Highly Specialist Physiotherapist - Upper Airways and Severe Asthma

NHS; Plymouth; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in Plymouth is seeking a Highly Specialist Physiotherapist focusing on upper airway disorders due to severe asthma. This role involves diagnosing, assessing, and managing complex respiratory disorders while linking with multidisciplinary teams. Candidates should possess extensive experience in respiratory medicine and hold relevant qualifications. The role offers a salary between £47,810 and £54,710 annually, along with the opportunity for professional development in a supportive environment.

Qualifications

• Experience delivering specialist care to patients with severe asthma.
• Proven evidence of successful completion of specialist post graduate training.
• Demonstrable experience working as an integral part of multidisciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Deliver highly specialist clinical skills for airway disorders.
• Assess, diagnose, and manage a caseload of adults.
• Contribute to Severe Asthma MDT meetings.

Skills

Extensive post graduate experience across cardiorespiratory specialities

Demonstrable experience at a senior level

Well established knowledge of assessment tools

Excellent interpersonal skills

Ability to demonstrate empathy

Education

BSc in Physiotherapy

Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)

M.Sc. relevant to the area

Job description

Highly Specialist Physiotherapist - Upper Airways and Severe Asthma

Working as part of the Severe Asthma multidisciplinary team (MDT), the post holder will be the Advanced Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist for patients with upper airway disorders due to severe asthma. Responsible for providing highly specialist assessment, differential diagnosis and therapeutic intervention for people with a range of complex respiratory disorders arising from severe asthma. This includes chronic cough, airway clearance with those with an overlap mucus hypersecretion, breathing pattern disorders, complex breathlessness, and working in partnership with Speech and Language Therapists with patients with joint Inducible Laryngeal Obstruction (ILO).

Preference will be given to internal Trust staff, as well as 'Priority' and 'At Risk' status including NHS At Risk staff throughout Devon who are able to display recent relevant experience as dictated by the Person Specification.

Main duties of the job

Streamline the pathway to access biologics in a timelier way, and improving the management of co-morbidities associated with asthma.

Be an integral part of the MDT team linking with acute and community services and contribute towards reducing acute presentations / admission avoidance.

The post-holder is responsible for their own workload within the designated clinical area on a day-to-day basis. Caseloads will be flexible and at times of Trust critical incident may involve the provision of service to other areas of the Trust if caseload pressures demand.

As this is a newly funded post, there will be a focus on service development and monitoring including collection and analysis of data and outcome measures. This will be vital to ensuring the success of the post and the development of the service.

Develop the Physiotherapy role within the Severe Asthma service, alongside Respiratory Consultants, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Speech and Language Therapists, Psychologists and ENT.

Have a specialist advisory role for the Trust in this specialty area, giving service-wide second and expert opinions, training others and supporting students.

About us

We are a people business - where every member of staff matters and can make a difference. Patients are at the heart of everything we do. Joining University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust means becoming part of a team of dedicated staff, who are committed to leading the way through innovation, clinical excellence and great customer care. The Trust has great opportunities for career development in a highly progressive working environment. We offer all of this in a vibrant, modern city with a historic reputation for adventure. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL COMMUNICATION WILL BE ELECTRONIC, PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT REGULARLY. If you have any issues with applying online and need additional support including reasonable adjustments with the application process please contact the recruitment manager for this post who will put you in touch with the recruitment team. We recognise that work life balance is important for our colleagues and so we invite requests from applicants around less than full time/flexible working for our advertised roles. Please contact the recruiting manager to discuss this prior to your application submission. We commit to giving this full consideration in each case. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds to apply for our roles, as diversity strengthens our teams. It is sometimes necessary to close vacancies before the closing date. If you have not heard from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been shortlisted.

Job responsibilities

1. To deliver highly specialist clinical skills to identify, assess, diagnose and manage a specialist caseload of adults with airway disorders arising from severe asthma and the treatment thereof, in both inpatient and outpatient settings.
2. To undertake the comprehensive assessment of patients, including those with a complex presentation, using investigative and analytical skills, and to formulate individualised management and treatment plans, using clinical reasoning, and utilising a wide range or treatment skills and options to formulate a specialised programme of care and to support junior staff in this work.
3. To interpret and analyse clinical and non-clinical facts to form accurate clinical diagnosis and prognoses in a wide range of highly complex conditions, to recommend the best course of intervention, and to develop comprehensive management plans.
4. To assess, develop and implement specialist treatments. To make appropriate clinical decisions following assessments, including differential diagnosis based on evidence from assessment. To develop specialist care plans and reports based in best practice and expert knowledge.
5. To provide appropriate specialist intervention and evaluate outcomes. To use skills and knowledge to generate appropriate strategies for caseload management for complex clinical issues.
6. To provide advice to others regarding the management and care of patients/clients with asthma / severe asthma disorders, including SLTs and the adult respiratory teams. To provide specialist advice in relation to the relevant care group.
7. To attend and contribute to the Severe Asthma MDT meetings, providing relevant information regarding upper airway, communication and swallowing disorders to support the development of specialist care plans.
8. To independently manage personal / shared clinical caseloads with reference to theory, published research and evidence, and agreed best practice. This includes following appropriate referral and discharge criteria.
9. To develop the Upper Airways Physiotherapy service in relation to severe asthma, including data collection and analysis, and the completion of outcome measures and service improvement projects.
10. To maintain up-to-date and accurate case notes in line with CSP and HCPC professional standards and local Trust policies. To share information with others, observing data protection guidelines.

For further details please see attached JD and PS.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Skills

• Extensive post graduate experience across cardiorespiratory specialities
• Demonstrable experience at a senior level within; Respiratory medicine, Respiratory out-patients' specialities with a broad range of complex cardiorespiratory and rehabilitation needs.in a healthcare setting
• Proven evidence of high level of specialist proven knowledge/skills relating to upper airway disorders and severe asthma due to demonstrable experience/CPD
• Well established proven knowledge of specialist Physiotherapy assessment tools relevant to the specialist client group
• In-depth proven knowledge of a range of appropriate therapeutic interventions and ability to compare relative benefits
• Demonstrable experience working as an integral member of a multidisciplinary team
• Previous working at Band 7 level within a healthcare setting.
• Demonstrable experience of complex MDT working and admission avoidance.
• Demonstrable experience of delivering physiotherapy provision within the acute setting.

Qualifications

• BSc in Physiotherapy
• Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
• Proven evidence of successful completion of significant specialist post graduate training.
• Proven evidence of involvement with audit and research
• Computer Literate
• Willingness to maintain own development and encourage others to do likewise
• M.Sc. relevant to the area.
• Leadership and Management training.
• Member of the CSP / ACPRC

APTITUDE & ABILITIES

• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Able to listen well and counsel patients and carers
• Able to demonstrate empathy with patients, carers, families and colleagues
• Able to communicate effectively particularly where barriers to understanding exist

DISPOSITION / ATTITUDE / MOTIVATION

• Demonstrates ability to be a good team member and assume leadership responsibilities.
• Has personal traits and characteristics congruent with the Trust values
• Able to be flexible to the demands of the post, including unpredictable work patterns/caseloads, deadlines, limited planning/organisation time, the need to multitask and make immediate complex decisions
• Flexible
• Self-motivated

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.

Therapies Directorate Manager and Clinical Lead

£47,810 to £54,710 a year£47,810 - £54,710 per annum