Assistant Practitioner

NHS; Bedford; On-site; GBP 27,000 - 31,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare provider in Bedford is searching for an Assistant Practitioner to join their neurotherapy team. The ideal candidate will provide clinical care, coordinate therapy interventions, and work autonomously within the community. Responsibilities include engaging with patients and their families, maintaining records, and collaborating with a multidisciplinary team. Applicants should have relevant qualifications, with an emphasis on care delivery for stroke and neuro rehabilitation. This role offers a salary range of £27,485 to £30,162 per year pro-rata.

Qualifications

• Experience in a community or inpatient rehab environment.
• Working as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Ability to manage own caseload and work independently.

Responsibilities

• Deliver direct clinical care in the community.
• Communicate effectively with the multidisciplinary team.
• Maintain accurate patient records.

Skills

Holistic assessments

Organisational skills

Moving and handling skills

Communication skills

IT skills for patient notes

Education

NVQ level 3 Health and Social Care

GCSE or equivalent in Maths and English

Foundation degree in health and social care

Stroke or Neuro related courses

Job description

Assistant Practitioner

The closing date is 11 January 2026

We are looking for an enthusiastic, dynamic and caring individual who is passionate about Stroke and neuro rehabilitation. If you are keen to work in the community and make a difference in people's lives with rehabilitation, then this post is for you.

The post holder will work autonomously and closely with other therapists within the neurotherapy team. The post holder will be well supported by the multidisciplinary team including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, Speech and Language therapists, Psychologists and other assistant practitioners.

Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

(Please note that should we receive a high number of applications, we reserve the right to close the advert at any point after 24.12.25)

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be accountable to senior multidisciplinary members of the Bedfordshire Neurotherapy service providing support for a variety of therapeutic and clinical interventions. The post holder will participate in the assessment, planning, implementation and individualised therapeutic interventions under the guidance of the multidisciplinary therapy team. Post holder will work autonomously and undertake lone working in the community. Post holder will be responsible for identifying and providing appropriate assistive equipment for patients to facilitate safety in their chosen environment. Post holder may be expected to work a variety of shift patterns which include weekends and bank holidays on a rota basis in the future.

About us

Rated 'Outstanding' by the Care Quality Commission, we are proud to provide high quality innovative services across most of the east of England that enable people to receive care closer to home and live healthier lives.

There's one reason why our services are outstanding - and that's our amazing staff who, for the seventh year running, rated us incredibly highly in the national staff survey.

If you share our passion for innovative and high-quality care delivery, then please submit your application and join us on our exciting journey as a leading-edge specialist community provider. All are welcome to apply and our promise to you is a culture which prioritises staff engagement and development.

Job responsibilities

Nature of work

Post holder will be part of multidisciplinary therapy team including Physiotherapists, Occupational therapists, Speech & Language Therapists, Clinical Psychologists and other Assistant practitioners.

Post holder will be responsible for delivering direct clinical care and delegated therapy interventions for service users referred to Neurotherapy service.

To involve patients and carers in the planning of care/rehabilitation programmes and encourage self-management where appropriate.

To communicate effectively with all members of the Neurotherapy service and the wider Bedfordshire Community Health Services. To support and promote team working generally.

To maintain accurate patient records, which include patient held records.

To provide written reports and verbal feedback to the team regarding clients performance/progress in areas of self-maintenance, productivity and leisure.

To act as named person for the client to contact within the department and to feedback relevant any issues to senior staff.

To have a basic level of knowledge of support services within the community.

Planning

Plan and implement daily work within the team and wide geographical area in the knowledge that this can be unpredictable and may change to meet the demands of the service and the changing priorities of clinical/health needs.

Participate in team planning, by organising new referrals as to who needs to be assessed within an agreed service time frame, and on-going work allocations, to enable the team to work effectively and efficiently.

To support other members of the multidisciplinary team in planning and managing their own caseload particularly in the event of absence.

To attend caseload meetings and multidisciplinary therapy meetings as appropriate and ensure information on individual patients is fed back to the team for planning purposes.

To be responsible for prioritising and managing own workload, expecting some conflicting demands on your time.

To promote the team philosophy that embraces a holistic approach to patients, carers and relatives.

To carry out initial screening and assessment of clients on behalf of multidisciplinary therapy team.

To review and re-assess interventions delegated by the multidisciplinary team, keeping relevant clinical staff informed of any progress/concern.

To undertake clinical procedures/ therapeutic activities within a mutually agreed goal orientated programme under direction from a variety of multidisciplinary team members.

To feedback all relevant information regarding clients to the appropriate clinician/therapist, including any changes in the condition and circumstances.

To be responsible for fitting and demonstrating equipment to clients and their carers.

To order equipment from the community equipment Store and use the PIN number provided responsibly.

To be an advocate for patients i.e. making team members aware of any concerns if it is in the patients best interest.

To identify areas of shared assessment with other team members.

Identify other agencies whose intervention the patient would benefit from, liaise with them and refer to accordingly.

Actively promote good health and development and participate in Public Health Initiatives.

To carry out any other clinical duties under instruction from senior staff within the Neurotherapy service covering other staff across the localities to meet patient needs.

To safely travel between patients homes and other venues on a daily basis adhering to relevant policy and guidelines e.g. mobile phone policy, and the Highway Code.

Regularly undertake the moving and positioning of patients and equipment adhering to the Trust Moving and Handling Policy.

This role requires regular participation in patient handling and mobility tasks, including transfers, gait training, passive exercises, and use of hoists and other equipment. Staff must be able to safely support patients with significant physical impairments as part of rehabilitation programmes.

Significant part of Assistant Practitioners responsibilities involve physical/manual handling activities, requiring stamina, safe moving and handling skills, and the ability to work in varied home and community environments.

Undertake clinical procedures within own scope of competencies utilising a variety of clinical interventions and equipment safely and precisely.

To competently demonstrate and advise on a range of equipment to clients and relatives.

To have adequate keyboard skills and knowledge of IT systems provided by the Trust.

To develop and deliver enhanced skill in a specific therapy domain.

Communication Include details of patient/family contact

Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex, sensitive information to a wide variety of professionals in a variety of methods.

Provide updates and reports as required related to service users needs and care both written and verbal.

Work within Trust Policy in all matters related to communication of clinical risk, including the need for information sharing.

Clearly understand the issues surrounding confidentiality.

Important relationships job holder must maintain

Internal:

i. Leadership team

ii. All members of Neurotherapy service

iv. Specialist Nurses i.e. Safeguarding leads, Tissue Viability etc.

External:

i. Hospital nursing and therapy staff

ii. Patients, relatives and care agencies

iii. Local Authorities including adult social care

vi. Clinical Commissioning groups

The nature of the issues the job holder must communicate on and to whom

T to form professional relationships with clients and communicate condition related information to them in a way that respects their views, autonomy and culture.

Where barriers to understanding exist staff will need to use tact, motivational negotiating and reassurance skills. Information received and given may be sensitive and will need to be handled in a empathic and professional manner maintaining confidentiality within Trust Policies and professional codes of conduct.

Communicate and work together with other teams within the provider services, and other providers to ensure optimum patient centred care. Using various methods of communication, this will include oral, written, electronic or other verbal or non-verbal methods.

People Management

Maintaining own professional development and requirement to take part in appraisal and KSF process.

Complete relevant stroke competencies as required for the post.

Develop own clinical knowledge and participate in the development of clinical knowledge for others.

Maintain up to date skills and knowledge and maintain an awareness of professional issues.

Research & Development Activity

To contribute to meetings about clinical governance and service development.

To participate in the delivery of the Neurotherapy service development plan.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• NVQ level 3 Health and Social Care
• GCSE or equivalent in Maths and English
• Foundation degree in health and social care
• Stroke or Neuro related clinical courses /trainings

Experience

• Previous experience of working in a community or inpatient rehab environment
• Experience of working as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Ability to work on own initiative and manage own caseload
• Experience of working in the NHS
• Experience of working in the community
• Experience of working in Stroke/Neurology rehabilitation

Knowledge & Skills

• Ability to do holistic assessments for simple cases
• Use moving and handling skills when dealing with clients and equipment
• Strong organisational and time management skills
• Be able to communicate where there may be barriers to understanding
• Ability to complete client notes related to patient contact using IT systems
• To be able to prioritise own work and team's work on a day-to-day basis

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.

Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust

£27,485 to £30,162 a year pro-rata