Senior Physiotherapist

Main area Acute Therapies Grade NHS AfC: Band 6 Contract Fixed term: 12 months (To cover an employee on Maternity Leave until Oct-27) Hours

• Full time
• Flexible working

37.5 hours per week (Monday to Sunday) Job ref 302-26-8178716L-FLOW

Site Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Wigan Lane, Wigan, WN1 2NN. Town Wigan Salary £39,959 - £48,117 per annum, pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 04/10/2026 23:59

People at the Heart. One Team. Your Career at WWL.

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Band 5 or current Band 6 physiotherapist to come and join our friendly and supportive ICU and surgical physiotherapy team at Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Wigan.

The ICU/Surgery physiotherapy team provide assessment and treatment of critical care patients including rehabilitation in the intensive care setting on our 11 bedded unit. We also cover two busy general surgery wards and support the rehabilitation of step-down critical care patient within our in-patient therapy teams. Part of our service also covers inpatient paediatric respiratory patients.

We are looking for a post holder who has experience in assessing and treating adult respiratory patients in the critical care setting, general surgery patients and respiratory medicine patients including discharge planning. Experience of treating paediatrics patient is desirable but not essential as support and training well will be provided.

There will be opportunity to work closely with our wider MDT teams on ICU and Surgical wards to provide a patient centred approach to patients’ in-patient experience.

This post includes participation in 7 days working and respiratory on-call. Training for the on-call respiratory rota will be provided.

NHS Employees are required to secure their manager’s agreement for a secondment arrangement prior to applying, as this will be a condition of any offer made. This vacancy is advertised on a fixed term basis as it has been established to provide maternity cover and will end 1-Oct-27 or resumption of the post holder, whichever is sooner. Whilst this post is advertised on a fixed term basis there is the potential that this may become permanent in the future, without the need to re‑advertise.

Main duties of the job

• To provide a high standard of physiotherapy service to patients with surgical/critical care conditions
• To act as a source of knowledge on the management of patients presenting with a wide range of surgical/critical care conditions and provide an advisory/educational service to patients, relatives, physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals.
• To take a role in the specialist assessment and treatment of patients within the surgical/critical care speciality who may have complex and or chronic presentation, and to determine clinical diagnosis and physiotherapy treatment indicated.
• To hold responsibility for own case load and be responsible for a defined area of the service or a particular patient type. Supervision takes the form of regular formal training and clinical reasoning sessions, peer review, case conferences. Access to advice and support from a senior physiotherapist is available if required, clinical work is routinely evaluated.
• To work jointly with staff from social services, hospital trusts, primary care trusts, education, etc., in providing rehabilitation and co‑ordinating discharge.
• To educate and train physiotherapists, other health professionals and physiotherapy students in the management of physiotherapy conditions as appropriate in current

Working for our organisation

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are the proud providers of acute hospital and community services to the people of the Wigan Borough and surrounding areas. At WWL, we value our staff believing that ‘happy staff, makes for happy patients’. We have a recognised track record in staff engagement and living our values.

People at the Heart

Listen and Involve

Kind and Respectful

WWL are committed to placing the patient at the heart of everything we do, and in the provision of safe, effective care that acknowledges and ensures dignity. We are seeking to recruit people who share our values and beliefs.

At WWL we value the benefits a rich and diverse workforce brings to our community and therefore welcome applications from all sections of society.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key results from the job holder.

• To accept clinical responsibility for a designated area of work and to plan and organise efficiently and effectively with regard to patients management and use of time.
• To maintain own clinical professional development (CPD) by keeping abreast of any new trends and developments and incorporate them as necessary into your work.
• To decide priorities for own work area, balancing other patient related and professional demands, and ensure that they remain in accordance with those of the section as a whole.
• To work within an interdisciplinary team (IDT) to provide physical, functional, psychological and emotional rehabilitation as part of a holistic approach for patients

Planning and Organisational Duties

• To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of your own work including the management of patients in your care. To ensure high standards of holistic clinical care for the patients under your management, and support more junior staff to do likewise.
• Post holders are required to work independently, guided by defined clinical and professional guidelines. Access to a more senior physiotherapist is available when necessary. Clinical work is evaluated on a regular basis.
• To interpret and analyse clinical and non-clinical facts to form accurate diagnosis and prognosis in a wide range of conditions, to recommend the best course of intervention, and to develop comprehensive discharge plans.
• To undertake the comprehensive assessment of patients, including those with a complex presentation, using investigative and analytical skills and to formulate patient centred treatment plans, using clinical reasoning and utilising a wide range of treatment skills and options to formulate a programme of rehabilitation.
• To accept clinical responsibility for a designated caseload of patients, and to organise this effectively and efficiently with regard to clinical priorities and use of time.
• To accept partial responsibility for any tasks delegated to less senior qualified or unqualified staff.
• To demonstrate appropriately developed dexterity, co‑ordination and palpatory senses for assessment and manual treatment of patients.
• To maintain own clinical professional development (CPD) by keeping abreast of any new trends and developments and incorporate them as necessary into your work.
• To undertake the measurement and evaluation of your work and current practices through the use of evidence-based practice projects, audit and outcome measures, either individually or with team leader. Use information gained to make recommendations for change.
• To decide priorities for own work area, balancing other patient related and professional demands, and ensure that they remain in accordance with those of the section as a whole.
• To be responsible for ensuring the effective selection and use of all treatment modalities available, both on the community settings and hospital sites.
  To maintain records, comprehensive and up‑to‑date documentation, in line with legal and departmental requirements and communicate assessment and treatment results to the appropriate disciplines in form of reports and letters.
• To be actively involved in the collection of appropriate local, regional and national data and statistics for the use of the physiotherapy service and neurosciences.
• To comply with the organisational and departmental policies and procedures and to participate in the reviewing and updating, as appropriate.
• To demonstrate a sound understanding of Clinical Governance and Risk Management and apply to work situation.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Diploma or degree in occupational therapy/physiotherapy (as relevant)
• Professional registration
• Evidence of post qualification personal and professional development

Skills

• Have an understanding of the core skills of Occupational Therapy/Physiotherapy within the D2A process
• Supervisory skills
• Able to maintain judgement under pressure.
• Effective written, verbal and non‑verbal communication skills
• Able to manage own workload and determine priorities
• Able to reflect and critically appraise own performance and utilise self‑directed learning.
• Effective overall personal time management
• Comprehensive clinical reasoning skills relevant to caseload
• Ability to work flexibly

Knowledge

• Post graduate training/ CPD in relevant area of practice
• Knowledge of current best practice
• Comprehensive knowledge of a range of relevant medical clinical conditions
• Knowledge of a range of assessment tools
• Comprehensive knowledge of relevant interventions
• Understanding of Health, Safety and Risk Management Policies
• Documented evidence of continuing professional development
• Knowledge of the principle elements of Clinical governance
• Knowledge and/or specific training in relevant moving and handling techniques

Experience

• Range of experience of treating patients within an acute and/or community setting
• Experience of managing own clinical caseload including ability to priorities and delegate when appropriate.
• Advising and supporting junior staff and/or students the formal and informal supervision.
• Experience of working as an autonomous practitioner
• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team and contributing to ward meetings/handovers
• Experience of assessing and treating patients with more complex needs.

Additional

• Clear vision of professional role
• Clear interest in this area of practice
• Access to own transport for work purposes (with business insurance)
• Participation in 7 day service provision
• Speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to their role, i.e. with confidence and accuracy, using correct sentence structures and vocabulary, and without hesitation

On-Call

Please note that some roles may require participation in an on‑call rota, particularly those that are operational in nature.

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.

Name Julia McEvoy Job title Clinical Lead Physiotherapist Email address julia.mcevoy@wwl.nhs.uk Telephone number 01942822100

If you have problems applying, contact

Address Buckingham Row
Brick Kiln Lane
Wigan
WN1 1XX
Telephone 07385427547