Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist Paediatric FND

Guys & St Thomas Hospital; London; On-site; GBP 61,000 - 69,000; Part time

Job summary

A leading NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist focused on Pediatric Functional Neurological Disorders (FND). This part-time role involves building networks for physiotherapy services, working with complex patient cases, and developing training for professionals in the field.

Qualifications

• Postgraduate training and HCPC registration required.
• Experience in working with children and complex presentations.
• Ability to conduct physiotherapy assessments and provide expert advice.

Responsibilities

• Build a network of paediatric physiotherapists experienced in FND.
• Work with the caseload of the National and Specialist Paediatric Liaison Psychiatry service.
• Develop training courses and materials for paediatric physiotherapists.

Skills

Evidence-based practice

Assessment skills

Teamwork

Education

Diploma / Degree in Physiotherapy

MSc in relevant subject (FND) or equivalent

Job description

Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist Paediatric FND

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Main area Paediatric & Adolescent Physiotherapy Grade NHS AfC: Band 8a Contract Fixed term: 12 months (12 months FTC) Hours Part time - 30 hours per week Job ref 196-LIS9638

Employer Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Evelina London Children's Hospital Town London Salary £61,927 - £68,676 per annum inc. H.C.A (pro rata) Salary period Yearly Closing 30/06/2025 23:59

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.

Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.

Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.

We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.

The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.

Job overview

This is a one year fixed term post funded by the Evelina Charity to support the service development of a National Specialist Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) service for children and young people.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate would have three main areas of responsibility. Firstly to build a network of local and national paediatric physiotherapists who are interested or experienced in FND. The candidate would seek to link with adult physiotherapists working with FND and transfer best clinical practice to a paediatric environment. Secondly the post holder would work with the caseload of the National and Specialist Paediatric Liaison Psychiatry service to offer physiotherapeutic input to patients and liaise with the community physiotherapists working with those patients. Thirdly the post holder would develop training courses and materials for paediatric physiotherapists and run a series of events to upskill colleagues in the area of FND.

Working for our organisation

This post will sit within the Evelina London Children's Hospital Paediatric Physiotherapy department. Led by the Clinical and Deputy Clinical Leads for Paediatric Physiotherapy this post will have a role in supporting departmental management of a large staff group from band 3 to 8a covering inpatients and outpatient services. The role itself will work with the National and Specialist Paediatric Liaison Service based within St Thomas' Hospital site.

The National and Specialist Paediatric Liaison Service is based at St Thomas’ Hospital and accepts patients from a number of sources up to the age of 18. The service provides cover to St Thomas’ Hospital Accident and Emergency Department and will assess around 200 acute psychiatric crises each year. The service also receives complex paediatric cases from inpatient wards at St Thomas’ Hospital and the Evelina Children’s Hospital as well as specialist outpatient referrals from across the UK (around 100-150 each year).

The clinical work includes patients with complex neuropsychiatric presentations, comorbid mental illness in the context of long-term physical health problems and functional illness. The liaison service is formed of a multidisciplinary team including. Operationally the team sits with National and Specialist CAMHS services in SLaM. The team have close working relationships with both Lambeth and Southwark borough CAMHS services as up to 65% of crisis patients are from these boroughs.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

JOB SUMMARY

1. To conduct a scoping project on the role of Physiotherapy in specialist Paediatric FND services, building networks and professional relationships with other centres for FND.

2. To work as part of the MDT in the National & Specialist Paediatric Liaison Service providing expert physiotherapy advice to patients, carers and to therapists both inside and outside the organisation.

3. To use expert clinical reasoning skills to provide specialist support and advice to the physiotherapist’s within and outside the organisation and other medical staff, whilst maintaining a clinical caseload of highly complex patients .

4. To provide specialist advice and education to the paediatric physiotherapy department at Evelina Children’s Hospital at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and our wider regional network.

5. To contribute to the departmental management within Paediatric Physiotherapy, and Psychiatric Liaison Services in strategic planning and development of the service.

6. Responsible for maintaining and improving all aspects of clinical governance, evidence based practice and quality assurance in designated area.

Key Relationships

• Clinical Lead & Deputy Clinical Lead Paediatric Physiotherapist
• South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM) Consultants and MDT
• Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist in Rheumatology, Chronic Pain, and Neurodisability
• Physiotherapists within the trust

Person specification

Qualifications

• Diploma / Degree in Physiotherapy
• MSc in relevant subject (FND) or equivalent level of post-graduate M-level specialist training courses

Professional / Statutory Registration

• HCPC registration
• Membership and engagement with appropriate professional special interest group e.g. APCP
• Membership of relevant multi-professional group

Experience

• Evidence of experience of working functional neurological disease or other complex presentations
• Evidence of a broad range of paediatric experience at Band 6/7 level (neurology, musculoskeletal, orthopaedics, developmental care, respiratory, Chronic Pain)
• Evidence of experience of working as an integral member of a multidisciplinary team including interdisciplinary goal setting and planning.
• Experience of using outcome measures relevant to FND.
• Evidence of critical engagement in research activity, adhering to good research practice guidance, so that evidence-based strategies are developed and applied to enhance quality, safety, productivity and value for money.
• Previous leadership experience
• Experience working in a clinical specialist role
• Experience in leading service development or transformation
• Evidence of published data in recognised journals
• Experience of working with an extended scope of practice

Skills / Knowledge / Ability

• Evidence of expert knowledge and understanding of the key elements of management of young people with FND
• Evidence of assessment/management skills in a range of paediatric complex conditions (e.g MSK, neuro, Pain)
• Evidence of involvement in research, service development and Quality Improvement Projects
• Evidence of experience of contributing to teaching to the wider MDT and professional networks
• Able to carry out in depth physiotherapy assessments with complex presentations and formulate treatment goals and plans with patient and family.
• Skills in motivational Interviewing
• Ability to write articles for peer reviewed journals
• Ability to create and/or format databases and/or spreadsheets using computerized systems

Guy’s and St Thomas’celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.

Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.

As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.

We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personalcircumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.

Your e-mail address is important to us -We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.

Please apply for this post by clicking "Apply Online Now."

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Name Ellie Potts Job title Deputy Clinical Lead Paediatric Physiotherapy Telephone number 02071884660

Our dedicated and talented staff make it their mission to provide outstanding care for our patients.

Fake job offers for medical professionals living abroad

The Trust has been made aware of a scam targeting medical professionals living abroad who are being sent fake letters offering a job. These letters contain the Trust’s contact details and are often signed by the Chief People Officer.

These letters are fake.

If you receive an offer of employment, please do not reply to the letter, provide any personal details, or send any money to anyone asking for a fee for the placement/job. If you have lost money or sent personal details you should immediately report it to your local law enforcement and contact your bank.

Please note that the Trust will only advertise job opportunities on our website, NHS jobs, LinkedIn, Indeed or Find a job.