[ref. v9357516] Bournemouth - Therapy Assistant - Band 4 - OPS Therapy Team

As University Hospitals Dorset we are a three site acute trust with ‘university hospital’ status through our partnership with Bournemouth University, working with an annual budget of £730m.

We offer highly regarded health services, employing some 10,000 staff. Our ambitious £250m estates programme is well on the way to delivering state-of-the-art facilities over the next two years to meet the current and future healthcare needs of the populations we serve.

The thriving towns of Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch give way to idyllic villages and unspoilt landscapes just minutes from our hospitals.

We believe that having a diverse workforce, and allowing people to be themselves, is essential in ensuring we offer an inclusive, welcoming and productive place to work.

We especially welcome applications from minority groups in the community who may be underrepresented in our workforce.

At UHD our active staff network groups are the Women's Network, Black Asian Minority Ethnic Group (BAME), Pride Network, European (EU), Pro Ability Staff Network, and the Armed Forces Support Group.

As a Trust we are proudly signed up to the Disability Confident and Armed Forces Covenant guaranteed interview schemes.

Job overview

We are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for a Band 4 Therapy Assistant to work within the Older Person’s Services (OPS) Therapy Team. The OPS Therapy Team strives to ensure older people presenting to our acute hospital receive the highest quality care in a timely manner from

clinicians with a holistic approach and passion in caring for older people.

The therapy team are responsible for the assessment and management of patients in the Emergency Department, the Older Person’s Assessment Unit (OPAU), short stay and complex older person’s medical wards. This is a rotational post across the inpatient older adult's therapy services.

The key responsibilities would require you to work alongside the therapists to support the team with assessing and rehabilitating the older person. The post holder would work alongside other qualified therapists and rehab assistants to provide a Therapy service to patients, managing your own

caseload of patients under the guidance of a qualified clinician.

intervention process for the older person is as seamless and effective as possible whilst on their journey from hospital to home.

Administrative responsibilities will be required within this role to support the qualified therapists.

Main duties of the job

Previous experience of working with older people, in an acute hospital or community setting is essential. The post holder must have a Foundation Degree in health or assistant practitioner qualification equivalent.

The post will include 7 day working and therefore the post holder will be expected to participate in weekend rotas. You will be required to achieve a certain competency level which we will give you support and training to help you achieve. We have a structured in- house training programme and a

supportive team of clinical staff.

Ideally you should be a car driver with a full driving licence and have access to your own car. The role may include assessing patients in their home environment, with support as required from the qualified clinicians.

We welcome full time or part time applicants.

Interview Date: TBC

Working for our organisation

Our values define who we are as #TeamUHD. They underpin everything we do now and in the future. They define how we treat our patients, visitors, and each other, our valued team mates and colleagues.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To understand the role in more detail please read the full job description and person specification documents which are attached to this advert

This post requires a foundation degree in health care, or equivalent.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Foundation Degree in health or assistant practitioner qualification or L5 equivalent.

• Attainment of competencies gained from multi-professional team working

Experience

• Previous work as a Therapy Assistant or equivalent (e.g. Exercise Physiologist, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Physiotherapy Assistant) where direct patient care is involved over a significant period of time in a healthcare environment.
• Working with adult patients with chronic disease or multiple pathologies

• Previous experience working in an acute setting
• Working within a multi-disciplinary team.
• Experience of evaluation, standard setting and evidence based practice within a healthcare/ rehabilitation setting

Technical Skills Competencies

• Ability to assess a patient with specific objective assessment tools, sometimes without supervision, and identify appropriate therapy intervention
• Ability to work independently on own initiative with guidance/supervision from qualified staff, mainly at a distance.
• Effective time management and organisational skills.
• Ability to manage own caseload when necessary
• Basic computer literacy.
• Ability to act on own initiative, eg responding to an emergency situation

Knowledge

• General knowledge of pathologies related to the older person
• The effects of physical and cognitive impairment, on patients’ skills, abilities and lifestyle
• Basic rehabilitation techniques and therapy intervention
• Exercise prescription and monitoring eg of physiological signs during exercise

• Knowledge of risk assessment, audit and service development

Interpersonal skills

• Good verbal communication skills both face to face and over the telephone
• Basic teaching skills
• Ability to engage, motivate and inspire patients
• Confident in dealing with difficult situations e.g. aggressive behaviour, conflict
• Ability to document results of interventions clearly and concisely
• Empathy with older people.
• Ability to work as part of a team

Other requirements specific to

• Hold a clean driving license
• Ability to move and handle patients and equipment using approved techniques

Personal Attributes

• Flexible attitude
• Well motivated
• Able to work independently when required with rational, safe clinical reasoning skills
• Able to take direction from senior staff and work well within a team
• Ability to recognize boundaries of own job role and seek advice from qualified therapist as necessary

Language Requirement

• Be able to speak English as necessary to undertake the role

Please note:

Staff recruited are expected to be available to work flexibly across all our Trust locations to meet service demands.

This advert may be closed early if sufficient applications are received.

COVID-19 vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself and our patients from the virus when working in our healthcare settings. Whilst this vaccination is not a condition of employment we do encourage our staff to get vaccinated.

Internal Candidates: staff employed prior to merger who voluntarily change jobs will be appointed to UHD terms and conditions.