Position overview

The Acute Allied Health Service is based within the Division of Allied Health and provides Allied Health services and interventions to a range of inpatient and outpatient settings at the Canberra Hospital. The Acute Allied Health Services consists of the following departments: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Liaison service, Psychology, Social Work, Speech Pathology, Audiology, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Nutrition and Dietetics and Exercise Physiology. The Acute Allied health services provide an on call and after-hours service including weekends.

Under the direction of the Director of Allied Health, the Advanced Allied Health Lead is responsible for the provision of clinical services to the Acute Medical Unit and the leadership of the multi-disciplinary team in the unit. The role is expected to maintain a clinical workload involving the undertaking of rapid screening and assessment from an interdisciplinary perspective and coordination of treatment/therapies from the allied health perspective to ensure the facilitation of a timely and safe service. This role will coordinate the Allied Health team on the unit and participate in activities to represent Allied Health on the unit. This role involves liaising across Canberra Health Services partaking in service improvement and quality assurance initiatives and contributing to the supervision and training of fellow Health Professionals and Students. The Advanced Allied Health Lead will have highly developed professional knowledge of a range of acute medical conditions with the ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and provide education and supervision to a broad range of staff.

This role is required to participate in an after-hours roster, including regular weekend and public holiday work.

Key Responsibilities

Under limited direction of the Director of Allied Health you will perform the following role. You will:

1. Provide specialist clinical expertise and intervention across a range of clinical areas in an interdisciplinary model, including promotion of positive client outcomes through the provision of high-quality evidence-based clinical services and contribution to research.
2. Provide professional supervision and leadership to staff within professional field. While responsible for effective utilisation of available resources to enable service provision.
3. Be responsible for appropriate assessment and referral of patients to other relevant health professionals and provide and receive complex information relating to patient’s diagnosis, treatment and long-term rehabilitation outcomes to patients’ carers and the multidisciplinary team (MDT).
4. Contribute to, policy development, planning and clinical standards for professional field in consultation with Lead Professional and management.
5. Lead clinical governance within the multidisciplinary team, including Quality Improvement activity and professional development.
6. Promote professional research and contribute to advances within the profession.
7. Participate in supervision and/or training to staff and students, along with continuing professional development and performance management.
8. Undertake other duties appropriate to this level of classification which contribute positively and meaningfully to the operation of CHS.

Competencies

Specific competencies include but are not limited to the following.

Person-centred care

• Ability to provide and advocate for holistic, trauma-informed, and strengths-based care.
• Adaptability and flexibility to accommodate change and provide responsive services to meet client’s needs.

Leadership

• Ability to assess situations, make decisions, and solve problems with sound judgement.
• Advocacy skills with a sensitive and curious approach to complex situations.

Communication

• Effective communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to actively listen, establish trust and rapport, and build collaborative relationships.

Organisation

• Strong organisation and time management skills with proactiveness and flexibility.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a calm and efficient manner in a fast-paced and changing environment with a high degree of autonomy.

Cultural competence

• Strong understanding of, and adherence to, culturally safe and sensitive practice.
• Ability to meet the needs of culturally diverse and vulnerable populations.

Continuous learning and improvement

• Critical thinking and self-reflection, including ability to participate in professional supervision.
• Ability to review, evaluate and improve systems and processes.

Interdisciplinary collaboration

• Ability to work effectively with multidisciplinary teams.
• High level of skill in coordinating care with a range of interprofessional team members

Proficiency with technology

• Proficiency with electronic patient management systems and strong adherence to efficient workflows.
• High level of attention to detail and skill in electronic documentation and information retrieval.

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

• Hold an undergraduate or postgraduate qualification in the in an Allied Health profession.
• Where applicable be registered or have applied for registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
• Substantial clinical experience within the health setting of greater than 5 years.
• Non-registered professions, be registered under the Working for Vulnerable People Act.
• Hold a current Driver’s Licence.

Desirable

• Understanding of how the National Standards and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) indicators align with this role.
• Fulfil the responsibilities of this role in alignment to the CHS Exceptional Care Framework and all other related frameworks.

Prior to commencement

Appointment to this position is conditional on being granted and retaining appropriate clearances:

• Pre-employment National Police Check.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.
• Comply with CHS credentialing and scope of clinical practice requirements for allied health professionals.
• Current registration issued under the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act 2011 is required.

Important information

All employees are required to:

• Adhere to the Canberra Health Services Values and the ACT Public Service Code of Conduct.
• Act in accordance and comply with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and procedures.
• Comply with all relevant clinical and/or competency standards.
• Be available for weekend and/or after-hours work.

CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

What you Require (Key Selection Criteria)

These are the key selection criteria for how you will be assessed in conjunction with your resumé and experience.

1. Proven high-level clinical assessment skills and experience in providing high standard of clinical services across a continuum of care within a multidisciplinary context.
2. High-level communication skills, including the ability to communicate to a wide range of stakeholders including senior management, colleagues, consumers, students, and external stakeholders.
3. Sound leadership abilities, including providing advice and direction to junior staff on a range of policy issues, operational and/or strategic issues and clinical supervision of health professional staff and students.
4. Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team environment including providing clinical and other leadership to teams.
5. Demonstrates a commitment to work, health and safety (WH&S) and the positive patient experience and displays behaviour consistent with Canberra Health Service’s values of Reliable, Progressive, Respectful and Kind.

Work environment description

The following work environment description outlines the inherent requirements of the role and indicates how frequently each of these requirements would need to be performed. Please note that the ACT Public Service is committed to providing reasonable adjustments and ensuring all individuals have equal opportunities in the workplace.