Rapid Access Physiotherapist

We are seeking a motivated Band 5 Physiotherapist to work within the Rapid Access Services (RAS); a 7-day community service. This comprises of three pathways; 'Urgent Community Response', 'Discharge to Assess', and the 'Virtual Ward'.

This is a challenging and highly rewarding role within a fast-paced, and ever evolving primary care team. The role will enable you to develop your skills in the holistic assessment and treatment of complex, frail patients. This will include knowledge of medications and their impact on function; being competent in taking observations and completing NEWS2 scores to identify deteriorating patients; being exposed to an array of medical and long-term conditions in people over the age of 18; identifying the need for a medical review as part of diagnostics, and being competent in liaising directly with the appropriate specialist community teams to ensure seamless care.

There may be many barriers to treatment in the community, requiring complex problem solving and working with other external agencies to enable to the best outcome for these patients.

The main Physiotherapy role as part of the Discharge To Assess (D2A) and Geriatrician led Virtual Ward (VW) pathway, is to support timely discharges from acute hospitals. These are variable in complexity, consisting of simple risk assessments for those below their usual functional ability, but also for those whereby it is crucial they have an immediate same day assessment in their own home environment to ensure their safety and optimal function upon discharge.

Within the Urgent Community Response (UCR) pathway, the key is to provide an urgent physiotherapy assessment, treatment and intervention in patient’s homes to prevent hospital admissions. This can also consist of supporting same day discharges from A&E. Within the role, you will be expected to provide complex assessments and interventions and will make high impact clinical decisions whilst sharing a caseload due to the 7-day working pattern.

The cohort of patient’s within RAS are regularly of a high acuity and have a variety of conditions, such as delirium, exacerbations of COPD, TLSO and C-Spine braces, non-weight bearing upper or lower limbs, and falls. Within this setting there is a key focus on identifying deteriorating patients, and escalating appropriately through joint working with Nurses, Paramedics and/or Geriatrician as required.

Regular CPD sessions and in-services are held, along with training opportunities identified from yearly appraisal. You will have an allocated supervisor who will set aside time for both managerial and clinical supervision on a regular basis. An annual appraisal will also be carried out based on your clinical development and career aspirations.

Within CNWL there are courses available for e-learning to also support your learning needs, as well as an annual fund to put towards external training in line with your appraisal. There is also a CNWL monthly preceptorship programme for Band 5 Physiotherapist to support their transition from student to qualified clinician, and provide networking opportunities for others starting of their career.

Within Camden Rapid Access Service, we are proud of our high staff retention rate, and have played a significant part in the upskilling and of development of many clinicians within the team.

The successful applicant will have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

As a Physiotherapist within the Rapid Access Service, you will be expected to be a proficient Physiotherapist who is approachable, an excellent communicator, and who is flexible and able to adapt to the needs of both patients and service.

Experience of working autonomously is essential, as our team is often faced with challenging situations which present themselves in the home environment. As a Band 5 Physiotherapist, you will be working as part of an accomplished team to provide quality, evidence-based interventions, under the support and guidance of a strong leadership team of therapists.

You will be part of a community team in which your clinical input will aid patients support and recovery. You will support complex interventions and will play a pivotal role in implementing the high impact clinical decisions made as part of the MDT. You will have a shared caseload due to the 7-day service, in which you will independently assess each patients presentation, adapt the treatment accordingly, and refer to any other relevant community services as part of a holistic approach.