Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Job summary

We are excited to be offering a career opportunity within NHCFT Speech and Language Therapy Complex and Additional Needs Team.

We are looking to recruit an innovative, caring and dynamic Speech and Language Therapist (SLT), who would like to further develop their existing skills in children's speech, language and communication assessment and treatment, and to further develop clinical leadership, in particular for children / young people with complex needs and disability.

Main duties of the job

The posts will involve working primarily into the paediatric part of our team, with sessions into both our pre-school and community-based team who work into children's homes, early years settings and mainstream and special school settings. Both aspects involve working jointly with other professionals in a child's multi-disciplinary team.

The post holder will take a lead role for developing, coordinating and evaluating service delivery within the caseload area and will be involved with the supervision of junior SLT's.

The successful candidate should have knowledge and skills in the assessment and management of complex communication difficulties including for those with Autism, cerebral palsy, severe learning disability etc. The successful candidate should also have knowledge and skills in supporting families and settings to embed communication strategies into their daily practice. It is desirable for the successful candidate to have knowledge and skills in assessment and management of eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties to enable them to work alongside colleagues to provide care for the needs of those referred to the service.

Excellent organisational, prioritisation and time management skills are essential along with well-developed interpersonal and influencing skills and an ability to effectively contribute to multi-agency teams across health and education to ensure holistic care to enable the highest standards of service delivery.

About us

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, covering one of the largest geographical areas of any NHS trust in the country. Leading in innovation and quality - opening a state of the art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn't, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare, this is the Northumbria Way! Please read 'applicant guidance notes' before submitting your application.

Job responsibilities

The Complex and Additional Needs Speech and Language Therapy team is a small team who are passionate about supporting children/young people and adults with SEND and their families. We have well established and strong connections with our Health and Local Authority colleagues allowing us to work in partnership at all levels.

We can offer you a highly rewarding post which includes:

• Clinical supervision
• Regular team meetings, peer support and supervision, clinical focus groups and the opportunity to attend Regional Clinical Excellence Networks
• Annual Appraisal
• In-Service Training including in areas of clinical leadership.
• Opportunities to contribute to Trust and Local Authority quality improvement work and innovations
• Opportunity to be actively involved in the design and implementation of the team annual planning
• Opportunity to work in partnership with other Health colleagues and Local Authority Services such as Portage, Community Paediatricians, Occupational Therapy, educational staff within mainstream and specialist provisions, to ensure the highest quality of care
• Opportunity to work with the Regional Communication Aid Service (RCAS) when coordinating care and engaging in development work
• Close links with Newcastle University and other regional services including The Great North Childrens Hospital
• Close working with Clinical Leads, and other Highly Specialist SLTs in Dysphagia, Autism and AAC in relation to evidence based practice, innovation, audit and caseload management.

Job description