagement or non-engagement, communicate patients' progress and monitor the receipt of such communication to Consultants GPs and other parties clearly

Person specification

Education/Training/Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent in physiotherapy
• HPC registration
• Evidence of experience in the Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy field
• Evidence of experience in Hand Physiotherapy/Burns and Plastics field

Work Experience

• CPD (Continuing Professional Development) portfolio to provide evidence of evidence based practice
• Completion of core competencies in physiotherapy as an undergraduate and evidence of experiences in variety of Physiotherapy settings

We hope that you will decide to join us and become part of this exciting journey, helping us to shape our future together.

As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce which represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them. Anonymous information will be used from your application to ensure we’re meeting our pledge.

The Trust is committed to investing in and caring for all our staff. We will support you in maintaining and improving your health and wellbeing, as well as your career development through management and training support - developing exceptional people for exceptional careers.

BFT is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.

To comply with Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 all applicants must be able to speak fluent English to an appropriate standard which will be assessed at Interview.

If you require sponsorship for a visa to work in the UK, to avoid disappointment, please check to ensure you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.

The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.

By applying for this post, you are agreeing to Bristol NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Please be aware of scams – unless specified above, we will only communicate with you via @recruit.trac.jobs or nhs.net e-mails and we will never ask you for any payments.

IMPORTANT:

Please note that if you apply for a position with this Trust, you may be contacted via Trac or via email. This includes invites for job interviews. We therefore recommend that you regularly check your Trac account and email accounts. We may also contact you by texting the mobile number, if provided, on the application form.

Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification will be shortlisted for this job.

As a guide interviews should usually take place within 3 weeks of the closing date.

When providing employment reference details, please provide correct work-related email addresses so references can be sought promptly when we are looking to progress your application. Your referee must all be known to you in a line manager or professional lead capacity.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

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