Physiotherapist at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust

The job at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust

Physiotherapists assess and treat problems with movement and function caused by injury, illness, disability or ageing. They take a history, examine movement, strength and joint range, then agree goals and deliver treatment through exercise prescription, manual therapy, education, pacing advice and structured rehabilitation. Specialties include musculoskeletal outpatients, respiratory care on wards and in intensive care, neurological rehabilitation after stroke or spinal injury, paediatrics, pelvic health and care of older people. Many also work in sport, occupational health and private practice. People of all ages with musculoskeletal pain and injury, neurological conditions, respiratory and cardiac disease, frailty and falls risk, long-term conditions, and those recovering from surgery or critical illness.

At a mental health trust such as South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, that work means a mental health caseload across inpatient units, community mental health teams, crisis services and, in most organisations, child and adolescent and secure services. Rotations here tend to move between inpatient and community teams rather than between body systems, and supervision arrangements matter more than in almost any other setting. Across the profession as a whole, physiotherapists work in settings including NHS acute trust, outpatient musculoskeletal clinics, intensive care and respiratory wards, community and home-based rehabilitation and neurological rehabilitation units — an organisation of this type will run some of those services and not others, which is why two posts with the same job title in the same city can be very different jobs.

Pay is not an employer decision. Agenda for Change is negotiated nationally and set separately in each of the four nations, so South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust pays band 5 exactly what every other NHS employer in England pays it: £32,073 at the bottom of the band on the 2026/27 scale. For context, median full-time pay across all occupations in London was £49,692 in 2025. What genuinely differs between two employers is the caseload, how rotations are structured, how much protected time you get for supervision and continuing professional development, how much band 6 progression is built into the establishment, and how far you travel between sites. Those are the questions worth asking at interview.