Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist- Mainstream Schools/ DLD

Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist- Mainstream Schools/ DLD, Barking

Client:

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust

Location:

Barking, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

EU work permit required:

Yes

Job Reference:

7cb1bfca93dd

Job Views:

7

Posted:

04.04.2025

Expiry Date:

19.05.2025

Job Description:

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader and have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years.

Job overview

Are you an experienced and motivated Speech and Language Therapist? An exciting opportunity has arisen to recruit 2 (full/part time) B7s to join a well-established and dynamic team in Barking and Dagenham, in North East London.

These are permanent roles supporting the leadership of our DLD pathway across Primary and Secondary Mainstream Schools and ARPs. You will also be involved in our very successful Universal Training Offer across Mainstream schools in Barking and Dagenham as well as having the opportunity to be involved in supporting with introducing the VERBO platform together with our Local Authority colleagues.

You will provide assessment, strategies and advice for children and young people in mainstream schools. As a Band 7, you will also support with the leadership and management of the wider team by delivering supervision, covering meetings, supporting service development, and facilitating new initiatives. We are committed to a neurodiversity affirming culture and our DLD lead will support us in ensuring our DLD clients are supported appropriately within this framework. There will be opportunities to discuss and liaise with other professionals to ensure you and the service are in line with current research in this area as it pertains to DLD. This is a really exciting time to join our team!

Main duties of the job

Our team supports children and their families with their speech, language, communication and swallowing needs across a wide range of clinical areas.

This role includes both clinical and non-clinical responsibilities and you will be required to:

1. Be one of the pathway leads for Mainstream schools, taking on responsibility for DLD and/or Secondary schools.
2. Work autonomously as a Highly Specialist speech and language therapist providing specialist assessments and interventions for children with diverse needs and varying presentations.
3. Provide highly specialist clinical support.
4. Administer comprehensive formal and informal assessments and make differential diagnoses on the basis of assessment findings.
5. Develop and deliver evidence-based intervention programmes, adapting and facilitating therapy according to client-centred needs.
6. Independently organise, plan and prioritise your workload and caseload.
7. Provide highly specialist knowledge, advice, training and teaching to parents/carers, education staff, multidisciplinary team members and other colleagues.
8. Support the service development of the speech and language team, particularly in relation to DLD and working in mainstream schools.
9. Attend relevant training courses, meetings and Clinical Excellence Networks (CENs) related to your specialism.
10. Support and guide less experienced therapists, therapy assistants and therapy students.

Working for our organisation

Starting with NELFT
NELFT places a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process, new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes.

Probationary Period
This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

High Cost Area Supplement - London
This post attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary with a minimum payment of £4,551 and a maximum payment of £5,735 per annum (pro rata for part-time).

Certificates of Sponsorship
Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

You will work closely with Education and Local Authority staff, and engage in MDT working with colleagues in Paediatrics, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Health Visiting, School nursing, CAMHS and Safeguarding.

You will be well-supported with 1:1, group safeguarding, & peer supervision. We also have clinical cross-border forums with other SLT teams within NELFT.

We provide a range of CPD through whole-team training, away days and individual training.

You will join monthly team meetings and will be invited to integrated children's services meetings. We also have regular team socials and bring and share lunches.

We are a flexible service with options for compressed hours and working in a way that suits the needs of the service and yourself.

You would be joining a friendly and inclusive team which passionately advocates for the needs of our clients. Professional development is encouraged to further your skills, while support and advice from experienced colleagues is accessible whenever required.

Based in B&D with established transport links, we are approximately 30 minutes by train from central London and 20 minutes from Stratford on public transport. We also have good transport links to Essex and Kent.

We welcome applicants from all experienced and motivated therapists even if you do not feel that you meet all of the job criteria. Support to develop will be provided.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application.

Use of AI
Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants from seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Person specification

Qualifications

1. Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree Qualification or equivalent
2. HCPC Licence to Practice
3. Member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy
4. Show active interest in CPD in line with RCSLT guidelines
5. Self-motivated and remain updated with professional practice and new research
6. Evidence of completion of specialist short courses up to Master’s degree or equivalent

Experience

1. Working collaboratively with parents/carers and other professionals
2. Experience of working in a multi-agency and/or multi-disciplinary team
3. Working with clients who have a range of speech, language and communication needs
4. Planning and delivery of training to other professionals
5. Supervising and supporting the wider team from both a clinical and leadership perspective.

Knowledge

1. Awareness of NHS Plan, clinical governance priorities and changing service needs
2. Awareness of Government policy and legislation and how this may affect service delivery
3. Clinical knowledge of child development and its application to speech and language therapy
4. Knowledge of assessment tools, treatment techniques and therapeutic interventions
5. Awareness of the roles of other professionals
6. Awareness of standards of record keeping
7. Understanding of safeguarding
8. Knowledge of acquired communication and swallowing disorders

Skills

1. Basic awareness of IT and IT skills
2. Demonstrate clear clinical reasoning based on evidence-based practice
3. Able to use own initiative
4. Able to organise and manage own caseload
5. Allocate duties and supervise therapy assistants and less experienced therapists
6. Good auditory discrimination skills and ability to transcribe speech phonetically
7. Able to construct clear care plans and reports for complex cases, providing therapy from a range of options based on analysis of assessment, theoretical knowledge and clinical benchmarking to make highly specialist clinical decisions
8. Excellent interpersonal skills including observation, listening and empathy
9. Negotiation, problem solving concentration, analytical and reflection skills
10. Written and verbal presentation skills
11. Present information in clear and logical manner
12. Ability to be a good team member

Trust Values

1. We are kind
2. We are respectful
3. We work together with our communities

Other

1. To be able to travel efficiently throughout the area

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

1. A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
2. A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work-life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our efforts to support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.
3. Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part-time hours or another flexible pattern.

Please note that if you are NOT a passport holder of the country for the vacancy you might need a work permit.