Band 4 Therapy Assistant- Community Rehab and Falls Service
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it.Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’.Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS.We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
The Community Rehabilitation and Falls Service (CRAFS) is looking to recruit an enthusiastic Band 4 Therapy Assistant. This is a great opportunity for a Band 3 looking to progress or for a Band 4 to gain experience working in the community.
CRAFs provides assessment, treatment and rehabilitation for adults living in the community who have had a change in function caused by falls, illness, injury or long term conditions such as arthritis.
Your role in CRAFS will be varied. You will support the person- centred rehabilitation of patients in their homes by delivering exercise programmes and practising tasks such as walking. You will also have opportunities to run strength and balance falls prevention exercise classes and support our award- winning “strength and balance helpline”, conducting telephone assessments to assist our falls prevention work.You will also carry out some clinical admin tasks to support the team.
The role includes partnership working across community teams and primary and secondary health and social care. You will be part of a dynamic, diverse team which provides staff with a supportive and friendly working environment.
You should have experience of delivering rehab to adults with a variety of needs, with support from qualified therapy staff. You will be required to take part in service developments and show flexibility when adapting to and supporting change.Excellent communication skills and an ability to prioritise your workload are essential.
Main duties of the job- 1. To contribute to the assessment, planning and review of, and to independently implement rehabilitation programmes with a variety of clients. Tasks may include (but are not limited to) teaching prescribed exercise programs, practicing transfers and mobility, assisting and promoting independence in personal care tasks, kitchen practice, undertaking access visits to feedback environmental information to therapists, assessment for and provision of equipment to assist with daily activities and documenting interventions accurately in notes following trust guidelines
- To work as part of a flexible multidisciplinary team and undertake tasks delegated by the Occupational therapists, Physiotherapists and Nurse in a variety of settings including clinic, intermediate care inpatient wards, outpatients, client’s home environment and the community.
- To hold specific lead areas for service (e.g. infection control) and participate or support service development projects and audits
- To participate in weekend rotas as required- currently Pulross Intermediate Care Unit
- To work across borough boundaries, accessing and recording information using mobile devices, and coming into offices for meeting or specific events
Working for our organisation
The Community Rehabilitation and Falls Service is part of the Integrated Local Services directorate. It delivers physiotherapy and occupational therapy to adults and older people with illness, injury or disability, helping them to be more independent in their daily activities.The clients have a wide range of functional difficulties, long-term conditions and disabilities and many have multiple pathologies and complex medical conditions. They may be seen in a 14 bed Intermediate Care Unit, in their own homes and in health and community centres within Lambeth and Southwark.
The service leads the provision of Falls prevention and management of clients within both boroughs providing individual and group exercise programmes
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description for full details of role
Having a Later Life Postural Stability Instructor qualification is desirable for this post, but not essential.
Face to face interviews are scheduled for Friday 21^st February 2025.
Please ensure that your application contains examples of your personal knowledge and experience in relation to this role.
Person specification
Skills
Essential criteria- Understanding of a wide range of physical and psychological conditions and their impact on a client’s ability to undertake every day activities, mobility and communication.
- A basic understanding of Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Nursing and the role of a Therapy Assistant in supporting the rehabilitation team.
- Able to demonstrate and use planning, organisational and time management skills to prioritise and organise client caseloads and competing time and workload demands.
- Able to use analytical and problem solving skills in challenging situations.
- Able to work effectively both independently and as part of a team.
- Effective verbal, telephone and written communication skills in English.
- Competent in the use of basic IT including MS Word, email and internet and has the ability to learn other IT skills as required-include mobile device
- Ability and willingness to be flexible in approach to work and to be responsive to changing demands of the service and clients.
- Able to recognise and respect different cultural, religious and personal experiences of colleagues and clients.
- Physically fit and able to undertake frequent therapeutic moving and handling of clients and equipment
Experience
Essential criteria- Relevant significant experience working in a health, education or social care setting
- Relevant significant experience working with adults and older people with a physical disability for at least one year
- Experience of administrative work eg filing, typing
Knowledge/Qualifications
Essential criteria- A levels, NVQ Level III or equivalent skills in relevant subjects eg biology, social care
- Postural stability Instructor qualification
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service.We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.
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