Job summary
At Birmingham Hospice our teams are committed to improving the quality of life for people living with life-limiting conditions, as well as supporting their families and loved ones during one of the most challenging periods they will ever face.

We are currently recruiting two Senior Therapy Support Workers to work within our Therapies Team at Birmingham Hospice. We are looking for enthusiastic individuals who are team players, dynamic and passionate about palliative care to join our therapy team and the wider hospice team. This post requires the candidate to work across our Inpatient Unit, Living Well Centre service and in the community to support both our Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists.

You will be working within a multi-disciplinary team offering specialist palliative care to our patients. To excel in this role, you will need to deliver therapy interventions with support from the therapy team with a focus on working towards patient centred goals to enable our patients to achieve what matters most to them. Excellent communication skills and a flexible attitude to meeting patients needs are needed to fulfil this role.

Main duties of the job

• You will have experience of working as a Therapy Support Worker with patients in a relevant setting and ideally within palliative or hospice environment.
• You will be patient focused and passionate about holistic care for the palliative patient.
• You will have experience in this field or transferrable skills that can be utilised for this specialist role.
• Preferably have attained advanced communication (certificate) and excellent interpersonal skills and can work flexibly as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• A drivers licence, business insurance and access to a car for work purposes is essential to this role.

You must be able to travel across Birmingham, sometimes at short notice and therefore you will need to be a car owner/driver with access to your own vehicle and hold a current full UK driving licence or have access to a driver.

To view the full job description and to view the accompanying video for this role please visit our website: www.birminghamhospice.org.uk

Previous applicants need not reapply.

About us
Birmingham Hospice provides expert palliative and end of life care for people and their families living with life-limiting illnesses.

We believe that all people in Birmingham should have access to the best specialist care and support - when, where and how they need it. Our vision is a future where everyone with a life-limiting illness will live and die with dignity and in comfort. Our mission is to enable more people from all communities to access the care of their choice at the end of life.

During a recent CQC inspection our sites have been rated outstanding, with independent health care regulators highlighting that colleagues and services are caring, responsive and well-led.

Our outstanding teams are passionate about providing the very best care, and patients and their loved ones are at the heart of everything we do.

Our values of kindness, respect, innovation, togetherness, positivity and openness are at the centre of who we are, what we do and how we behave. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive, welcoming, caring and supportive team. Were offering a competitive salary, with generous holiday allowance, a contribution pension scheme, and a commitment to investing in our people through employee benefits and ongoing professional development.

Job responsibilities
Job Purpose

Provide support within the therapies team playing a vital role in delivering high-quality, patient-centred care across IPU, Living Well Centre and within patients own homes in the community. This includes working with individuals and groups, managing equipment loans and assisting with the coordination and support of junior staff, volunteers and students. This is an exceptional opportunity for a passionate and skilled individual to make a meaningful impact within a supportive and collaborative environment.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

1. Clinical
Working with patients and their carers to develop and deliver treatment plans alongside Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists, with a focus on patient centred goals.

This includes but is not limited to planning and delivering individual and group sessions (including education and exercise) supporting Occupational and Physiotherapists with assessments and interventions within the Hospice and at patients homes; delivering and installing equipment.

Ability to analyse and evaluate interventions and to adapt treatment plan and goals accordingly, this will include the use of outcome measures to support clinical judgement. With support from therapies team when needed.

Excellent clinical note keeping, ensuring patient documentation is accurate and up to date.

Compassionate and skilful communication with patients, carers and colleagues. Including people who have cognitive and physical disability, mental health difficulties and/or are experiencing the emotions associated with loss and grief.

Governance
Work within guidelines, policies and procedures including, but not limited to incident reporting, lone working, Information Governance, Infection Prevention and Control, Safeguarding.

Take a positive and constructive approach to learning from good practice as well as incidents or near misses. For example, make suggestions as to improvements in policies and procedures when relevant from own areas of work.

Always be courageous speaking up regarding patient and staff safety concerns

Understand the importance of good governance (safety and quality via clinical audit, feedback, incidents) and support therapies and MDT team to achieve this within own role description. Including but not limited to the monitoring or audit of equipment management processes.

Management
Managing loans and stock from Hospice local equipment store. Taking responsibility for IPC, maintenance/safety of equipment for loan, stock.

Assisting with the organisation and coordination of volunteers and students in the Therapies team.

Using email, intranet and other IT for efficient working. Using admin support colleagues for efficient working.

Prioritise own work according to needs of patients and capacity of team. This will require being flexible and adaptable, organised and having good communication and relationships in the team.

Relationships
In addition to these key relationships, collaborative working is required with: therapists at other local Hospices to share good practice and work toward resilient services; relevant colleagues in acute and community trusts; relevant colleagues in equipment supply chains.

Educational
To contribute to the teaching of other healthcare professionals both internally and externally if required

To undertake appropriate training to ensure competence to practice and as directed by the line manager.

To develop and maintain a working knowledge of specialist palliative care

To adhere to Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and Birmingham Hospice policies and procedures

To be aware of and adhere to Birmingham Hospice Values at all times

General
To undertake relevant activities to meet training and education objectives as identified with the Therapy leads and in the annual appraisal review.

All staff are required to abide by the Hospices policies and procedures, including confidentiality, equal opportunities and data protection.

Uphold the Hospice ethos and demonstrate behaviours in line with our values.

Person Specification
Experience
Essential

• Experience of working in a relevant healthcare environment.
• Understanding of the roles of Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy and nursing services.

Desirable

• Experience of working palliative care.
• Experience of working in the voluntary sector.
• Ability to facilitate groups

Qualifications
Essential

• Competency in Maths and English (to GCSE level, or equivalent).
• Care Certificate/NVQ Level 2 (or higher) in Health and Social Care, or equivalent.

Desirable

• Completion of relevant therapy competencies.
• NVQ Level 3 or equivalent.
• Relevant technical qualification(s)

Personal skills and attributes
Essential

• Excellent communication skills (verbal and written).
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Ability to instruct patients in relation to the use of equipment and therapy interventions.
• Ability to carry out moderate to intense physical effort throughout the working day.
• Ability to adapt to change.
• Good IT Skills.
• Positive and professional approach.
• Flexibility.
• Ability work individually and as part of a team.
• Supportive and committed to the values and objective of the Hospice.
• Full driving licence with access to own vehicle.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.