University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Band 4 Therapy Support Worker - OPAL
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Job Summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 4 Therapy Support Worker to join the Older Persons Assessment and Liaison (OPAL) Team at Good Hope Hospital. We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated individual with a passion for working with older people.
The OPAL team provides timely, patient-centred assessments and interventions for older adults presenting with acute needs at the front door, supporting admission avoidance, preventing deconditioning, and maximising independence across the Emergency Department, Acute Medical Unit, and Medical Assessment Unit.
This is an exciting time to join the service as we continue to develop our frailty pathway, with the introduction of a Frailty Same Day Emergency Care (FSDEC) unit. You will support the multidisciplinary team with the early identification and assessment of frailty, contribute to interventions for common frailty-related conditions and assist with same-day discharge planning and community support.
Operating seven days a week, the team works collaboratively delivering responsive, high-quality care when patients need it most. Guided by a Home First ethos, OPAL focuses on enabling people to return to their usual place of residence by proactively addressing functional, mobility, and social care needs, while working closely with community services to ensure ongoing support. This holistic approach ensures patients receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time, maintaining independence and improving outcomes.
Main Duties, Tasks & Skills Required
The postholder is required to develop professional relationships with patients and their relatives or carers, communicating in a manner that respects individual views, autonomy and cultural needs. They will observe and report on patients' general behaviour, functional abilities, and physical or emotional needs to the registered therapist and wider multidisciplinary team (MDT) as appropriate, escalating any concerns when necessary. The role involves providing clear demonstrations and instructions to individuals or groups of patients undertaking therapeutic activities and using effective verbal and non-verbal communication methods to support patients who may have barriers to communication or understanding, including those who are blind, deaf, dysphasic, or whose first language is not English. The postholder will liaise with external agencies to support therapeutic outcomes and discharge planning, contribute to therapy team meetings, huddles, and MDT discussions by communicating relevant information regarding patients' performance and progress on behalf of the registered therapist, and maintain accurate electronic records on PICS and the therapy electronic record system in accordance with Trust and Therapies Directorate standards
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About Us
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust strives to have an inclusive culture where everyone feels like they belong, can thrive, knows that they add value and feels valued. We do this by developing compassionate and culturally competent leaders, being values driven in all that we do and by creating a welcoming and inclusive workplace that thrives on the diversity of our people. As such we want to attract and recruit talented individuals from all backgrounds, and for each of you to feel supported for the diversity you bring, to achieve your full potential. For those staff with a disability, including physical disability, long term health condition, mental health or neurodiverse condition, this also means being committed to making reasonable adjustments needed for you to carry out your role.
Job Description
Please Note: For a detailed job description for this vacancy, please see attached Job Description
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Education to GCSE level or equivalent including English and maths
- Able to demonstrate competence in maths and written and spoken English
- Experience working in a care setting
Desirable
- Evidence of recent education / personal development related to health care
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Experience
Essential
- Experience supporting therapies in a relevant setting
- Experience of delivering acute inpatient rehabilitation programmes across a variety of clinical settings with evidence of MDT collaboration and hospital discharge planning
Desirable
- Experience of communicating with and motivating patients who may have communication difficulties
- Experience of working in an Acute Hospital setting
- Good understanding of working environment -- healthcare/NHS/UHB/community
Additional Criteria
Essential
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Good clinical reasoning skills
- Confidence to feedback to the multidisciplinary team in a formal setting and to communicate effectively with a wide variety of other professionals to represent therapies internally and externally
- Able to communicate information and instructions to patients/carers/relatives who have communication difficulties of English as a second language
- Evidence of being able to work effectively as part of a team / across teams
- Physical skills, fitness, dexterity and coordination needed for manual handling and treatment of patients
- Good IT and Keyboard skills
- Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills
- Able to understand the priorities within team / service respond appropriately
- Able to solve problems and contribute own ideas seeking guidance if necessary
- Able to follow instructions
- Motivated to learn new skills
- Able to work as part of an interdisciplinary team
- Enthusiasm to work as therapy support worker within team
- Ability to take responsibility under guidance
- Know own limitations and role boundaries
- Able to seek support from others when required
- Able to deal with potentially upsetting clinical settings/situations
- Demonstrates empathy to a wide range of patients, carers, staff
- Demonstrates commitment to patient centred care
- Reliable and trustworthy
- Able to work under pressure
- Demonstrates commitment to work flexibly to meet the challenging demands of the service
- Ability to contribute to weekend working and evening day case cover
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Desirable
- Able to demonstrate and teach practical skills to others, including safe use of equipment.
- Willingness to participate and at times lead in departmental activities i.e. group supervision, course development, delivery of training
- Demonstrates a commitment to CPD
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.
For Help With Your Application, Contact
Karen Wood
01214249901
Pay scheme
Agenda for Change
Band
Band 4
Salary
£28392.00 to £31157.00 Yearly
Contract
Permanent
Working pattern
Full-Time, Flexible Working
Reference number
304-9019463
Job locations
Good Hope Hospital
Rectory Rd
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
B75 7RR
Attachments
Job Description
JD PS.pdf – 395KB Opens in a new window
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