Respiratory Therapy Assistant

Job Overview

This role offers an opportunity to work within an award-winning Respiratory Multi-disciplinary Team, supporting the Adult Integrated Respiratory (AIR) Service in the community. The focus is on promoting patient independence and self-management through therapy, education, and behavioural change support.

The position involves a mix of clinical and administrative responsibilities to ensure the smooth operation of Respiratory Physiotherapy Services. These include Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Ambulatory Oxygen Clinics, and Respiratory Physiotherapy for both domiciliary and outpatient settings. Clinical involvement will be both supervised and independent, with training provided for those starting at Band 3, with the potential to progress to Band 4 upon meeting competencies.

The role requires a UK driving license and a personal vehicle, as it is community-based. Additionally, non-clinical duties will take up to 50% of the role, including managing waiting lists, booking appointments, setting up sessions, handling documentation, and maintaining databases. The service is also transitioning towards a seven-day operational model.

Main duties of the job

• Supervise, guide, and progress patients independently during Pulmonary Rehabilitation programs (remote or face-to-face) under the direction of a registered physiotherapist, ensuring safe practice within scope.
• Organise Pulmonary Rehabilitation programs with administrative support, including waiting list management, booking appointments, setting up sessions, assisting with assessments, completing documentation, issuing letters, and maintaining the database.
• Assist in setting up and co-running Maintenance classes for Pulmonary Rehabilitation patients at various venues (training provided).
• Conduct telephone and online assessments and reviews, progress exercise programs, and liaise with senior staff as needed.
• Provide leadership and training to students, patients, and carers as agreed with a supervisor.
• Band 4 Responsibilities: Conduct home visits to known patients to perform exercise programs and review progress.
  
  

Working for our organisation

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust is committed to being an inclusive and disability confident employer and has been awarded the Gold for the Armed Forces Employment Recognition Scheme. We provide first class development opportunities for all staff and have a wide range of professional, management and leadership, and clinical skills training available.

Here at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, we know how important it is to have a healthy work life balance; this benefits not only individuals but the patients we care for too.

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service and its users.

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Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

For a full list of responsibilities and tasks associated with this role, please refer to the job description/person specification attached to this vacancy.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• GCSE or equivalent qualification in English and Mathematics
• NVQ3 or equivalent experience
• Certificate in personal training (level 3), listed on REPS register or equivalent
  
  

Desirable criteria

• ARTP accredited spirometry qualification
• Service training or other relevant courses
  
  

Experience

Essential criteria

• Relevant clinical experience in the same or related specialty
• Experience working within a Health Care Setting
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Assessing cardiovascular and respiratory status
• Undertaking exercise prescription for people with long term conditions
  
  

Skills & Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Interpersonal skills to include concise and effective verbal and written communication
• Organisational skills, ability to prioritise and manage day to day duties
• Ability to work in a team
• IT skills
• Able to manage self-directed learning
• Clear vision of role & commitment to development of respiratory services
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Negotiation skills, able to overcome barriers to exercise
  
  

Special Requirements

Essential criteria

• Full driving licence and access to a car for use to travel across sites and perform domiciliary visits
• Willing and able to work weekends and unsocial hours
  
  

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (FHFT) has an outstanding reputation and a proud record of achievement. As a well performing, well led and ambitious Foundation Trust, we have exciting times ahead of us. We have an ongoing commitment to improving the health and care services for the 900,000 people we serve across Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and south Buckinghamshire.

We are proud of the ambitions laid out in our strategy, Our Future FHFT, including our vision to be a leader in health & wellbeing, delivering excellence for our communities.

We continue to invest in our services and facilities, including a £10 million upgrade to the hospital maternity unit as well as £49m major new Emergency Assessment Centre on our Wexham Park site. The opening of a brand new £100m state of the art hospital which replaced the existing hospital facility at Heatherwood and are planning to invest further in diagnostics and inpatient capacity at Frimley Park.

We have also made significant investment in our quality improvement and digital programmes to support our vision and we will ensure that we achieve our aim of providing the highest quality healthcare to our patients. Our new EPR – Epic – went live in June and we are already beginning to reap the benefits of this ambitious investment.

Our three core values, and the behaviours that support them, guide everything we do and set out what we expect of our staff in the way they treat patients, visitors, service users and each other, Committed to Excellence, Working Together and Facing the Future.

Apply online now