Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist (XR07)
Are you seeking variety, team working and development of clinical skills? Look no further than the exciting opportunity that has arisen to join our team at the Leeds Children's Hospital. We are looking to recruit a dynamic, innovative and skilled Band 7 Highly Specialist Paediatric Speech and Language Therapist capable of providing high quality input within Leeds Children's Hospital. This post provides an excellent opportunity, within a supportive and stimulating environment, to develop & enhance your skills in the assessment & management of children with complex feeding & communication difficulties in an acute setting. The role is conducive to MDT working, supporting patients & families through their hospital journey and we are seeking team members who are committed to achieving the very highest standards of care for children and families. Opportunities to develop within areas of research and service development are available.
This is a fixed term post until the 26th May 2026.
Main Duties of the Job
To fulfil the role of Highly Specialist Paediatric SLT, you will have experience of working at an advanced level in the assessment, instrumental evaluation, differential diagnosis, treatment and management of Eating, Drinking and Swallowing difficulties as well as complex communication needs. This post provides excellent opportunities to develop skills as a core member of a well-established SLT team working alongside Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Dietetics, Nurses and Assistants. You will have excellent inter-personal communication, organisational and team working skills and be able to show evidence of continued professional development. The role requires you to provide inpatient care on the paediatric ward including PICU, carrying out assessments/treatments and transfer of care at a local and regional level. Skills in paediatric VFSS and tracheostomy would be of benefit to enable support for these outpatient clinics. The post also involves working closely with MDTs, patients, families and relevant Health and Social Care teams ensuring compliance against relevant clinical drivers and standards.
Job Responsibilities
1. To assess, differentially diagnose and manage complex communication and swallowing breakdown relating to a wide range of conditions.
2. Utilise highly specialist knowledge in line with local policies/protocols and professional guidelines.
3. Provide specialist second opinions on request to other health and social care professionals.
4. Build links with allied agencies across primary and secondary care improving local and regional care pathways across in/outpatient settings.
5. Diagnose, assess, treat and manage complex communication, swallowing, cognitive and emotional impairments.
6. Ensure all patients have opportunities to improve their swallowing/communication function and decrease reliance on enteral feeds and communication aids.
7. Develop a rehabilitation care pathway focusing on education, enablement and empowerment of service users and their carers.
8. Manage Highly Specialist caseloads ensuring their complex communication and swallowing needs are met safely.
9. Provide seamless pathway of care with locality services ensuring equitable citywide provision.
10. Plan, coordinate and deliver medical education and training programs for health/social staff, patients, care providers, regional SLTs and students.
11. Act as patient advocate facilitating communication in order to secure compliance with Mental Capacity Act.
12. Audit caseloads and provision to measure the value of input across this care pathway and evaluate alternative models of provision.
13. Optimise service provision by balancing provision between specialist Acute and Outpatient clinics.
Person Specification
1. Must be willing to participate in any relevant training identified to develop skills required to carry out duties.
Skills & Behaviours
* Demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills. Active and empathetic listening/counselling skills.
* Sensitive to the needs of others and has an awareness and responsiveness to other people's feelings and needs.
* Values differences; regards people as individuals and appreciates the value of diversity in the workplace.
* Able to work as part of a team, cooperating to work together and in conjunction with others and willing to help and assist wherever possible and appropriate.
* Able to develop, establish and maintain positive relationships with others both internal and external to the organisation.
* Able to work under pressure, dealing with peaks and troughs in workload.
* Positive attitude to dealing with change; flexible and adaptable, willing to change and accept change and to explore new ways of doing things and approaches.
* Highly motivated and reliable.
* Has a strong degree of personal integrity; able to adhere to standards of conduct based on a sense of right and wrong and be dependable and reliable.
* Ability to formulate independent clinical decisions following assessment.
* Able to negotiate with client/carer and medical/AHP teams around individual case management.
* Able to communicate complex, sensitive condition-related information from assessment to patients and carers.
* Ability to give clear advice, instruction and training to patients, carers and other professionals relating to complex communication/swallowing disorders.
* Good time management, organisational and prioritisation skills.
* Well developed analytical, reflective, negotiation and problem solving skills.
* Excellent organizational and prioritisation skills.
* Good auditory discrimination skills and ability to transcribe speech phonetically.
* Highly developed negotiation and problem solving skills.
* Excellent presentation skills, both written and verbal.
* Good knowledge of Microsoft Office.
Experience
* Evidence of successful completion of specialist post graduate short courses related to the specialism.
* Post Graduate training in and maintenance of: RCSLT Level C Dysphagia Training & Competency Framework.
* An extensive portfolio and evidence of advanced personal and advanced/highly specialist professional development with skills, experience and achieved outcomes.
* Specialist Knowledge of relevant client groups.
* In-depth knowledge of a range of appropriate therapeutic interventions and evidence of highly specialist clinical expertise relevant to the specialism.
* Well established knowledge of RCSLT Professional and Clinical Guidelines/policies both locally and nationally in the specialism as well as relevant national strategy and drivers.
* Assessment, diagnosis, treatment and management of neonates and older children presenting with communication and/or feeding difficulties.
* Assessment, diagnosis, treatment and management of communication and feeding disorders associated with tracheostomy including ventilator assisted patients in a paediatric setting.
* Substantial SLT experience post qualification with significant experience working in the LTV/critical care specialism.
* Experience working at an advanced level in the assessment, differential diagnosis and management of the specialism.
* Experience in teaching competencies to less experienced Speech and Language Therapists.
* Experience in the provision of second opinions and advice to internal and external professional colleagues.
* Experience in delivering Communication and Swallowing training to SLT colleagues and other members of the MDT.
* Experience of conducting clinical audit.
* Able to manage the emotional consequences of managing patients with a range of feeding and communication disorders.
* Experience in student clinical supervision.
* Has attended Clinical Supervisory Skills Course, or equivalent.
* Knowledge of the principles of clinical governance, including audit cycle, continuous quality improvement and user involvement. Experience in research/audit.
* Line Management experience. Experience in conducting appraisals.
* Experience of working in Specialist MDTs and acting as a specialist SLT resource.
* Competence and experience in conducting, interpreting and analysing VFSS to support diagnosis and management of patients presenting with complex paediatric dysphagia.
Qualifications
* Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree accredited by RCSLT.
* Health Professions Council license to practice as a Speech and Language Therapist.
* Registered Member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
* Advanced level dysphagia training.
* Post graduate training in tracheostomy.
* Advanced communication skills.
* Post graduate training in VFSS.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
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