Osteopath at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust

The job at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust

Osteopaths are primary care practitioners who assess, diagnose and treat problems of the muscles, joints and connective tissue, most often back, neck and limb pain. Assessment combines case history, observation of posture and movement, orthopaedic and neurological testing and palpation. Treatment uses hands-on techniques such as soft tissue work, articulation, stretching and manipulation, alongside exercise prescription and advice on activity, work and lifestyle. Most osteopaths are self-employed in private clinics, with a smaller number in NHS musculoskeletal services. Adults, older people, children and babies with musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction, sports and occupational injuries, pregnancy-related pain and chronic pain conditions.

At a community trust such as Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, that work means a community caseload — people seen in their own homes, in care homes, in health centres and in community hospitals, organised around a geographical patch rather than a ward. Community posts give you more autonomy earlier — your own diary, your own decisions in someone’s front room — and usually require a driving licence and a car. Across the profession as a whole, osteopaths work in settings including private practice, NHS musculoskeletal and first contact physiotherapy services, multidisciplinary clinics, occupational health and sports clubs — 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 Sussex Community NHS Foundation 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 the South East was £39,983 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.