Care of Older People Physiotherapy Team Lead

Care of Older People Physiotherapy Team Lead

NHS AfC: Band 7

Main area Care of Older People Grade NHS AfC: Band 7 Contract Fixed term: 4 months (End of contract on the 31st March 2027) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (7 day working on a rota basis with weekend, on call and late shift responsibility.) Job ref 220-WHT-8390856

Employer Whittington Health NHS Trust Employer type NHS Site Whittington Hospital Town London Salary £58,133 - £65,261 inclusive of Inner HCAS per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 11/11/2026 23:59

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Care of Older People Team Lead Physiotherapist (Band 7)

We are seeking an experienced and enthusiastic Physiotherapist to join our Care of Older People Therapy Team at Whittington Health. You will have specialist expertise in assessing and managing older adults with complex medical, frailty, cognitive, neurological and musculoskeletal conditions.

As Team Lead Physiotherapist, you will provide clinical and operational leadership, delivering high-quality, patient-centred care across the service. You will manage a complex caseload, provide expert rehabilitation, and support safe and timely discharge planning to maximise patient independence and outcomes.

Working closely with colleagues across health and social care, you will contribute to patient flow, service development and quality improvement, ensuring patients receive the right care in the right place at the right time.

You will provide leadership, supervision and education to therapists, therapy assistants and students, promoting evidence-based practice and workforce development. The role requires excellent clinical reasoning, communication and leadership skills, together with a commitment to outstanding care for older people.

Whittington Health is committed to supporting your professional and leadership development through regular supervision and development opportunities. The post includes participation in weekend working as part of the departmental rota.

Main duties of the job

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead the Care of Older People Therapy Team, ensuring high-quality, patient-centred care.
• Assess, diagnose and treat older adults with complex medical, frailty, cognitive, neurological and musculoskeletal conditions.
• Represent physiotherapy within multidisciplinary meetings, board rounds and service development.
• Deliver specialist rehabilitation to maximise function, independence and recovery.
• Coordinate effective discharge planning and support safe, timely transitions of care.
• Liaise with community, social care and voluntary sector services to support patient flow.
• Prioritise workload and resources to ensure safe and efficient service delivery.
• Develop and support rehabilitation and discharge pathways.
• Provide leadership, supervision, appraisal and education to staff and students.
• Contribute to organisational objectives, quality improvement and patient outcomes.
• Communicate effectively with patients, families and carers, promoting person-centred care.
• Lead and participate in audit, service evaluation and research activities.
• Maintain accurate, timely and legally compliant clinical records.
• Participate in weekend working and extended service provision as required.

Working for our organisation

Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main duties

• To be responsible for maintaining a high standard, both professionally and legally, of clinical practice both in own practice and for ensuring that others in the team maintain competent clinical skills and operate to a high level.
• To be responsible for the assessment of patients, including those with complex presentations, and to select appropriate assessment tools for this.
• To use clinical reasoning skills and specialist clinical knowledge to formulate treatment plans, using a wide range of treatment skills. To carry out, evaluate progress and adjust treatment plans, as necessary.
• To demonstrate advanced evidence based clinical reasoning when considering treatment options and management approaches to therapy provision for older patients presenting with a range of health conditions.
• To demonstrate highly developed and advanced clinical skills that require specialised skills such as precision, hand eye coordination, sensory coordination, and manual handling in the therapeutic handling of patients with a range of presentations.
• To in-reach and provide clinical expertise and support for junior staff members and colleagues with managing complex patients with assessment, treatment, and ongoing discharge planning.

Person specification

Education and Qualifications

• Degree in Physiotherapy or equivalent.
• HCPC registration
• Evidence of completion of courses in line with clinical specialism.
• Portfolio and evidence of continuing professional development relating to specialism
• High standard of written and spoken English. IELTS Level 7 for international candidates.
• Member of Professional Body
• Member of Specialist Section or special interest group

Experience

• Minimum 4 years post-graduate experience with minimum 2 year at band 6 level in an NHS in-patient setting
• Wide range of B5 and B6 rotations or equivalent senior experience in specialism or related area.
• Experience of orthopaedic and surgical cases and managing a complex caseload within the specialism.
• Experience of respiratory on call work.
• Previous experience of being a key member in multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience of risk management and how to effectively rate patient associated risk and/or mitigate risk.
• Knowledge of clinical governance and its application to support effective and safe working practices.
• Managing/Supervisory experience – staff and students
• Experience of appraisal – self and others
• Teaching experience to own and other professions formally and informally.
• Team leadership experience
• Understanding of human resources procedures such as staff appraisal, performance & sickness management, recruitment and interviewing.
• Experience of Quality Improvement - audit, research, service development.

Skills and Knowledge

• Knowledge of orthopaedic and surgical conditions in planned and unplanned care.
• Knowledge of frailty, fractures, falls, and appropriate physiotherapy management.
• Knowledge of current developments and best practice in Orthopaedic/Surgical physiotherapy care and management
• Advanced level clinical reasoning and judgement
• Able to prioritise own and other workloads, managing stress and unforeseen circumstances.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, managing and adapting to barriers to communication.
• Negotiation, persuasion and influencing skills
• Knowledge of relevant legislation, policies and guidelines related to work practice.
• Excellent IT and record keeping skills
• Able to lead training and education sessions with excellent presenting skills.
• Experience of staff development
• Competent and skilled in moving and handling techniques and familiar with a wide range of equipment to support this e.g. hoists, sara steady, slide sheets etc

Personal Qualities

• Able to do the required hours and shift pattern including on call, late shift and weekend duties
• Able to undertake manual handling tasks and comply with Trust Manual Handling Guidelines
• Personally responsible and accountable as a practitioner and supervisor.
• Able to demonstrate and deliver compassionate care and leadership in line with Trust values
• Enthusiastic, motivated with a can-do attitude and able to act as a role model to developing staff.
• Innovative/Flexible approach to change / adaptable to service / team needs
• Accepting of feedback to improve self, team, and others performance.

SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND ADULTS

To comply with the Trust’s Safeguarding Children and Adults policies, procedures and protocols. All individual members of staff (paid or unpaid) have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This will require you to:

• Ensure you are familiar with and comply with the London Child Protection Procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.
• Ensure you are familiar and comply with the London Multi Agency Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Pan London Procedures.
• Ensure you are familiar and comply with local protocols and systems for information sharing.
• Know the appropriate contact numbers and required reporting lines.
• Participate in required training and supervision.
• Comply with required professional boundaries and codes of conduct

Whittington Health is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We would welcome applications from individuals who are from underrepresented groups in the organisation

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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