Physiotherapy Assistant/Plaster Technician

Oxford University Hospitals Nhs Foundation Trust; Oxford; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 25,000; Full time

Job summary

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an enthusiastic administrator to support the Children\'s Therapy team in the outpatient setting. You will assist physiotherapists, help with plaster cast removal/application, and see some patients under supervision.

Training is provided, and prior hands-on work or hobbies in similar areas would be an advantage. The role requires good communication and organisational skills to ensure smooth running of the department, including ordering

Qualifications

• GCSE English and Maths at minimum.
• Experience operating administrative and IT systems.
• Experience working with patients.
• Good organisational and prioritisation skills.

Responsibilities

• Support clinical practitioners to deliver direct patient care in the children outpatient setting.
• Assist with management of patients referred to the department, including casting-related tasks as required.
• Maintain plaster supplies and equipment stocks, and order as needed.
• Arrange appointments and coordinate requests with clinicians and administrative teams.
• Complete accurate patient notes and data collection for the therapy team.

Skills

Communication skills

Organisation skills

Experience in patient care

Education

GCSE English & Maths

Tools

Administrative IT systems

Job description

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our friendly, enthusiastic and professional children's outpatient therapy team. The post holder will be directly involved in patient care, assisting physiotherapists with treatments such as plaster cast removal and application, and seeing some patients independently under the supervision of a physiotherapist. Prior experience of similar paid or voluntary work, e.g. casting or other "hands-on" technical work or hobbies would be an advantage, although full training will be given. The successful applicant will have good communication and organisation skills as this post is pivotal in the smooth running of the department, taking responsibility for ordering plaster supplies and mobility equipment.

Main duties of the job

• To support clinical practitioners to deliver direct patient care in a children's' elective plaster cast service. This includes pre-and post-op casting (including minor wound and skin care), and casting for therapeutic goals such as stretching / walking pattern
• To provide efficient and effective indirect clinical support to the department: attending to patients, therapy colleagues, consultant surgeons and referrers to the service, both in person in clinic and on the telephone, promptly and courteously at all times and be a worthy frontline representative of the high quality service.
• To maintain a clean and tidy clinic environment, including cleaning of casting equipment
• To support the physiotherapy service in maintaining supplies of equipment and stock - monitoring stock levels, placing and receiving orders, maintaining a tidy equipment store
• To complete effective and timely patient notes as required
• To be able to assist therapists as necessary with the management of patients requiring more than one person. This may require the use of moderate physical effort.
• To carry out in-direct clinical tasks as required by the department e.g. appointment administration, direct patient/family telephone communication, maintaining department logs.
• To be able to work clinically with patients with indirect supervision from the physiotherapy team

About us

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the country. It provides a wide range of general and specialist clinical services and is a base for medical education, training and research. The Trust comprises four hospitals - the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury. Our values, standards and behaviours define the quality of clinical care we offer and the professional relationships we make with our patients, colleagues and the wider community. We call thisDelivering Compassionate Excellenceand its focus is on our values of compassion, respect, learning, delivery, improvement and excellence. These values put patients at the heart of what we do and underpin the quality healthcare we would like for ourselves or a member of our family. Watch how we set out to deliver compassionate excellence via theOUH YouTube channel.

Job responsibilities

Job description

• To work with children of all ages and their families, understanding the nature of their attendance and assisting practitioners in therapeutic goals.
• To assist staff with the management of patients referred to the department. To include:
  • Assisting with the management of orthopaedic surgery patients, to include application and removal of casts, sometimes with indirect supervision, and sometimes requiring basic wound care
  • Assisting with the application and removal of casts for non-surgical treatments
  • Assisting in the management of babies being treated for hip dysplasia
• To work flexibly within the team, providing support to professional colleagues and the multidisciplinary team, and provide cover for other areas within paediatrics during annual leave, busy periods and where there is an imbalance of work.
• To assist in the maintenance of the department plaster supplies and equipment stocks
• To help maintain a clean and safe working environment, in particular the plaster room and store, and casting equipment
• To arrange appropriate appointments by person, telephone or letter and co-ordinate specialist requests, liaising with clinicians and administrative teams.
• To deal proactively and efficiently with telephone enquiries from patients, carers and other service users professionally, ensuring, where possible, that the callers needs are met or they are transferred to the most appropriate person.
• To carry out data collection as required by the therapy team, including entering data onto the computer data collection system.

Responsibilities

• To attend all mandatory training as required by the Trust particularly Fire, Manual Handling, Basic Life Support and complete Information Governance training on-line
• To maintain good working relationships with the multi-disciplinary teams in the outpatient department and other colleagues within the Childrens therapy team
• To ensure effective communication and documentation with the therapy team, other health professional and patients/parents/guardians.
• To participate in the departmental induction and training of new or temporary staff and continued training of existing staff.
• Attend all statutory training for Health & Safety, and attend training sessions and meeting which are appropriate to the post.
• To ensure that Trust Data Quality procedures are adhered to at all times.
• To participate in meeting infection control standards of equipment used by Childrens Therapy team.
• To undertake any other activities as required by the Therapies team.

Communication

• To be able to communicate effectively with the wider multidisciplinary team, attending meetings and providing handover and feedback as necessary.
• To communicate effectively and sensitively to patients and their families/ guardians face to face and via telephone.
• To be able to use written communication in electronic patients records and ordering systems
• To be able to use email and telephone to contact patients/ parents/ guardians

Person Specification

Essential

• GCSE or equivalent passes in English Language and Maths
• Experience of operating administrative and IT systems and procedures
• Experience working with patients/those with a health need
• Knowledge of office and IT systems.
• Articulate - required to liaise effectively with patients and all staff groups.
• Able to respond professionally and courteously
• Good organisational skills and an ability to prioritise own workload

Desirable

• To be fun and approachable to help engage children in therapeutic activities
• Ability to take initiative when appropriate.
• Good telephone manner and ability to communicate effectively at all levels
• Flexible and adaptable Enthusiastic People-centred approach Conscientious Honest and reliable

Shortlisting

Essential

• Previous experience of patient care

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.