Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Communication

• To assist in providing a high standard respiratory physiotherapy service involving the assessment and treatment of patients who may have complex presentations.
• To develop clinical and managerial skills to a higher level, specific to respiratory physiotherapy.
• To contribute to and initiate service development projects that improves the quality of patient care and professional development within the team.
• To supervise and teach recently qualified physiotherapists/technicians/assistants and students and be involved in teaching MDT staff.
• To participate in CPD and other departmental activities.

Service Delivery and Improvement

• To assist in the supervision and development of junior or rotational physiotherapists in the clinical area with Band 7 assistance.
• To assist with the training of students on placement, on-call staff, juniors, technicians, and assistants within the clinical area.
• To be responsible for and actively record your own personal development.
• To keep abreast of all new developments within the specialty which includes attending relevant study days and post graduate education.
• To contribute to the teams teaching and post-registration education programme. To be pro-active regarding learning from senior staff within the department.
• To be involved in induction/teaching of MDT staff.
• To be involved in peer group meetings to identify training needs of the peer group and develop as a team.
• To be involved in providing the departments on-call training and competencies.
• To support the team leads in ensuring smooth running of the on-call rota, actively participating in the rota to provide respiratory physio for both adults and paediatrics during weekend and overnight periods.

People Management and Development

• This job may involve frequent exposure to unpleasant working conditions e.g. bodily fluids including sputum, unpleasant smells, and occasional exposure to hostility in the form of verbal and physical aggression.
• To comply with fire, health & safety, universal precautions, infection control measures and all other departmental policies.
• To report all complaints/incidents to the immediately senior member of staff and document accordingly.
•  In times of crisis to help as indicated in other areas of the Hospital.
• To train and develop members of staff.
• To assist in the setting of objectives for staff and in the appraisal of staff at least once annually.
• To discuss expected outcomes of training and development activity with staff prior to attending training events and to assist staff to transfer, develop and use skills acquired.

Patient Care Delivery

• To liaise with other physiotherapists as necessary with regard to patient care and arrange outpatient /community /clinic appointments when required.
• To be an active member within the multi-disciplinary team and ensure good communication skills with other professions both verbally and in writing in the patients’ medical notes.  
• To communicate effectively with other disciplines outside the immediate team both internally and externally (as detailed above) to ensure an ongoing multidisciplinary approach to care both verbally and by providing clinic letters, transfer, and discharge reports.
• To be able to communicate complex and sensitive information to patients, carers and other staff including imparting unwelcome news.
• To ensure timely and effective communication with senior staff on all professional matters.
• To maintain an accurate record keeping system in line with CSP standards and local guidelines.
• To attend any ward rounds, meetings, case conferences as appropriate to ensure appropriate and timely management of patients through to discharge.  
• To attend and be an active participant in speciality, peer group and departmental staff meetings.
• To initiate and maintain contacts with local and national clinical interest groups appropriate to the clinical field.
• To be able to motivate others through effective communication skills.
• To provide excellent, evidence-based respiratory physiotherapy treatments to patients with a range of acute and chronic respiratory conditions, including environments such as ITU, Emergency floor, Respiratory Ward, and Respiratory Outpatients. 
• To build on on-call level respiratory knowledge to gain skills/knowledge in areas such as ventilator settings, ventilator hyperinflation and extubating predictors, as well as more detailed knowledge and delivery of treatment for those with chronic conditions in respiratory outpatient setting.