Job summary
Therapy Assistant- Band 3
Contract - Fixed Term 5 months - 37.5 hours per week

This is an exciting opportunity to join our integrated in-patient Therapy Team at the Whittington Hospital. Therapy Assistants provide essential support to the Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists to ensure we can provide timely, safe and compassionate care to our patients.

The post holder will have the opportunity to rotate across all the work teams to gain the skills, knowledge and experience unique to each setting. You will assist patients to recover and regain their function whilst in the hospital. You will work with members of the wider multi-disciplinary team and community providers towards achieving a safe discharge ensuring the appropriate support is in place for each patient. The Candidates must be IT literate, well organized and ideally have recent previous experience of working with people or in a customer facing role. Previous NHS experience and qualifications in a therapy or healthcare related subject would be desirable.

Please see the Job Description and Person Specification for further details

Main duties of the job
Please see the Job Description and the Persons Specification for further details about the job role. If you are unable to access the PDF, the details of the job description can also be found in the 'Detailed Job Description and Main responsibilities' section.

About us
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.

Details
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 3
Salary: £31,554 to £33,270 a year Per Annum Including HCAS Pro-Rata
Contract: Fixed term
Duration: 5 months
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 220-WHT-8356866
Job locations: Whittington Hospital, Magdala Avenue, London, N19 5NF, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
To be responsible for a caseload of patients working to agreed treatment objectives and to assist qualified therapy staff in the treatment of patients who require more than one therapist for safe handling, complex rehabilitation

Clinical General
To be responsible for implementing prescribed treatment programmes with an allocated patient caseload through competency based assessment and within agreed scope of practice. This would follow on from an initial screening by a qualified Occupational Therapist / Physiotherapist.

Orthopaedic weekend rota
This is to treat post-operative patients and orthopaedic patients who may deteriorate without treatment over the weekend and this work will be completed under the guidance of a qualified physiotherapist.

START Team weekend rota
This is to assess and treat patients who may be able to go home from A&E or the acute assessment units. This work will be completed under the guidance of a qualified occupational therapist.

General clinical duties will include:

• Gathering demographic and medical data to inform assessment.
• Supervising and progressing exercise/mobility programmes for referred patients, which may include some who have complex needs
• Gait re-education and progression of mobility.
• Group work relevant to client group.

Communication
To gain valid informed consent and have the capacity to work within a legal framework with patients who lack the capacity to consent to treatment.

To, establish and maintain effective communication with all members of multi-disciplinary team (MDT), therapy department and external agencies to ensure effective and efficient treatment and discharge.

Please see Job description and personal specification for full outline of main role and responsibilities.

Person Specification
Training and Qualifications
Essential

• Evidence of broad based Education, literacy and Numeracy (Maths and English GCSE Grade C or above or equivalent to complete patient records and designated clerical tasks)

Desirable

• Formal technical Qualification e.g. NVQ or Equivalent.
• Be able to demonstrate skills acquired through experience
• Evidence of formal and/or informal learning relevant to the post

Experience
Essential

• Work experience in acute care/hospital setting
• Experience of working with people or in a customer facing role
• Experience of team working
• Experience of working in older people services

Desirable

• Previous experience as a Physiotherapy/OT assistant or equivalent
• Work experience or shadowing in a therapy department
• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team.

Knowledge and Skills
Essential

• Understanding of the client groups and conditions treated by therapists in the acute setting.
• Awareness of the role and scope of the work of Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists
• Computer skills, including email, letters, spreadsheets and scanning
• Demonstrate competence in teaching practical skills to clients
• Physical ability to undertake moving and handling of patients

Desirable

• Basic understanding of health and community services
• Ability to record complex information accurately and concisely.
• Group work skills
• Demonstrate a willingness to learn new skills and progress within the role and share skills with others

Personal Qualities
Essential

• Ability to take instruction/ work under the direction of others and carry out tasks accurately
• Ability to work on own initiative and take responsibility to manage own work load and prioritise given tasks appropriately
• Effective written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills
• Able to perform effectively with unpredictable work patterns, pressures and respond to change flexibly
• Willingness to learn and develop new skills

Desirable

• Practical ability to work with various equipment and aids to daily living which may require adjusting or fitting

Other Requirements
Essential

• To take part in the 7 day working rota as required with cover required one weekend in 4 (average)
• Ability to work within an Equal opportunities Framework.
• Participate in Supervision and appraisal processes
• Basic awareness of Health and Safety in the workplace

Desirable

• Awareness of the needs of individuals from diverse social ethnic and cultural backgrounds

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.

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.

Employer details
Employer name: Whittington Hospital NHS Trust
Website: https://www.whittington.nhs.uk/

Contact
Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist, Georgia Cunningham, georgia.cunningham@nhs.net, 02072885562