Job overview

Children and Family Health Devon is the place to be! We are developing an innovative, integrated model of children’s community services and looking for enthusiastic individuals to join our friendly and dedicated locality and county-wide professional teams.

As a large community service, you will be joining a strong, enthusiastic and supportive group of professionals.

You will provide a high standard of Physiotherapy to children, their families and carers. Acting as a source of expertise on the assessment and management of children who have physiotherapeutic needs within The Child Development Centre, Paediatric Physiotherapy, Developmental, MSK, Neuromuscular and Neurological care pathways.

Working within a team to provide training with an aim to support patients, carers, GP’s, Consultants, other Health Care Professionals, Students, and those working within Social Care, the Independent and Voluntary Sectors to gain a better understanding of the Physiotherapy needs of children and young people.

Important Information Regarding Service Changes
We are currently entering into a formal consultation process to move all Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD) staff to a single provider. As part of this process, staff currently employed by Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust will transfer to Devon Partnership NHS Trust on 1 April 2026. Please note that this may result in some differences in recruitment documentation and processes during this transition period.

Main duties of the job

To assess child and parent/carers understanding of treatment proposals, gain valid formal consent and jointly agreed goals. To work within legal framework and Trust policy regarding consent to treatment for minors

To work with children who may have significant barriers to understanding and need advanced communication methods to impart and understand communication, such as signing, symbols, gesture, electronic communication aids.  An ability to use positive behavioural support approaches to working with children with challenging behaviour

As part of the Children and Family Health Devon Physiotherapy Team the post holder will carry out their work at John Parkes Unit, within local Special Schools, and within the community. The post holder will work closely with Child Health staff and TSDFT Physiotherapy

Use their specialist knowledge of normal child development and pathology to assess, develop a rationale for treatment, advise and devise therapeutic support plans; and deliver information and treatment in a child-focused and family-friendly way

Will determine priorities for work area, balancing other patient related and professional demands, ensuring that these remain in accordance with those of the service as a whole

Working for our organisation

Children and Family Health Devon (CFHD) comprises an Alliance of NHS organisations working together to improve health outcomes for children and young people in Devon, including;

• Torbay and South Devon FT
• Devon Partnership NHS Trust
• Royal Devon and Exeter FT
• Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust
• Livewell South West

CFHD provides integrated care and treatment for children and young people across physical and mental health which are provided by Torbay and South Devon Foundation Trust and Devon Partnership Trust. We are working closely with other organisations and providers to ensure we deliver locality and county-wide based integrated access to all of our services, based on the i-Thrive Framework, in response to consultation with our service users and communities. Our integrated care and treatment has been developed and refined in partnership with children, young people and their families/carers.

Our children and young people say…

“We would like the people who work for Children and Family Health Devon to be understanding, patient and respectful. They should be trustworthy and make us feel safe and comfortable. It is important that they use their skills and experience to listen carefully in a non-patronising and non-judgemental way. When staff are positive and friendly, they help to create an environment that is informal and without pressure”.

Why work with us