Lynne Knight

• Member of CSP. Membership no: 097807.
• Member of HCPC: Membership no: PH107422.

I have been in this role in the Community Rehab Team Adults (CRTA) in Herne Bay for 8+ years which is a static post. The geographical area that I cover ranges from the outskirts of Faversham, Canterbury and Thanet and mainly, Whitstable, Tankerton, Swalecliffe, Herne Bay, Herne and Reculver.

My key responsibilities are:-

- Managing my own clinical caseload to identify rehab needs, prevent hospital admissions, and facilitate hospital discharges. I have won Employee of the month on 3 occasions for going beyond the call of duty to support patients 1) Identifying a case of Sepsis and responding immediately with Paramedics. 2) Liaising with GP on behalf of a palliative patient who did not have the correct documentation/plans in place for a medical emergency when his wife had despite numerous attempts, been able to get this actioned, 3) Supported a very elderly frail patient (103 yrs) with a severe sight impairment, with her mobility putting into effect visual cues around the home to maintain her quality of life as much as able. I was invited to and attended her funeral.

- Collaborating with occupational therapists, GPs, district nurses, and social care teams to create integrated care plans. Attending community HUB meetings as a CRTA representative to discuss and action any concerns raised regarding complex patients.

- Providing clinical supervision and training to junior physiotherapists (Band 5) and therapy assistants on a regular basis e.g 1-2 monthly, completing Supervision records and notes audits quarterly, as well as discussing any concerns and conducting appraisals and preceptorships for new staff.

- Dealing with a wide variety of complex patients. I have largely worked in a Community Hospital setting, assessing and treating mainly elderly and frail patients for Orthopaedic conditions, Falls, Amputees, various neurological conditions in the chronic phase, e.g. Parkinson’s Disease, Dementia, MS and MND, Respiratory conditions, palliative, some younger patients with learning difficulties/personality disorders and generally de-conditioned patients who as a result had become housebound.

- Due to graduating later in life, I decided to work in the community rather than completing the traditional rotations in acute as I had completed 4 acute placements during my time studying at Kings College London (see Education section for details of the placements) and preferred a community or clinic setting.

- To use a diverse range of interpersonal skills and approaches when communicating and managing patient care. This includes patients and their families and carers, colleagues, peers, senior managers and clinical leads within the Trust. I have learnt to vary my communication style depending on whom I am interacting with in order to communicate complex patient related information and facilitate the most positive outcome as possible. I have been complimented by patients and their families for my ability to adapt my communication style accordingly.

- To work autonomously within the community setting as an active member of the multi-disciplinary team providing quality care for patients and organise and prioritise my own and others workload in the day to day allocation of work and participate regularly on a triage rota. I am a strong advocate for supporting my team and feel it is very important to develop and maintain good working relationships with my colleagues and staff from other agencies across Health & Social Care e.g. Age UK, Stroke association, GPs, nursing staff etc. I try to ensure that as well as completing my own work I am available within my capacity to provide my colleagues with any support that they may need.

- I am responsible for providing accurate records of information required by the Trust for audit purposes on relevant electronic systems, in our case, RIO and adhere to the gold standard protocol regarding the completion of patient documentation.

- Over the past few years, I have actively participated in the following working Groups within the Trust to develop and improve on service delivery, protocols and guidelines: - These are:-

- Student Educator Forum, Band 6 Peer Group, Best Practice Meetings, Redesigning of the Trust’s Patient Survey

- From 2019 to 2025 I was the main Student Educator for the Herne Bay Team and was amongst one the East Kent Trust teams to take the first Cohort of Physiotherapy students from Canterbury Christchurch University. I have since provided support to my fellow Educators who are new to the role.

- I am also responsible for my own professional development and contribute to clinical audits & CPD activities to ensure continued improvement. I ensure that I undertake the continuity of my own mandatory training and have contributed to training and educating other staff, such as Band 3 and 4 Competencies including Peer Reviews across Herne Bay and Canterbury CRTA.

I worked within the Rapid Response Team on 6 monthly rotations between the Rehabilitations Wards at Sheppey Community Hospital, Sittingbourne Memorial Hospital and the community. I gained a wide range of experience in managing patients whom were mostly elderly, often with complex medical histories and multiple co-morbidities. Some of the most common presentations were Orthopaedic, Falls, Amputees, various neurological conditions in the chronic phase, Respiratory, palliative, some younger patients with learning difficulties/personality disorders and generally de-conditioned patients who as a result had become housebound.

Whilst on the wards, I was responsible for assessing the patient’s functional ability and devising and implementing appropriate treatment plans. I worked very closely with my MDT colleagues including Occupational Therapists, Nursing Staff, Social Services and Discharge Co-ordinators to optimise seamless discharge planning which were target based in terms of hospital stay and as safely and effectively as possible during weekly MDT meetings.

I attended family/best interest meetings when the patient's discharge was particularly complex. My colleagues on the Ward were Occupational Therapists, Rehab Therapy Assistants, Nurses, Doctors, Ward Management and Healthcare Assistants.

I participated in daily handovers with the Nursing staff and fedback to my Therapy colleagues so that I could set holistic therapy goals with my OT Colleague and delegate to the Therapy Assistants.

We would organise daily therapy sessions and groups on the ward based on functional goals in preparation for return home.

There were also occasions when a patient required additional support and was followed up at home, so I would complete joint home visits with the Occupational Therapist.

When on community rotations, I was responsible for managing and prioritising my own caseload on visits. Duties involved assessing, treating and discharging patients in a timely manner and allocating additional support to our team of Rehabilitation Support Workers. Weekly MDT meetings would also take place to discuss any complex patients and handover with the Support Workers.

In addition to the community rotation, I completed a 6 month rotation in the Falls and Balance Clinic supporting the Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist. This involved assessment and treatment of patients with Peripheral and Central vestibular hypofunctions both in the Clinic and Community setting. I would promote the weekly Falls and Balance group to patients in the community as ongoing optimisation of progress.

The Falls and Balance groups ran twice weekly which I assisted with and led in the absence of the Lead Physiotherapist.

Other duties as a Band 5 included regular supervision of Band 3s and 4s, triaging new referrals on a weekly basis and ensuring all statutory and mandatory training was kept up to date. I also participated in a ‘24 hours’ rota which meant being on standby and flexible to see any urgent patients that required assessment within 24 hours.

Following an employment gap where I had 3 children, I ran my own mobile catering business 'Fun With Chocolate' providing Chocolate Fountains, Champagne Fountains and Fruit Palms for all special occasions.

The service included the provision of chocolate, dips, all equipment and personaised, themed decor. The service included setting up prior to the event, ensuring the service ran smoothly during the event and clearing away immediately afterwards.

I self-managed all my own bookings and accounts, with the exception of an external audit at the end of the year. it was a physically demanding job, very often during anti-social hours and learning to operate a seamless service in challenging environments helped me to develop sound problem solving skills whilst remaining professional at all times. It is also a demonstration of my self-motivation and ability to manage my own customer base.

Small office management (4 staff) at a Pattern Making Company producing prototype patterns and parts for all the major automotive, aerospace and toy industries. Duties involved invoicing, credit control, balancing monthly accounts. reporting to the company owner; liaison with Inland Revenue and VAT office, consolidating staff overtime and processing salary figures to be paid by BACS, purchase orders, delegating tasks to colleagues, telephone enquiries and Ad-Hoc staff duties as required.

I left in November 1999 to start a family.

I Checked and validated insurance policies and handled queries.

Due to the large losses at Lloyd's at the time, there was a high activity of redundancies. I accepted an offer for the office manager role at R and R Patterns.

- I handled a wide variety of Post Office Counter transactions, including managing large sums of money and high-value stock. I dealt with members of the public in challenging situations while adhering to customer care protocol and maintained service standards in a high-pressure environment, achieving target waiting times.

- I performed reserve duties for 18 months across the South East London offices, ensuring continuity of service during annual leave and sickness.

- I transitioned to a central London position as tutor for new counter clerks, but offers were retracted due to staff shortages, limiting promotion prospects.