Highly Specialised Paediatric Physiotherapist (B7)inWaterlooinWaterlooPUBLISHED TUE 1 APR 2025

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join Alder Hey's community physiotherapy and occupational therapy team in Sefton.

We are seeking a dynamic, caring person, with significant experience of working with children to join our community physiotherapy team as a highly specialised physiotherapist (Band 7) on a part time (27.5 hrs.) permanent basis.

Our physiotherapy service supports children (0-19 years old) with motor co-ordination difficulties, neurodevelopmental presentations, developmental delay, neuromuscular conditions, complex neuro disability and associated respiratory problems.

Our team consists of highly specialist physiotherapists, and therapy support staff including therapy assistants, assistant practitioners and admin support. We work along side our Occupational Therapy colleagues often combining our sessions and appointments for the benefit of the children and families.

The team is experienced and supportive and is passionate in providing family centered care to those we work with. You will work in a variety of locations including clinics, school's and children's homes.

This role would suit a physiotherapist who has a keen insight in understanding the impact of disability on children and their families.

As a service we have strong links with acute teams based at Alder Hey, Liverpool Women's Hospital and colleagues in education and social care.

1. To work as part of a team and deliver holistic and specialist assessment, advice and intervention to children who attend a mainstream or specialist school setting.

2. To demonstrate leadership qualities and abilities as a band 7 physiotherapist.

About us

Main duties and Responsibilities

Communication

1. To communicate highly complex and sensitive information effectively with patients and carers to maximise rehabilitation potential and to ensure understanding of condition and implication of management where there may be barriers to understanding
2. Be highly skilled in communicating with children of all ages who have a range of physical and psychological barriers to understanding. Communication skills of persuasion, motivation, explanation, and gaining informed consent are used with a variety of patients, parents and carers.
3. To be responsible for maintenance of accurate written records and supervision of team record keeping. To compile comprehensive progress and discharge reports, legal reports and disability reports to multi-agencies and carers as appropriate.
4. To communicate effectively and work collaboratively with Allied Health Professionals (AHPs), social services, education colleagues and voluntary organisations to ensure delivery of a timely and co-ordinated multi-agency service. This will include initiation and attendance of patient reviews, in a variety of settings and the planning of ongoing care

Analytical skills

1. To carry out assessment of patients as an autonomous practitioner, including those with highly complex presentations, where expert opinion may differ, using clinical reasoning skills, knowledge of evidence based practice and expertise to determine appropriate care plans utilising highly specialist treatment skills and a wide range of treatment options.
2. To use specialised knowledge to interpret and analyse clinical and non-clinical diagnoses in a wide variety range of highly complex conditions, where there may conflicting evidence or where some information is unavailable.
3. Analyse and understand the impact on the child and family of various treatment plans/diagnosis from other disciplines.

Planning and organising skills

1. To be professional and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own work including the management of caseload. To ensure a high standard of clinical care (for the patients under your management), and support junior staff to do likewise
2. To provide spontaneous and planned advice, teaching and instruction to relatives, carers and other professionals, to promote understanding of the aims of physiotherapy, and to ensure a consistent approach to patient care.
3. To maintain own clinical professional development (CPD) by keeping abreast of any trends and developments and incorporate them as necessary into your work, being responsible for maintaining written evidence within CPD portfolio

Physical skills

1. To demonstrate the ability to carry out physiotherapy assessment and highly specialised interventions including manual therapy techniques and therapeutic handling and demonstrate highly developed dexterity, co-ordination and palpatory sensory skills for assessment and manual treatment of patients.

Responsibility for patient/client care

1. To contribute to accurate prognoses and recommend best course of intervention, developing comprehensive management plans, guided by clearly defined principles or occupational policies.
2. To continually reassess patients and adjust treatment plans accordingly in order to progress treatments effectively.
3. To accept clinical responsibility for a designated caseload of patients, and to organise this effectively and efficiently with regard to clinical priorities and time management.
4. To gain valid informed consent in accordance with trust policy and have the ability to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment.
5. To provide specialist advice, teaching and training to other members of the multiagency team regarding the physiotherapy management of patients.

Organisational

1. To be responsible for a designated area of work, as agreed with the Physiotherapy Manager, and to plan and organise efficiently and effectively with regard to patients management and time management.
2. To decide priorities for own work area, balancing patient related and professional demands, and ensure that these remain in accordance with those of the section as a whole.
3. To represent the trust externally (locally and regionally) regarding physiotherapy services provided to patients
4. To manage clinical risk within own caseload and to contribute to that of designated team at all times
5. To demonstrate a sound understanding of Trust values, Clinical Governance and Risk Management and apply to the work situation.
6. To be aware of Health and Safety aspects of your work and implement any policies, which may be required to improve the safety of your work area, including your prompt recording and reporting of accidents and incidents (in line with policy), and ensuring that equipment use is safe.
7. To be responsible for equipment used in carrying out physiotherapy duties, and to adhere to departmental policy, including competence to use equipment and to ensure its safe use by others through, teaching, training and supervision of practice.
8. To maintain accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date documentation, in line with legal and departmental requirements, and communicate assessment and treatment results to the appropriate parents/carers, internal and external agencies in the form of reports and letters in accordance with Trust Data Protection Policy.
9. To attend Mandatory Training and incorporate these within working practices.
10. To attend Child Protection training and work in accordance within the national guidelines.
11. To act in accordance with the Rules of Professional Conduct and Standards of practice set by the CSP and HPC

Responsibility for policy/service development

28. To actively participate in service planning, and service development, e.g. care pathways.

29. Implement change to service delivery in response to quality initiatives in partnership with manager of physiotherapy services.

30. To be actively involved in the collection of appropriate data and statistics for the use of the department and other specialist groups within the trust, and for national reporting.

31. To have knowledge of and comply with the organisational and departmental policies and procedures and to be involved in the reviewing and updating as appropriate.

32. To undertake any duties that might be considered appropriate by the Physiotherapy Manager.

33. Co-ordinate and organise in-service staff training, meetings, and internal/external courses. Co-ordinate educational staff, Social Services, and voluntary carers to assist in the delivery of treatments, programmes, planning and organising clinics/multi-agency meetings.

34. To be an active member of the in-service training programme available via staff meetings, tutorials, training sessions, external courses and reflective practice by regular attendance and participation in the former including the delivery of presentations.

35. All individuals will have some risk management responsibilities with which you are required to comply, for details of your responsibilities please refer to the current risk management strategy which is available on the intranet and in the local strategies folder.

36. To provide highly specialist advice to physiotherapy colleagues working within other clinical areas.

Responsibility for financial and physical resources

1. To assess children for specialist equipment and recommend its purchase and to be responsible for the safe use and maintenance in homes and schools.
2. To be responsible for ensuring the effective selection and use of all treatment resources available both in the department and community environment.

Responsibility for human resources

1. To train and supervise more junior staff, assistants and students. This will include the use of formal appraisal documentation
2. To participate in the staff appraisal scheme and personal development plan (PDP) as both appraiser and appraisee
3. To deputise for the Physiotherapy Manager in terms of operational issues.

Responsibility for research and development

43. To undertake the measurement and evaluation of your work and current practices through the use of evidence based practice projects; research and audit; and outcome measures either individually, with colleagues or as part of a multi-agency team. Make recommendations for change.