Specialist Frailty Therapist

Job summary
This is a full time Band 7 Specialist Therapist post working in Frailty Same Day Emergency Care at the Oldham Royal Hospital.

This role is part of a key development in delivering specialised frailty input to frail, older patients presenting to ED, over a 7-day working pattern.

The Band 7 therapist will be included in the 7-day working roster, which involves working up to 1 weekend every 4 weeks. They will work across Urgent and Emergency Care within a team that consists of a Geriatrician, Advanced Clinical Practitioner, Nurse, Therapist, Pharmacist and Therapy Assistant/Coordinator as well as with Oldham community and social services in delivering timely same day discharges, specialist input to frail patients; effecting appropriate admission avoidance and early, pro-active CGA for patients who may need admission to appropriate wards.

Main duties of the job
Post holder will be the Senior Frailty Clinician within an Acute Frailty Service, facilitating efficient, effective and coordinated assessment and treatment of frail older adults in the Frailty SDEC.

The role demands the commitment to:

• Provide clinical support to patients, their families/carers and health professionals involved across the Frailty Pathway.
• Require highly skilled time management and priority skills due to frequent interruptions of job tasks during the working day and balancing of clinical and operational duties, including service development.
• Work with the multidisciplinary team to provide early and pro-active Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) to patients Providing a holistic assessment will include clinical, social, functional, emotion and cognitive elements as documented within the CGA.
• Utilise the CGA knowledge gained to initiate and facilitate early discharge plans in collaboration with community services, ensuring that patients' needs are met and likelihood of unnecessary readmission is reduced.
• Ensure all patients receive timely assessments and screening, supporting and providing training information in Frailty.
• Provide advanced assessment and discharge planning of patients who may have complex and or chronic conditions.
• Support the delivery of frailty service audit, service improvement initiatives and provide Frailty education, training and staff development

About us
The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) provides hospital and integrated health and social care services to over one million people living across Greater Manchester. Our 20,000 colleagues care for people in hospital and in the community, working across Bury, Rochdale, Oldham and Salford, to save and improve lives.

As a large NHS trust we are committed to enhancing the health of our local population by delivering consistently high standards of care and working closely with local authorities and key partners. We believe in our power and potential to make a difference and we're always looking for people who demonstrate our three core values -care, appreciate and inspire - to join our team.

In return, we can offer you a job role with purpose and flexibility. The size and scale of the NCA means we can provide more challenge and opportunities so your career can always be moving in the right direction. By joining us you can also access a competitive benefits package, including, a fantastic annual leave allowance, flexible working opportunities and protected hours for health and wellbeing activities, helping you to achieve more personal downtime and a better work-life balance.

Salary
£49,387 to £56,515 a year Per Annum

Qualifications

• Current registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• Degree qualification in Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Significant post-registration experience working with older people and frailty
• Experience completing comprehensive frailty and functional assessments
• Knowledge of NHS frailty pathways, discharge planning, and multidisciplinary team (MDT) working
• Evidence of clinical decision-making and autonomous practice
• Ability to prioritise workload in a fast-paced environment, such as Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC)
• Experience in frailty, geriatrics, falls prevention assessments
• Leadership or supervision experience
• Sound clinical reasoning

Desirable

• Experience or good knowledge of working within an Acute Frailty Unit Urgent Care or SDEC
• Experience leading quality improvement or service development projects
• Membership of relevant professional bodies, such as the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy or the Royal College of Occupational Therapists
• Teaching or mentoring junior staff or students

Employer contact
Clinical Frailty Team Lead: Deborah Skeete, Deborah.Skeete@nca.nhs.uk, 01616278986

Location: The Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Road, Oldham, OL1 2JH

Disclosure and Barring Service Check: This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions. Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Applicants must have current UK professional registration.