Band 7 Acute Spinal Cord Injury Practitioner

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in Birmingham is seeking a Band 7 Acute Spinal Cord Injury Practitioner. This role entails working within a multidisciplinary team to deliver innovative patient care and optimize clearly defined care plans. Ideal candidates should possess a Master's qualification, relevant clinical experience, and a commitment to ongoing professional development. This position offers substantial growth opportunities, mentorship, and the chance to improve SCI care pathways across the region. Join us to make a significant impact in patient care.

Qualifications

• Proven track record in delivering care for SCI patients.
• Commitment to advanced clinical and non-clinical continued professional development.
• Significant post-registration experience in Inpatient SCI.

Responsibilities

• Work autonomously and collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams.
• Provide leadership, guidance, and exercise judgment for patient care.
• Assist in monitoring and improving standards of care.

Skills

Autonomy

Clinical reasoning skills

Communication

Leadership

Teaching and training

Education

MSc/Masters qualification

Registration with Health Care Professions Council

CSP/NMC or equivalent professional registration

Tools

IT systems

Job description

Band 7 Acute Spinal Cord Injury Practitioner

The closing date is 16 December 2025

Are you looking for a unique opportunity to develop your skills and expertise in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) care? Join a dynamic and forward-thinking team at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, a Trust committed to delivering innovative patient care and investing in staff development. As part of the National SCI Transformation Programme, NHS England is supporting regional SCI units and Major Trauma Centres to improve pathways of care. This 12‑month fixed‑term post for maternity leave cover offers an exciting chance to work at the forefront of a collaborative SCI Network model in partnership with the Midlands Centre for Spinal Injuries, Oswestry (MCSI).

This role offers an exceptional opportunity for experienced nurses or therapists to step into a specialist acute SCI Practitioner position, working alongside Clinical Leads to develop and deliver a cutting‑edge model of care. You will support patients from admission at QEHB and provide outreach to those transferred to other hospitals or rehabilitation centres within the region. This position offers substantial professional growth, with mentorship, regular supervision, and access to ongoing training and development. The 12‑month contract provides a chance to gain invaluable experience in a rapidly evolving field, while contributing to improving SCI care pathways across the region.

For further information please contact Hannah Farrell or Emma Hill.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidates will be expected to work autonomously and collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams, working across professional boundaries to optimise clearly defined patient care plans, outcomes and a stratified follow‑up programme, to achieve a holistic approach through patient‑centred care. The post holders will provide leadership, guidance and exercise judgment in making patient‑centred decisions within current best practice guidance, relevant legal frameworks and with clear understanding of the relevant professional and applied ethical frameworks. The post holder will assist in monitoring and improving standards of care and play an active role in the reporting and evaluation of care related to regionally agreed key performance indicators. The post holders will also play an active role in teaching and supporting professional colleagues and the provision of professional leadership, contributing to clinical effectiveness across the Trust by participating in audit/research as part of the MDT in the field of SCI care and treatment.

The successful candidates will have a proven track record in delivering the best care for SCI patients and will be a part of a "networked model of SCI care" with the post holder expected to travel across the region including MSIC.

About us

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust strives to have an inclusive culture where everyone feels like they belong, can thrive, knows that they add value and feels valued. We do this by developing compassionate and culturally competent leaders, being values driven in all that we do and by creating a welcoming and inclusive workplace that thrives on the diversity of our people. As such we want to attract and recruit talented individuals from all backgrounds, and for each of you to feel supported for the diversity you bring, to achieve your full potential. For those staff with a disability, including physical disability, long‑term health condition, mental health or neurodiverse condition, this also means being committed to making reasonable adjustments needed for you to carry out your role.

Job responsibilities

Please note: For a detailed job description for this vacancy, please see attached Job Description.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• To have a MSc/ Masters qualification and/or equivalent experience.
• Registration with Health Care Professions Council or Registered Adult Nurse on the NMC Register Evidence.
• Commitment to advanced clinical and non‑clinical continued professional development within own speciality, e.g. post registration training, management/Leadership competencies and evidence of a detailed personal development portfolio.
• CSP/NMC or equivalent professional registration.
• Relevant, accredited, postgraduate education/courses in relevant areas of speciality.

Experience

• Evidence and ability to revalidate / re‑register as required by the NMC / HCPC.
• Significant post‑registration experience of which considerable experience has been in Inpatient SCI in an acute NHS organisation.
• Some experience of clinical/service evaluation.
• Awareness of current evidence in acute SCI and application to clinical practice, using advanced clinical reasoning skills.
• Good understanding of IT systems and its application to clinical practice.
• Evidence of achievements and career development in current post and of on‑going professional development/ competence.
• Demonstrate expert knowledge underpinned by theory and CPD relevant to speciality.
• Significant experience in education and clinical training of others. Enthusiasm for developing educational programmes and teaching / assessing and supervising others in a clinical setting.
• Working in a multi‑disciplinary and cross‑agency work environment.
• Experience of patient service user advocacy role.
• Can demonstrate expert knowledge with an ability to assess, plan, implement and evaluate specialist care delivered to patients and give advice and information to patients / relatives / care staff.
• Awareness of current relevant NHS policy context relating to the speciality.
• Has understanding / experience of the principles of Safeguarding.
• Knowledge of corporate and clinical governance.
• Experience of delivering change management both personally and as a facilitator.
• Awareness of current research related to the speciality.
• Good knowledge and application of all areas of Clinical Governance including Quality, Audit and Risk management.
• Understands the legal responsibilities of the profession.
• Good understanding of principles of data and statistics and experience of their use in evaluation of service delivery.
• Knowledge and understanding of the research process.
• Teaching experience to uni and multi‑professional groups with evidence of ability to deliver high quality presentations.

Additional Criteria

• Ability to work autonomously within specialist clinical area & undertake clinical analysis and reasoning skills in the assessment and treatment of SCI Patients and apply broad standards & guidelines to own practice.
• Ability to explain the requirement to balance clinical caseload.
• Ability to communicate with a wide range of health care professionals, on a variety of complex and sensitive issues which require persuasive and empathetic skills.
• Leadership and influential skills, able to lead and command confidence in senior therapists, consultants, senior nurses and managers within and related to SCI patients.
• Ability to work autonomously manage/prioritise own workload, supervise / appraise and asses junior staff.
• Competent in a range of clinical skills and expanded practices relevant to the scope of practice required.
• Ability to work under pressure across competing priorities.
• Ability to, undertake clinical audit, analyse information and develop robust measureable action plans to support improvement/change.
• Evidence of ability to compile reports and documents for internal / external communication.
• Knowledge of current evidence based practice and ability to apply to service and policy development.
• On-call skills (if appropriate to this post holder) and able to provide advice and patient assessment as a lone physiotherapist in an on‑call situation.
• Ability to comprehend and work within the Trust's policies of data protection, equal opportunities and Health and Safety to meet the differing needs of patients.
• Strong sense of professional integrity, and compliance with Trust vision and values.
• Physically fit and resilient, able to meet the physical and emotional demands of the post.
• Excellent time management and organisational skills and able to meet deadlines and targets.
• Ability to adapt behaviour to changing circumstances.
• Positive and enthusiastic attitude.
• Ability to communicate articulately and motivate others.
• Evidence of flexible and innovative approach to service delivery and development.
• Able and willing to work flexibly in order to meet service priorities.
• Excellent problem solving skills and ability to act on own initiative.
• To be able to travel to all hospital locations as required.
• Ability to constructively challenge current practice and identify opportunity to develop, implement and facilitate change in practice by others.
• Good teaching, supervisory and appraisal skills.
• Able to interpret and analyse a range of policy, clinical guidelines and data and their relevance for practice.

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.

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust