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Job summary

Main area
Speech and Language Therapy
Grade
Band 7
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Part time
  • Flexible working
  • Compressed hours
37.5 hours per week (there is a full time and part time vacancy available.)
Job ref
395-BD033-25
Employer
NELFT NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Child and Family Centre
Town
Barking
Salary
£46,148 - £52,809 plus HCAS per annum (pro rata for part time)
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
27/04/2025 23:59

Employer heading

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust logo

Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist- Mainstream Schools/ DLD

Band 7

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, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

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:

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


Working for our organisation

Starting with NELFT
NELFT place 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 in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

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 a 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 seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Person specification

Qualifications

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

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Significant relevant experience at undergraduate/post graduate level
  • Working collaboratively with parents/carers and other professionals
  • Experience of working in a multi- agency and/or multi-disciplinary team
  • Working with clients who have a range of speech, language and communication needs
  • Planning and delivery of training to other professionals
Desirable criteria
  • Supervising and supporting the wider team from both a clinical and leadership perspective.

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Awareness of NHS Plan, clinical governance priorities and changing service needs
  • Awareness of Government policy and legislation and how this may affect service delivery
  • Clinical knowledge of child development and its application to speech and language therapy
  • Knowledge of assessment tools, treatment techniques and therapeutic interventions
  • Awareness of the roles of other professionals
  • Awareness of standards of record keeping
  • Understanding of safeguarding
  • Knowledge of acquired communication and swallowing disorders
Desirable criteria
  • Awareness of Government policy and legislation and how this may affect service delivery

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Basic awareness of IT and IT skills
  • Demonstrate clear clinical reasoning based on evidence based practice
  • Able to use own initiative
  • Able to organise and manage own caseload
  • Allocate duties and supervise therapy assistants and less experienced therapists
  • Good auditory discrimination skills and ability to transcribe speech phonetically
  • 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
  • Excellent interpersonal skills including observation, listening and empathy
  • Negotiation, problem solving concentration, analytical and reflection skills
  • Written and verbal presentation skills
  • Present information in clear and logical manner
  • Ability to be a good team member

Trust Values

Essential criteria
  • We are kind
  • We are respectful
  • We work together with our communities

Other

Essential criteria
  • To be able to travel efficiently throughout the area

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Employers for CarersApprenticeships logoAge positiveDisability confident employerHappy to Talk Flexible WorkingDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - GoldEmployers Network for Equality & InclusionTop Employers for Working Families 2021Top 10 Employer 2023

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Hadassah Lev
Job title
Clinical Lead Speech & Language Therapy- B&D
Email address
[email protected]
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