Senior Inpatient Physiotherapist
- Senior Physiotherapist: Whanganui Hospital: Casual
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is firmly grounded in the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and is committed to building a health system that serves all New Zealanders.
About the Role
We are seeking an experienced and motivated Senior Physiotherapist to join our dynamic and passionate inpatient team at Whanganui Hospital on a casual basis. This role offers flexibility, with the opportunity to work up to 40 hours across 5 days.
This position is suited to a physiotherapist with established clinical competence who is looking to further develop their expertise in cardio-respiratory and neurological physiotherapy within an inpatient setting. You will play a key role in delivering high quality, patient and whānau centred care as part of an interdisciplinary team.
In this role, you will provide advanced clinical management for patients within cardio-respiratory services (including critical care) and neurological and subacute rehabilitation (including ASU and AT&R). You will support early supported discharge and contribute to community rehabilitation pathways, ensuring continuity of care across the patient journey.
As a senior clinician, you will provide clinical leadership, supervision, and education to rotational physiotherapists, assistants, and students. You will also contribute to service development, quality improvement initiatives, and the integration of evidence-based practice within the team.
Whanganui Hospital gives you the unique opportunity of being involved in patient care for their whole patient journey. You will be able to build professional relationships with patients and whanau along with other medical professionals involved in their care.
About the Team/Service/ Location
We have a small team of Physiotherapist with a wide variety of experience and skills. Our service covers both inpatient wards, outpatient services and community-based referrals. There is a lot of demand for the skills of a Physiotherapist, and our team works to support each other, prioritise those who need Physiotherapy the most and ensure that our community are given the best care we are able to provide with the resources we have. This job requires working closely with the other , Physiotherapists and Allied Health Therapy Assistants, as well as being a part of a wider multi-disciplinary team. Excellent time management, adaptability and communication skills are essential for this role.
The Physiotherapy department is co-located with Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Dietitians, Social Work and Community Assessment & Rehab team. We have a newly refurbished location with new clinician spaces including a large Physiotherapy gym and clinical spaces.
Check out www.discoverwhanganui.nz/visit/ to see what your new home could look like.
About you
To be effective and succeed in this role it is expected that you will have the following proven capabilities:
Essential Professional Qualifications / Accreditations / Registrations:
- Bachelor of Physiotherapy (or equivalent).
- NZ Registered Physiotherapy Board of New Zealand with a current practicing certificate.
Knowledge and Experience:
- Ideally 5 years' experience as a physiotherapist with 2 years' experience working in the inpatient area, including inpatient cardio-respiratory treatment and neurological rehabilitation. However, consideration would be given for supporting a candidate into this senior specialist position (minimum 2 years' experience as a physiotherapist with some experience working in the required areas).
- Demonstrated competency in current physiotherapy practice at an adequate level, and an undertaking to maintain professional development and ongoing education.
- NZ Drivers Licence (full).
- IT skills, competent in Word and Outlook.
- Able to work alongside other MDT members with a team approach.
- Ability to organise workload, and accept responsibilities for work outputs within the multidisciplinary setting.
- Demonstrated leadership skills.
- Committed to working as an effective team member, with the ability to contribute positively to the physiotherapy and wider multidisciplinary team.
- Excellent communication, written and oral.
- Committed to continuous quality improvement.
- Demonstrated capacity for safe cultural practice.
Desired:
- Accredited Equipment Assessor with ENABLE New Zealand - Walking Aids, Standing.
Working at Health New Zealand
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is dedicated to ensuring excellent healthcare for the people of New Zealand. We embrace a workforce that is diverse and inclusive so that we are better positioned to understand and service our community. We welcome applications from our diverse Māori, Pacific, disabled, and rainbow communities.
How to Apply
To apply please click “apply now.” All applications must be submitted through our online careers' portal by 04.05.26. If you have any questions about the role, please contact jobs@wdhb.org.nz.
We will review applications as received and may proceed with the recruitment process, before the closing date of this advert.

Job details
| Job Reference: | 04-SNPH-5670 | |
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| Job type: | Casual | |
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| Closes: | 04-May-2026 | |
| Attachments: | PD - Senior IP Physio Neuro_ Final.pdf (PDF, 556KB) |