Physiotherapist

• To work as an autonomous practitioner in providing physiotherapy/aquatherapy assessments and aqua treatments and goal setting to own designated caseload of patients.

• To maintain up to date physiotherapy records in line with professional standards.

• To use evidence based practice and specialist skills to assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions.

• To liaise with other health care professionals, care givers and relatives. To provide education and training as required.

• To participate activities to further develop own development and other service developments.

Values

• AquaCentric values consist of Respect, Integrity, Courage, customer obsession, and Bias to action.

Clinical Responsibility

• To provide physiotherapy/aqua therapy input to people with a variety of musculoskeletal, neurological and other complex conditions.

• To provide physiotherapy input into management of clients with highly complex needs.

• To monitor, evaluate and modify treatment in order to measure progress and ensure effectiveness of intervention.

• To provide physiotherapy input into comprehensive interdisciplinary assessment / treatment / discharge.

• To discuss services and treatment options to potential clients and / or their relatives / care givers.

• To ensure that clients are involved in planning and prioritization of their rehabilitation plans wherever possible.

• To provide support, consultation and advice on relevant physiotherapy issues to patients and care givers.

• To contribute to management of complex cases, ensuring co-ordination of services involved such as health, social, statutory and voluntary services.

• To adapt practice to meet individual patients’ circumstances, including due regard for cultural, social, and linguistic differences in addition to their cognitive and physical disabilities.

• To demonstrate high level of clinical effectiveness by use of evidence based practice.

• To contribute to patients’ care and delivery of service by developing skills beyond one’s own professional training.

• To train / supervise therapy assistants and students.

• Work as a lone practitioner with support available from a senior therapist if required.

Communication

• To use appropriate methods of communication with patients and care givers to maximize rehabilitation potential and their understanding of condition. Communication skills of persuasion, motivation, explanation and gaining informed consent will be used with a wide variety of patients. Barriers to effective communication will regularly be evident, e.g. expressive and receptive dysphasia, loss of hearing, pain and fear, etc

• To provide specialist spontaneous and planned advice, teaching and instruction to relatives, care givers and other professionals, to promote understanding of aims of physiotherapy and to ensure a consistent approach to patient care.

• To communicate effectively and collaboratively with all health and social care sectors to ensure delivery of a co-ordinate service. This will include case conferences, joint sessions and documentation.

• To contribute to regular goal planning and ensure that information is shared/ communicated on a frequent basis.

• To deliver complex, sometimes unwelcome, concepts and ideas, to clients and care givers. This requires using high levels of communication skills with clients who may have severe cognitive and physical impairment or may be in a highly emotional state.

• To key work a number of complex cases by acting as the catalyst and ensuring a seamless service for the client by responding in a timely manner and liaising with other services when a client’s condition or situation changes.

Research, Development and Services Improvement

• To advise senior aqua therapists on issues of service delivery.

Clinical findings to be documented and done on aqua therapy and its benefits