Job summary
Employer heading
Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist - Stroke
NHS AfC: Band 7
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.
Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.
We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.
To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone. You can read more about our visions and values here
Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.
Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.
LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.
We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.
Job overview
Due to retirement, an exciting opportunity has arisen to join our friendly and supportive SLT and stroke teams at Lewisham Hospital.
You will provide leadership to the stroke SLT team, carry a caseload of patients requiring input for swallowing, communication and tracheostomy weaning, and participate in the running of the videofluoroscopy clinic. You will also have the opportunity to provide FEES assessment to stroke patients, to access internal and external CPD opportunities, and to lead on or participate in quality and service improvement projects in SLT/stroke.
Main duties of the job
· To provide highly specialist SLT service to patients on the Stroke wards at University Hospital Lewisham.
· To offer advanced skills in assessment, diagnosis and management of adult clients with acquired swallowing and/or communication disorders, using evidence-based practice to inform advice, support and therapy
· To work closely with the stroke Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) in the assessment, management and discharge planning of these patients.
· To provide training and support to SLT colleagues or to colleagues from other professions.
· To assist the Head of Speech and Language Therapy with service evaluation and development.
Working for our organisation
Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:
- Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
- Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
- Improving the experience of staff with disability
- Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
- Making equalities mainstream
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Key Result Areas & Performance:
· To use highly specialist skills to assess, differentially diagnose and manage complex patients with acquired swallowing and communication disorders from the Stroke wards at University Hospital Lewisham.
· To take a lead role in the assessment, differential diagnosis and management of Stroke patients with tracheostomy who have swallowing and communication impairments and to provide specialist input to these patients where weaning from the tracheostomy is problematic.
· To work independently to fulfil the core responsibilities identified below.
· To ensure effective joint working with the Multi-Disciplinary Teams in the management and complex discharge planning of these patients.
· To provide training and/or support to other professionals concerning swallowing or communication problems.
· To contribute to the development of clinical guidelines which are based upon sound evidence.
· To undertake audit and outcome projects with the supervision of the Head of SLT.
· To comment on and adhere to service and team plans and policies.
Please see attached document for full job description and person specification.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Recognised degree in Speech and Language Therapy
- Health & Care Professions Council – Licence to Practice
- Fully registered member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
Desirable criteria
- Evidence of successful completion of specialist courses at a Masters degree equivalent (or an MSc if available in clinical specialism)
- Membership of relevant Clinical Excellence Network
Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant specialist experience of working with adults with acquired neurological disorders, particularly Stroke, post registration
- Experience of performing and interpreting Videofluoroscopies (GGC Level 3)
- Experience of supervising junior SLTs, assistants and students
- Experience of rehabilitation and acute work with adults in therapeutic settings
Desirable criteria
- Experience of performing and interpreting FEES
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Knowledge of the evidence base for effective treatment for adults with communication and swallowing disorders
- In-depth knowledge of tracheostomy assessment and management
- Well established knowledge of a broad range of relevant assessment tools
- Well established knowledge of a range of appropriate therapeutic interventions
- In-depth knowledge of national policies and procedures (relevant to the client group)
- Basic IT Skills
- In-depth knowledge of the principles of clinical governance/audit
- Understanding of the roles of other professionals
- Knowledge of standards of record keeping
Skills
Essential criteria
- Excellent interpersonal skills – including observation, listening and empathy skills
- Highly developed negotiation and problem-solving skills
- Good presentation skills, both written and verbal
- Excellent organisational skills
- Ability to be a good team member & assume leadership responsibilities
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
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Helen Sampson
- Job title
- Cross-Site Lead Speech & Language Therapist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0208 333 3004
List jobs with Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust in Allied Health Professions or all sectors