CYPS Respiratory Physiotherapist

This is a part‑time post for 22.5 hours per week.

The post holder will be a Band 6 Physiotherapist specialising in respiratory care within paediatrics and will be a member of the Gloucestershire Children’s Physiotherapy team. The role involves independently managing a specialised respiratory clinical caseload, assessing, advising, planning, delivering, and evaluating treatment for a complex group of children and their families. It is a community‑based position, with opportunities to travel to locations away from base and to collaborate closely with paediatric respiratory physiotherapists in the hospital setting, neuromuscular physiotherapists and the wider respiratory multidisciplinary team.

Key elements of the role include ongoing physiotherapy programs, manual techniques, suction and other airway clearance techniques. The post holder will assist a Band 7 physiotherapist in developing the service, providing education and support for parents/carers and community staff.

• Undertake all aspects of clinical duties as an autonomous practitioner.
• Plan and organise own routine workload.
• Be professionally and legally accountable for a designated patient caseload and decide priorities for own work area, balancing other professional demands.
• Manage clinical risk within own patient caseload.
• Assess patients’ capacity, obtain valid informed consent to treatment and, where capacity is lacking, work within the legal framework for patient management.
• Conduct comprehensive and accurate respiratory assessments of children, including those with complex presentations, using investigative, analytical and clinical reasoning skills.
• Formulate individualised respiratory management programmes, utilising a wide range of respiratory treatment skills and options to plan specialised airway‑clearance plans.
• Evaluate patient progress, reassess and alter physiotherapy management programmes as required.
• Provide spontaneous and planned advice, problem‑solving expertise, teaching and instruction to families, carers, other disciplines and agencies to promote understanding of physiotherapy aims and ensure continuation of the programme across all areas of the child’s daily environment.
• Participate in and where appropriate initiate multidisciplinary/multi‑agency team meetings and case conferences to ensure coordination of patient care, including review of progress and discharge planning.
• Maintain accurate, comprehensive and up‑to‑date clinical records in accordance with Trust guidance and professionally agreed criteria.
• Participate in the collection of data for audit purposes.
• Produce comprehensive patient‑related reports for other disciplines or agencies relating to assessment findings and/or treatment/management outcomes.
• Undertake measurement and evaluation of own work through audit, outcome measurement, application of evidence‑based practice and research as appropriate.