Specialist Frailty Occupational Therapist

Full Time -Permanent

An Exciting opportunity has arisen within the Frailty Team at Hillingdon Hospital.

We are seeking to expand the frailty team in line with the planned redevelopment of the main hospital site. The frailty team cover ED (emergency department) and the short stay unit as well as rapid access clinics with the aim to reduce hospital admissions. Our staff work as part of an innovative interdisciplinary team embedded in service improvement and dedicated to developing skills including advanced practice. We currently run a 5 day service with aims to expand into 7 day working.

We are looking for clinicians who have passion for frailty and the provision of therapy within acute medicine and same day emergency care. Successful applicants will have prior experience in either emergency care or acute medicine with a frailty focus.They will also show enthusiasm in working within a broad range of clinical conditions, demonstrate excellent communication skills, flexibility and enjoy both teaching and learning.

We work in operationally integrated therapy teams, and you would be expected to provide leadership for the frailty team in conjunction with other senior therapists,Therapy Team Leads and Therapy Manager in continuously developing aspects of the therapy service. We are committed to service development and governance to enhance the quality of service we provide.

Main duties of the job

Job Description

Job Summary/ Statement

• To provide highly specialised Therapy assessment and treatment for patients within Frailty, predominantly within short-stay patient areas including Frailty Assessment Unit, Emergency Department, Clinical Decisions Unit, RACE clinic and Acute medical unit

• To take a lead role in the Therapy Service provision within Acute Frailty, and to provide a specialised resource for other therapy staff and health care professionals.

• To provide expert advice, guidance and information to patients, carers, relatives, and other non-professionals.

• To undertake delegated responsibilities to support the Therapy Lead in day-to-day service operation, evaluation, and development.

Main Tasks and Responsibilities

• To provide highly specialised clinical assessment, treatment planning and delivery of care for patients within Frailty areas. They may have complex needs and diverse, acute, and chronic presentation

• To work with a blended approach having a competent skill base to provide therapy input, being aware of own-professional limitations

• To determine problems, goals and treatment indicated for them and maintain high quality records as an autonomous practitioner and ensure others do the same

• To transfer patient care to community partners in a timely manner, contributing to appropriate patient flow pathways

About us

Our Frailty team took part in the Acute Frailty Network when our frailty services were first launched within the ED. The work carried out in ED saw an 18% reduction in the number of frail older adults needing an admission and a saving of 10 to 13 bed days a year. A benchmarking event saw Hillingdon Hospitals Frailty service outperform others across North West London with regards to short length of stay, geriatrician support and the number of hours Frailty service is available to patients, with aims to improve in other areas including 7 day working and increasing bed base.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical Care and Service Development

• To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of your own work, including the management of patients in your care.

• To accept clinical responsibility for a designated caseload of patients and ensure a high standard of clinical care for the patients under your management and those of more junior staff, using resources effectively to manage competing priorities and demands across the team and wider service.

• To undertake comprehensive specialist therapy assessment of patients, including those with a complex presentation, using investigative and analytical skills and with a holistic approach. To interpret and analyse clinical and non-clinical facts to recommend and implement the best course of intervention and determine safety for discharge.

• To demonstrate advanced clinical reasoning skills and knowledge with documented process. To monitor, evaluate, and modify treatments and interventions with measured progress and ensuring effectiveness of therapy input.

• To gain informed consent prior to treatment and can work within the legal framework with patients to provide appropriate intervention and care to patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment or to make specific decisions in a manner which supports their best interests, and to recognise and take appropriate action in relation to the Mental Capacity Act (2005) when the need arises.

• To provide formal and informal advice, teaching and instruction to relatives, carers, and other professionals, based on theoretical academic knowledge and relevant practical experience.

• To be responsible for patient care plans and ensure documentation is completed according to professional and local standards, and to ensure compliance by junior staff.

• To formulate soundly reasoned prognoses and recommend best course of intervention, developing negotiated goals, recognising when optimum levels of recovery have been achieved. To provide sensitive and specialised clinical advice and recommendations to patients, families, and carers re outcome of therapy input.

• To understand how interventions may change in response to social, cultural, or psychological needs.

• To have knowledge and ensure appropriate use of outcome measures (both standardised and non-standardised) to measure the efficacy and effectiveness of interventions.

• To assess and manage clinical risk within own patient caseload and support the team in managing and minimising risks related to patient discharges.

• To delegate responsibility to more junior staff and to take delegated responsibility from more senior staff as appropriate.

• Deputise for the Team Lead as required, taking responsibility for operational management of the team as appropriate and required.

• Teach Patients self-management skills to minimise the impact of ill health on their function.

Communication:

• To always demonstrate a professional approach to communication in all settings in line with HCPC standards.

• To be able to use a range of verbal and non-verbal communication tools to communicate effectively with patients.

• To use communication skills to address language and cultural diversity issues.

• To have appropriate skills in communicating complex, sensitive, contentious, or distressing information to patients and relatives, for example, handling family conflict or poor prognosis.

• To effectively communicate assessment and treatment and ongoing care needs results to the appropriate disciplines in the form of written medical notes, electronic documentation, reports, and letters.

• To be able to communicate complex patient related information effectively, to ensure collaborative working with the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) and across health and social care sectors.

• To exercise high level, and varied means of communication to support service evaluation, audit, change management, performance management, service development, with stakeholders within the team, Trust, and external agencies.

Information resources

• Maintain accurate and up-to-date documentation in line with legal, professional and trust requirements and communicate assessment and intervention through formal reports and letters.

• To achieve and maintain a level of information technology knowledge and skill relevant to all areas of your work.

• To ensure that up to date electronic records and activity data are maintained in accordance with legal, professional & Trust standards.

• Ensure storage of patient documentation is in adherence to Caldicott guidelines and Trust Policy.

Human resources

• To be responsible for the daily management, supervision and co-ordination of a designated team including staff PDRs. To be actively involved in sickness monitoring, performance management, informal grievances, and recruitment with the support of Therapy Team Lead.

• Ensure that your own practice and that of staff under your supervision meet the required professional standards of professional practice.

• To provide effective informal and formal support and supervision for the staff you have responsibility for, ensuring they have access to and opportunities to develop their clinical, personal, and professional skills.

• To comply with organisational and departmental policies and procedures and to be involved in the reviewing and updating as appropriate.

Leadership and Development:

• Facilitate development of self and others as an active trainer and actively participating in sessions led by others.

• Encourage and support an atmosphere of learning within the team, emphasising the importance of experiential learning and reflection.

• Identify personal objectives and a Personal development plan with your line Manager and review on a regular basis.

• Provide regular opportunities for Student Therapists on placement within the team, and assist in the education of students from other professions and those on work experience programmes.

• Identify unmet needs and gaps in service provision and highlight these to line manager, advising on solutions.

• Contribute to the Trust, service and specialist teams clinical effectiveness and quality agenda including setting and monitoring of practice standards.

• Demonstrate understanding and application of national guidelines and legislation relating to health and social care in service provision.

Governance:

• Maintain, and demonstrate by means of a portfolio, your own clinical professional development (CPD), and the requirements necessary for ongoing HCPC registration, as well as all relevant statutory and mandatory trust training.

• Be aware of the principles and policies that guide the provision of a safe workplace and implement any policies which may be required to improve the safety of your work area, including the prompt recording and reporting of accidents and incidents.

• To contribute to the response to any formal or informal complaints received, and act on recommendations and action plans accordingly.

• To maintain an awareness of current trends and policies within the NHS, Social Care, Public Health and local commissioning, and their likely impact on local services. To work with relevant colleagues to interpret, implement and monitor adherence to policies, standards and organisational and external service frameworks.

• To lead the process of continuous improvement of quality and service development using a range of audit, analysis, and research methodologies.

• To ensure appropriate and accurate statistics are collected.

Professional behaviours and standards

• To always comply with the code of Professional Conduct for your profession

• To respect the individuality, values, cultural and religious diversity of clients and colleagues and to contribute to the provision of a service sensitive to these needs.

• To demonstrate the ability to reflect on ethical issues and to provide guidance to junior staff as necessary.

• Exhibit professional behaviour and attitude at all times and demonstrate excellent customer care skills. At all times demonstrate the understanding and application of the CARES culture and values framework (when dealing with patients, relatives, carers, and colleagues).

• Act as a role model by upholding and implementing good practice in the workplace, always ensuring the highest standards of evidence-based care.

• To demonstrate flexibility and adaptable approach to working patterns and hours to include weekend working, extended working hours and evenings as the service requires to best meet the needs of the patient caseload.

• To be responsible for equipment used in therapy and your clinical interventions, and to adhere to departmental equipment policy, including competence to use equipment and to ensure the safe use of equipment by others through teaching, training and supervision of practice.

General:

• To work in other areas of the Trust as required

• To undertake any other duties that may be deemed necessary and that may be required which are consistent with the responsibilities of the grade and the needs of the service

Person Specification

Criteria

Essential

• Diploma, Degree or Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Therapy
• Current HCPC registration
• Practice Educators Course
• Extensive post registration clinical experience
• Experience of working in acute hospital setting

Employer details

Employer name

The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Hillingdon Hospital

Pield Heath Road

Uxbridge

UB8 3NN

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

394-SFOT-150524-A