Description

Job summary
We are seeking an experienced Critical Care Physiotherapist to join the leadership team within the Adult Critical Care clinical workstream. This is an exciting development opportunity, combining leadership across our Intensive Care Units with a clinical caseload in the ICU Follow-Up Clinic. Oxford Critical Care (OCC) is the Trust's general ICU, primarily caring for emergency medical, surgical and trauma patients. The Churchill ICU (CICU) supports patients undergoing major cancer and transplant surgery and works closely with Oncology and Haematology services. The successful applicant will work alongside the existing Team Lead Physiotherapist, providing expert clinical leadership and support to the ICU therapy team. They will also share operational and governance responsibilities, helping to deliver a high-quality service focused on continuous improvement. The ICU Physiotherapy Follow-Up Service provides specialist outpatient rehabilitation for survivors of critical illness following discharge from OCC or CICU. The successful applicant will work with the current Follow-Up Service Team Lead to develop expertise in this area. This is a challenging, varied and rewarding role. The successful candidate will have strong critical care physiotherapy experience, excellent communication skills and sound leadership ability. They will contribute actively to the leadership team, support service development and bring a proactive, problem-solving approach to everyday challenges.

Main duties of the job

Use expert clinical reasoning skills to provide specialist support and advice to the ICU follow-up, AICU & CICU MDT.
Maintain a clinical caseload of highly complex patients as an autonomous practitioner on AICU & CICU and in the ICU Physiotherapy follow-up service.
Responsible for operational management of the AICU & CICU Physiotherapy service, and assisting with the operational management of the wider Adult Critical Care workstream.
Use expert knowledge and skills to contribute to strategic planning and development of the physiotherapy service for AICU & CICU.
Responsible for maintaining and improving all aspects of evidence based practice and quality assurance in the AICU & CICU Physiotherapy Team
Takes the lead in maintaining and developing evidence based practice in cardiorespiratory care within the Trust in conjunction with the other respiratory team leaders..
Supervise, initiate and participate in evidence based projects and is responsible for implementing changes within AICU & CICU, and the setting and monitoring standards of practice.
Contribute to cardiorespiratory care services development across the Trust.
Represent physiotherapy at relevant Critical Care networks within the Trust and the Thames Valley Health Authority as an alternate.
To liaise with the adult critical care team leaders with regard to provision of critical care across the Trust sites.

About us
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the country. It provides a wide range of general and specialist clinical services and is a base for medical education, training and research. The Trust comprises four hospitals - the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.

Our values, standards and behaviours define the quality of clinical care we offer and the professional relationships we make with our patients, colleagues and the wider community.We call this Delivering Compassionate Excellence, and its focus is on our values of compassion, respect, learning, delivery, improvement and excellence.These values put patients at the heart of what we do and underpin the quality healthcare we would like for ourselves or a member of our family. Watch how we set out to deliver compassionate excellence via the OUH YouTube channel.

In 2023NHS England launched its first sexual safety charter, and our Trust proudly signed it. We pledge zero tolerance for inappropriate sexual behaviour and commit to the ten core principles Oxford University Hospitals promotes a safe, respectful hiring environment. If you want to make a difference with us, come and join our team. Together, we will uphold the highest standards of care and professionalism.

Details
Date posted: 27 August 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 7
Salary: £49,387 to £56,515 a year pa pro rata
Contract: Fixed term
Duration: 20 months
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 321-MRC-8156635-B7-INT
Job locations: John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals, Oxford, OX3 9DU, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
Clinical:

To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own professional activities.
To be responsible and accountable for management and implementation of patient care programmes in AICU & CICU and to input into trust wide care programmes for this patient care group.
To carry out assessment of patients as an autonomous practitioner, including those with highly complex presentations and to use expert clinical reasoning skills, knowledge of evidence based practice and advanced expertise to determine appropriate care plans utilising specialist treatment skills and options.
To formulate accurate prognoses and recommend best course of intervention, developing comprehensive treatment / discharge plans.
To be responsible for own and teams patient care plans and to be consulted frequently for expert advice and guidance by junior and senior team members and other health care professionals.
To provide expert advice on cardiorespiratory care to other clinical areas on the JR and CH sites as required, thereby providing specialist care for patients and emergency support for colleagues.
To assess patients capacity to understand and gain valid, informed consent for treatment. To work within a legal framework with patients who lack the capacity to consent or refuse treatment.
To co-ordinate intervention, which may include other disciplines, advise and educate patient / carers / relatives / other health professionals.
To manage clinical risk within own caseload at all times and ensure clinical risk is effectively managed within the AICU, CICU and Physiotherapy follow-up clinic.
To attend meetings and seminars / case conferences as appropriate, and liaise with, and advise other disciplines, as appropriate, to achieve comprehensive, effective and confidential patient care.
To participate in overnight on-call and the 7 day working roster on AICU & CICU.
When working on the on call and emergency duties rota, provide advice to medical and nursing staff, and other members of the multi-disciplinary team regarding patients cardiorespiratory functions.
To be responsible for maintenance of accurate written records using POMR system, in line with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists (CSP) standards of practice to include comprehensive progress and discharge reports to referrers.
To demonstrate highly developed dexterity, co-ordination and palpatory sensory skills for assessment and manual treatment of patients.
To be expert in assessing a wide range of clinical presentations encourntered during and after a period of critical illness, based on advanced theoretical knowledge of anatomy, physiology and pathology, often in situations where conflicting evidence is present. This will include acute and chronic respiratory conditions.
To be able to motivate and persuade others (including staff and patients) through advanced communication skills, with the benefit of verbal and non-verbal skills, using written and electronic information where needed.
To demonstrate expert ability to communicate complex and sensitive information to patients, carers and other staff, where there may be barriers to communication e.g. non-English speaking patients, those with communication disorders, impaired speech or hearing, other impairments, and ensure all members of the team do likewise.
To impart complex information to small groups of people, for example in class and training sessions, using a variety of methods of communication
To clearly convey complex knowledge of techniques, biomechanics, anatomy and physiology to patients and staff
To give and receive complex and sensitive information about staff and patients which may include information about long-term/ permanent disabilities.
To maintain close links, communication and liaison between all staff and people involved in patient care, and promote good working relationships at all times
To sensitively deal with distressing or emotional circumstances regarding patient care e.g. imparting news of poor prognoses.
To support more junior staff when indicated in the management of challenging patients.
To deal effectively with patients suffering from conditions which may lead to anxiety and aggressive behaviour.
To work within other areas of physiotherapy within the exigency of the service.
To teach, support and supervise staff within the team this will include developing and maintaining their skills, and competency assessments to the appropriate level.

Management:

To be responsible for policy and service development and implementation for AICU & CICU and to ensure that quality standards and effectiveness of patient care are continually monitored and improved.
To liaise with other Allied Health Professionals ensuring multi professional care of patients.
To advise the Clinical Lead Physiotherapist for Adult Critical Care on policy development in cardiorespiratory care for the Trust (as appropriate).
To ensure as team leader that staff implement policy and service developmental changes.
To work with specialist cardiorespiratory care physiotherapists on all Trust sites in the development of common standards, policies etc.
To support the organisation of an appropriate and cost effective out of hours respiratory service. To ensure that the weekend and on call rotas provide optimum cover.
To ensure that the service responds to national initiatives and policy within the framework of clinical governance including clinical effectiveness, evidence based healthcare, managing clinical risk and, research and development issues.
To contribute to the management of the department including the development and implementation of departmental policies, which will impact on the physiotherapy service.
To be responsible for competent use, repair and maintenance reporting of all equipment, including respiratory equipment and patient appliances uses by physiotherapy staff in AICU & CICU and as team leader, to ensure that designated staff attain competency prior to use.
To be responsible for the daily management, supervision and co-ordination of the AICU & CICU Service including staff appraisal.
To attend mandatory fire, manual handling and resuscitation training on an annual basis and be familiar with local procedures within speciality areas of work, and ensure that staff within the team are aware of their responsibilities.
To work in an environment where as team leader the work patterns may be disrupted by frequent demands from patients, clinical staff, and students and any emergency situations.
To provide statistics and analysis reports regarding AICU & CICU using databases in an accurate and timely manner.
To skilfully and flexibly plan and manage own time and organise the AICU & CICU team _,_ to include patient care, training, and supervision.
To assist the JR and CH site therapy team leads in the efficient day to day management of the department.
To achieve the effective daily management of a caseload of patients including responding to urgent referrals, prioritising clinical work and balancing other patient related and professional activities in accordance with departmental standards.
To resolve informal complaints and to be well versed with the Trusts formal complaints procedure. To ensure that the Clinical Lead Physiotherapist for Adult Critical Care is informed of complaints.
To support the Clinical Lead Physiotherapist for Adult Critical Care, when indicated, in the management of staff disciplinary matters.
To contribute to the recruitment of staff, including short-listing of applicants and being a member of the interview panel.
To work as an advisory capacity to all the appropriate professions/directorates with the Trust.

Education:

To be responsible for the provision of specialised teaching to peers and junior staff and students; this may be to large groups.
To provide specialist training to other professional groups as required.
To provide expert teaching to undergraduate and post graduate students external to the Trust as required and agreed with the Clinical Lead Physiotherapist for Adult Critical Care.
To be responsible for own personal professional development and keep abreast of new clinical practices in the area of cardiorespiratory / critical care. To attend and contribute to, specialist continuing education programmes. To attend external courses / education as appropriate.
To maintain a CPD portfolio reflecting personal professional development and ensure all members of the team have a comprehensive performance plan.
To initiate and maintain contacts with local and national clinical interest groups appropriate to cardiorespiratory care, and to demonstrate the ability to share and disseminate knowledge with colleagues working in other care settings.
To clearly convey complex knowledge of techniques, biomechanics, anatomy and physiology to patients and staff
To supervise and lead on the professional development of physiotherapists on rotation through the clinical area.
To be responsible for the training of physiotherapy staff and students on placement within the clinical area.
To supervise undergraduate physiotherapy students as required, and to liaise, as team leader, with academic institutions regarding student performance and placement within the team. See Further Information and Guidelines.
To support and advise less experienced clinical educators as required.

Research and audit;

To develop an ongoing audit and appropriate work related research/evaluation projects in cardiorespiratory / critical care
To supervise evidence based projects for rotational staff, and the professional presentation of the project to the physiotherapy department.
To keep abreast of evidenced based practice in cardiorespiratory and other appropriate related clin

Person Specification
Shortlisting
Essential

HCPC registered Physiotherapist
Evidence of CPD relevant to the role
Experience relevant to the role
Credible evidence of ability to apply person management skills
Credible evidence to support clinical expertise
Credible evidence to support service development experience
Excellent written communication

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

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: Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Address: John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals, Oxford, OX3 9DU, United Kingdom
Employer's website: Apply through our website

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Clinical Lead Therapist - Adult Critical Care
Jonathan Grant
Jonathan.Grant@ouh.nhs.uk

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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications.

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