The Alton A31 PCN are delighted to be recruiting a 0.4 WTE First Contact Physiotherapist (FCP) to join our established and experienced team. We are looking to welcome a dedicated and enthusiastic FCP, ideally with stage 2 FCP Roadmap to Practice sign off, to our proactive forward thinking and dynamic organisation. Our team of 5 FCPs provide a highly valued service across the PCN 5 days a week (Monday-Friday). Regular supervision, from supportive and experienced staff, will be given and there is the opportunity to develop advanced practice skills within the role in the future as appropriate.
- Work independently, without day-to-day supervision, to assess, diagnose, triage, and manage patients.
- Receive patients who self-refer or from a clinical professional within the PCN, and where required refer on.
- Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role, using their expert knowledge of movement and function issues.
- Develop integrated and tailored care programmes in partnership with patients, providing a range of first line treatment options including self-management, referral to rehabilitation focussed services and social prescribing.
- Make use of their full scope of practice, developing skills relating to independent prescribing, injection therapy and investigation to make professional judgements.
- Manage complex interactions, including working with patients with psychosocial and mental health needs, referring onwards as required and including social prescribing when appropriate.
- Communicate effectively with patients, and their carers where applicable, complex and sensitive information regarding diagnoses, pathology, prognosis and treatment choices supporting personalised care.
- Implement all aspects of effective clinical governance for own practice, including undertaking regular audit and evaluation, supervision and training.
- Develop integrated and tailored care programmes in partnership with patients.
- Request and progress investigations (such as x-rays and blood tests) and referrals to facilitate the diagnosis and choice of treatment regime.
Key responsibilities:
- Work independently, without day-to-day supervision, to assess, diagnose, triage, and manage patients, taking responsibility for prioritising and managing a caseload of the PCNs Registered Patients.
- Receive patients who self-refer (where systems permit) or from a clinical professional within the PCN, and where required refer to other health professionals within the PCN.
- Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role, using their expert knowledge of movement and function issues, to create stronger links for wider services through clinical leadership, teaching and evaluation.
- Develop integrated and tailored care programmes in partnership with patients, providing a range of first line treatment options including self-management, referral to rehabilitation focussed services and social prescribing.
- Make use of their full scope of practice, developing skills relating to independent prescribing, injection therapy and investigation to make professional judgements and decisions in unpredictable situations, including when provided with incomplete or contradictory information. They will take responsibility for making and justifying these decisions.
- Manage complex interactions, including working with patients with psychosocial and mental health needs, referring onwards as required and including social prescribing when appropriate.
- Communicate effectively with patients, and their carers where applicable, complex and sensitive information regarding diagnoses, pathology, prognosis and treatment choices supporting personalised care.
- Implement all aspects of effective clinical governance for own practice, including undertaking regular audit and evaluation, supervision and training.
- Develop integrated and tailored care programmes in partnership with patients through:
o Effective shared decision-making with a range of first line management options (appropriate for a patients level of activation).
o Assessing levels of patient activation to support a patients own level of knowledge, skills and confidence to self-manage their conditions, ensuring they are able to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of self-management interventions, particularly for those at low levels of activation.
o Agreeing with patients appropriate support for self-management through referral to rehabilitation focussed services and wider social prescribing as appropriate.
o Designing and implementing plans that facilitate behavioural change, optimise patients physical activity and mobility, support fulfilment of personal goals and independence, and reduce the need for pharmacological interventions.
- Request and progress investigations (such as x-rays and blood tests) and referrals to facilitate the diagnosis and choice of treatment regime including, considering the limitations of these investigations, interpret and act on results and feedback to aid patients diagnoses and management plans.
- Be accountable for decisions and actions via Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registration, supported by a professional culture of peer networking/review and engagement in evidence-based practice.
Wider Responsibilities:
- Work across the multi-disciplinary team to create and evaluate effective and streamlined clinical pathways and services.
- Provide leadership and support on MSK clinical and service development across the PCN, alongside learning opportunities for the whole multidisciplinary team within primary care.
- Develop relationships and a collaborative working approach across the PCN, supporting the integration of pathways in primary care.
- Encourage collaborative working across the wider health economy and be a key contributor to supporting the development of physiotherapy clinical services across the PCN.
- Liaising with secondary and community care services, and secondary and community MSK services where required, using local social and community interventions as required to support the management of patients within the PCN.
- Support regional and national research and audit programmes to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of the First Contact Practitioner (FCP) programme. This will include communicating outcomes and integrating findings into own and wider service practice and pathway development.