Senior Physio Assistant / Assistant Practitioner

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust; Billericay; On-site; GBP 1,000 - 3,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare trust in the UK is seeking a developmental Senior Physiotherapy Assistant or Assistant Practitioner for its Integrated Respiratory Team. This role involves supporting patients with respiratory conditions and conducting assessments. Ideal candidates should have an AP qualification, good communication skills, and experience in NHS settings. This position offers a flexible working schedule and opportunities for professional development within a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

Benefits

Flexible working opportunities

Proactive health and wellbeing support

Support for further training and qualifications

Qualifications

• Experience working in the NHS is essential.
• Community, acute, rehabilitation and respiratory experience is desirable.
• Mandatory training and qualifications may be supported for the right candidate.

Responsibilities

• Promote effective self-management of patients post-assessment.
• Contribute to patient education and holistic support.
• Conduct assessments and support Oxygen home safety.

Skills

Good communication skills

IT skills

Organisational skills

Education

AP Qualification

NVQ L2 numeracy and literacy

Tools

ARTP registration

CBG competency

Job description

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Joining #TeamNELFT means you'll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We're CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

Band 3-4 developmental Senior Physiotherapy Assistant or Assistant Practitioner.

A vacant post within the Integrated Respiratory Team has arisen in North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT) in the area of South West Essex.

The Integrated Respiratory Team are an integrated service with Nursing staff, Specialist Physiotherapists, Assistant Practitioners, Senior Physiotherapy Assistants and Administration staff.

The team cover many aspects of community respiratory care, services include, Respiratory Case management, Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Home Oxygen Service, Respiratory Virtual Ward and Breathlessness and Diagnostics service (Spirometry and FeNo).

Duties will include supporting aspects of service in each area after training and competency review.

Main duties of the job

• Promoting effective self-management of patients following initial assessments.
• Contribute to patient education and wider holistic support network.
• Support COPD patients and other suitably identified respiratory conditions with assessment with clear lines of escalation to senior staff.
• Support with Oxygen home safety and management of stable oxygen case load with escalation of CBG results.
• Perform appropriate level of assessment and delivery of Pulmonary Rehabilitation.
• Support the delivery of the Respiratory Virtual Ward (RVW) which supports Admission Avoidance and Early Supported Discharge pathways while being supervised by a senior member of staff.
• Support Breathlessness and Diagnostics service by performing quality FeNo and ARTP accredited Spirometry. This service is evolving and additional suitable pathways and reviews may be made.
• Support with all aspects of service delivery and ongoing review of pathways and transformation of Respiratory services as competency and ability allow.
• Support and deliver the Trusts Values.

Working for our organisation

Our Values 2025 - 2030

Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.

They are:

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period.

High Cost Area Supplement - Fringe

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 5% of the basic salary (minimum payment of £1,303 and a maximum payment of £2,198 per annum, pro rata for part time).

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We are a busy, fast paced team, within an ever changing landscape of Respiratory Care, forward thinking and innovative, we work closely with our local partners working towards consistent care across Mid and South Essex.

As an integrated service there will be in house training on all aspects of service and staff are expected to support all areas of service provision with the chance to upskill in nursing and therapy areas.

The post is Monday - Friday 9-5pm and Saturday - Sunday 9-5pm, this will be on a 4 week or suitable rota basis once all training and competency is signed off and has a level of flexibility.

The successful candidate will have an interest in respiratory care and delivering the best.

This post requires that you work flexibly across South West Essex and be able to travel to clinic locations across patch and also home visiting.

The area covered is Thurrock and Basildon, Brentwood, Wickford and Billericay within the MSE.

Certain respiratory qualifications and courses are mandatory but this can be supported if the successful candidate does not have these currently but qualifies at interview.

The service and Trust actively support CPD.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this when completing your application.

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Please apply as soon as possible as some posts close early to limit the number of applications.

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Use of AI

Please see attached document regarding acceptable use of AI during the recruitment process.

Please note we reserve the right to close this application early if we receive a high number of applicants.

At NELFT, we are committed to building a workforce that reflects and supports the diverse communities we serve. As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen local employment and deliver high-quality, person-centred care, we will prioritise applications from individuals living in our local boroughs and surrounding areas.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• AP Qualification
• NVQ L2 numeracy and literacy and evidence of continued learning

Desirable criteria

• ARTP registration
• CBG competency

Experience

Essential criteria

• experience working in the NHS

Desirable criteria

• Community experience
• Acute experience
• Rehabilitation experience
• Respiratory experience

Skills

Essential criteria

• evidence good communication skills
• IT skills
• evidence of organisational skills

Desirable criteria

• Evidence of QI

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

• A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a 'Top 10 Family Friendly Employer' from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

Supporting our Armed Forces

We recognise the valuable contribution that the Armed Forces community make to our organisation. We have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and achieved Gold Award under the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme. We have supportive policies, guaranteed interview schemes for veterans. reservists and military spouses and give additional leave to our Reservists so that they can attend their annual camp.

Equal opportunities employer

We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of any protected characteristic.

We are a Disability Confident employer and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with disabilities. If you require this application in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape please contact the recruitment team on 0300 300 1530 or email [e-mail].

Correspondence with us

You are advised to regularly check your emails (including any junk mail/spam folders) for correspondence related to this post.

As part of our recruitment process, we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS. We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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

Application numbers

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, we encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to ensure consideration.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, we encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to ensure consideration.

If you require any additional support during the application process please contact [e-mail]. We are happy to make reasonable adjustments to support you throughout the recruitment journey.

Documents to download

• Job Description & Person Specification (PDF, 440.6KB)
• Candidate Recruitment Pack (PDF, 671.2KB)
• Acceptable Use of AI in Recruitment (PDF, 3.9MB)