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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

DEPARTMENTAL PURPOSE:

ORLAU offers a range of highly specialised human movement analysis and rehabilitation engineering services to patients with severe mobility and movement disorders. 

The department also pursues a programme of Research and Development for new and innovative treatments. 

JOB PURPOSE:

To act as a project manager for ORLAU’s clinical services, implementing strategic decisions taken by ORLAU’s senior team. This  involves: the production and refinement of clinic templates, diaries and job plans; working closely with the Performance and Admin manager on the supporting administrative and quality management processes; having autonomy and taking responsibilities for day-to-day decisions.

Maintain membership of ORLAU’s senior management team, contributing to the oversight of the department and the formation of strategy.

To contribute as an experienced highly specialist physiotherapist in ORLAU, promoting a multidisciplinary team approach to highly specialised clinical, research and educational activities in ORLAU.

Lead the physiotherapeutic input into the physical management of a patient caseload, organising and undertaking advanced assessment, and monitoring of patients and treat using highly specialist orthoses.

Duties and Responsibilities

The post-holder will be required to:

Management/Organisational Responsibilities

1. Planning the day to day use of ORLAU’s clinical facilities and diaries in response to current demand and maximising efficiency.
2. Designing clinical job plans for physiotherapy staff, ensuring balanced workloads and distribution of specialist activities in line with staff development needs identified by the Clinical Services Lead.
3. Ensuring research commitments are accommodated without impacting on clinical activity.
4. Ensuring clinical processes are appropriately documented in the department’s clinical management system.
5. Working with the Admin manager and engineering lead to ensure a consistent approach across clinical and admin teams, promoting excellent communication between teams.
6. Planning, organising and chairing regular multidisciplinary team meetings, reviewing performance data and generating action plans.
7. Developing and maintaining computer databases for appointments, literature references, and normal data together with IT departments, Secretaries and Technicians.
8. Understanding the impact of planning processes on the departmentment budget and contracts.
9. Contributing to the development of new services within ORLAU.
10. Chair relevant Team Meetings.
11. Deputising for the Clinical Services Lead, including management of clinical staff.

Clinical Responsibilities

1. Maintain a balanced clinical caseload of patients in movement analysis and rehabilitation engineering, taking responsibility for own patients as well as providing advice for colleagues.
2. Contribute to the development of national practice in key areas of ORLAU’s expertise, working with colleagues in other Trusts, as well as academic partners, to develop guidelines and standards.
3. Triage patient referrals received by the department, allocating appropriate resources and completing external funding requests (a responsibility shared with the CSL & deputised to other Band 7 roles).
4. To be familiar with the Quality Management system (ISO 9001 & 13485) and work in accordance with the Quality Management Procedures.

Clinical  Assessment

1. Provide highly developed specialist knowledge and experienced physiotherapeutic input to a multidisciplinary team, including orthopaedic consultants, orthotists, engineers, and technicians by leading the comprehensive assessment.
2. Undertake accurate patient assessments including detailed clinical examination and positioning of markers and electrodes, providing clinical expertise to the highly specialised 3-dimensional gait analysis procedures. (This requires highly developed examination and palpation skills, including an in-depth knowledge of anatomy, both normal and pathological). 
3. Verify the results of any clinical data collected during a laboratory session (including inspection of 3D and electromyography (EMG) traces).
4. Ensure all clinical records are completed fully and that information is stored in an appropriate form, whether paper records or electronic information.
5. On the basis of specialist expertise, synthesise complex data from each clinical assessment, bringing together a range of analytical test results, as well information from the patient history and examination, to produce a treatment plan. (This requires high levels of judgement and significant experience).

Clinical Interventions

1. Working in a multidisciplinary team, develop integrated treatment plans, including surgical, medical, physiotherapeutic and orthotic interventions, taking independent responsibility for the physiotherapeutic and specialist orthotic aspects of the management plan. (This may involve liaison with clinicians in other departments, services and Trusts).
2. Act as lead clinician in managing patient appointments involving both complex measurement technology and specialist medical devices.
3. Provide expertise to referrers on State of the Art orthotic equipment in order to meet the needs of ORLAU’s complex patient group.
4. Monitor advancements in relevant clinical fields to ensure ORLAU’s services are current and developments are integrated into local service provision.
5. Monitor NICE guidance and national guidelines, ensuring any relevant guidelines are followed in the department.

Clinical Communication

1. Work with a challenging patient population, including a high proportion of children, where many have a number of pathologies, learning or communication difficulties or challenging behaviour.
2. Explain highly complex assessments in easily understandable, motivational and reassuring language to gain consent and compliance with involved and lengthy procedures.
3. Use a range of verbal and non-verbal communication tools to educate and motivate patients and their carers and primary care therapists, developing specialised packages of care, and ensuring the patient’s understanding and compliance with the highly specialised interventions.
4. Discuss highly complex, multifactorial issues of assessment, diagnoses, prognosis and treatment in lay terms with patients (often children with complex disabilities), families and carers. This can involve giving difficult and unwelcome information where prognosis for treatment is poor or if conditions have deteriorated.
5. Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, determining treatment packages and giving specialist advice concerning the management of patients, to consultants, GPs, orthotists, physiotherapists and other health care professionals.
6. Maintain accurate records on the Trust’s information system.
7. Complete detailed funding request forms giving key information (including current best practice and prevalence of conditions) required by Commissioners to support the treatment of individual patients with specialist requirements.
8. Contribute to national initiatives/committee work in key areas of ORLAU’s expertise.

Technical Responsibilities

1. Have a good understanding of technical/engineering concepts as they apply to ORLAU’s clinical service.
2. Understand biomechanical data, being able to read and interpret graphical output from 3D movement analyses and EMG tests.
3. Understand the requirements of the Medical Device Regulation, advising the department on the clinical suitability of new patient mobility equipment for supply to ORLAU’s patient population.
4. Participate, when required, in the calibration of sophisticated instrumentation.
5. Communicate effectively with colleagues from a technical background 

Research and Development

1. Provide specialist physiotherapy expertise for ORLAU’s research projects and grants.
2. Supervise clinical student research projects as required.
3. Disseminate research results by posters, presentations and publications at national and international conferences and in peer reviewed journals.
4. Ensure personal research conducted meets local Trust research governance requirements.

Education and Training

1. Ensure adequate resources and time are available for staff to engage in in-service training and CPD.
2. Deliver in-service training sessions in areas of expertise.
3. Provide training for ORLAU technical staff in clinical concepts relevant to the department’s services.
4. Participate in the organisation of courses at ORLAU, lecturing and demonstrating techniques for multidisciplinary delegates.
5. Host visitors (both national and international), introducing ORLAU and providing information on the services and research conducted.
6. Provide supervision and clinical training to undergraduate and post graduate students from a range of disciplines.

Personal and Professional Development

1. Acquire theoretical knowledge and keep up to date with research publications especially in areas related to movement analysis, rehabilitation engineering and relevant pathologies.
2. Maintain registration with the Health Professions Council and retain membership of professional associations.
3. Attend at courses, conferences and seminars on gait, posture, orthotics, neurological conditions, neuromuscular disorders and rehabilitation.
4. Use advances in computing and information technology in effective and efficient communication in management, lecturing and writing.
5. Develop management skills in appraisal, recruitment, staff supervision and task delegation.
6. Maintain a commitment to life long learning.

Additional Information

1. Maintain a busy clinical workload 
2. Maintain concentration during prolonged assessment procedures (taking up to 4 hours) 
3. Deal with children, especially those with learning difficulties, attending the unit who can sometimes become distressed during the assessment procedures performed by unfamiliar adults. 
4. Write and prepare papers for submission to peer reviewed journals, requiring intense concentration in an office shared with other staff and with frequent interruptions.