Head of Inpatient Therapy Services

NHS; Ashford; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player in healthcare is seeking a highly experienced Allied Health Professional to lead the inpatient therapy team. This role offers the opportunity to inspire and empower staff while ensuring the delivery of excellent patient care across multiple sites. The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong leadership skills, effective communication, and a commitment to person-centred services. Join a dedicated team focused on improving patient outcomes and supporting a culture of collaboration and excellence in a dynamic healthcare environment.

Qualifications

• Proven track record of leading and managing therapy services.
• Expert in clinical reasoning and providing specialist support.

Responsibilities

• Accountable for operational delivery and clinical leadership of inpatient therapy service.
• Develop and monitor inpatient therapy service strategies.

Skills

Leadership

Clinical Reasoning

Communication

Problem Solving

Team Management

Education

Physiotherapist

Occupational Therapist

Speech and Language Therapist

Dietitian

Job description

Job Summary

East Kent Hospitals University NHS trust Therapy Department has an exciting opportunity for a forward thinking and highly experienced Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist, Dietician or Speech & Language Therapist to join the department's senior leadership team. The Head of In-Patient Therapy lead will work alongside the Outpatient Therapy leads to provide therapy services across five sites in East Kent.

We are looking for an individual who is able to provide senior leadership to in patient therapy teams, who is not only an advocate for safe, effective person-centred services but is also a passionate Allied Health Professional. Many of our services are established over seven days, with more to follow. All senior leadership Team members are required to be flexible to support our staff and services over 7 days as required.

We are looking for candidates with a proven track record of effectively leading and managing services or teams. This includes demonstrating effective communication, problem solving and innovation, delivery on projects and strong leadership qualities. This post holder will have responsibility for in patient staff and services and being able to inspire, empower and lead by example is crucial for the growth and development of our services.

Main Duties of the Job

The Head of Inpatient Therapy Services at East Kent Hospitals is a key member of the clinical leadership team and operational management team. They are responsible for the delivery of clinically excellent therapy care to all inpatient areas, within a growing service. The post holder:

1. Is accountable for the operational delivery and clinical leadership of the inpatient therapy service at EKHUFT.
2. Provides visible proactive clinical leadership, acting as the key senior leader for issues, challenges, and escalation in relation to multi-disciplinary care planning, patient flow, transfer of care and the discharge processes.
3. Will provide professional leadership, motivation and supervision to ensure high standards of clinical reasoning and competence are achieved across the service.
4. Will work in partnership with our key operational leads and stakeholders, drive operational performance against agreed Trust and National targets ensuring safe, responsive discharge services and high-quality therapy intervention for our patients.
5. Will work with the therapy and care group senior leadership team to deliver successful flow across the organisation contributing to the delivery of the Emergency Department standard and safe, effective patient care.
6. Will develop excellent relationships with all our key internal and external stakeholders in particular our wards, Care Groups and system level partners across community services, social care and the voluntary sector.

About Us

We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 800,000 people. Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected and confident that we are making a difference'. We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals, called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families and carers we care for every day.

Please note that if you require a Certificate of Sponsorship to work in the UK you must declare this on your application form, even if you currently have a certificate of sponsorship or a work permit for another role and are already working in the country. Please note we are only able to sponsor candidates on a Skilled Worker Visa applying for roles Band 5 and above.

Job Responsibilities

In conjunction with Therapy Management Team, develop and monitor the Inpatient Therapy Service strategies in line with the Trust's overall strategic direction and within agreed acute services reconfiguration in East Kent and national strategies.

1. To provide a high level of day-to-day operational support to the Inpatient Therapy team to ensure that all activity and routine operational targets are met.
2. To use expert knowledge, clinical skills and advanced clinical reasoning skills to provide specialist support and advice to the Multidisciplinary Team and assist the inpatient therapy teams with highly complex discharge planning and admission avoidance support.
3. To support the development of a seamless integrated care system, involving all relevant stakeholders working with community partners.
4. Ensure and promote a culture of collaborative working across professional boundaries, this will include Nurses, Allied Health Professionals (AHPs), Pharmacists, Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACPs), Doctors and Care Managers.
5. Lead the implementation of therapy service strategies to achieve improved patient flow in conjunction with key stakeholders across the systems.

In conjunction with the Therapy Management Team, proactively manage activity to ensure the Department meets all activity and performance targets.

Professionally and clinically leads, motivates and supervises the therapy team to ensure that safe, effective, efficient, high quality patient care is achieved. Uses leadership skills and knowledge to give advice and support to all members of the team, patients and relatives. Reviews and utilises performance and patient experience data to improve clinical care and discharge outcomes. Works with the senior team to provide an innovative approach to service delivery. This will involve developing a culture that is patient centred involving service users and which is responsive to feedback and ensure that services provided are patient-focused.

Maintains HCPC professional registration and support all registrants within the team to maintain their own professional registration.

In collaboration with the senior therapy team, coordinate service improvement initiatives across the Trust and with our partner organisations that lead to improvement in patient flow, transfer of care and shared care planning. Ensure service improvements are delivered in accordance with the National and Local Performance Standards and within a Corporate Governance Framework. To work with the Clinical Leads to ensure that the service responds to local and national initiatives and policy such as National Service Frameworks and NICE guidelines.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential:

• Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist, Speech and Language Therapist or Dietitian

Desirable:

• Leadership

Experience

Essential:

• Demonstrates substantial specialist experience in relevant field at a senior level.
• Experience and evidence of working in collaboration with partner organisations to support the discharge pathway.
• Experience of working to improve and support patient flow in an NHS environment.

Desirable:

• Project management experience.
• Experience of managing change in an acute hospital setting.
• Proven experience of successfully managing resources including people and materials.

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration.

Employer Details

Employer Name: East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

Address:

William Harvey Hospital (Trust Wide)

Kennington Road

Ashford

TN240LZ