Job summary
This post is an excellent opportunity for an SLT who is passionate about stroke care and wanting to develop their skills within the Stroke Unit setting as a Band 6 SLT. The Stroke Unit at James Paget University Hospital is a 30 bed unit which includes hyper acute, acute and in patient Stroke rehabilitation.
This is a chance to work in an unique SLT team employed by East Coast Community Healthcare (ECCH) CIC, an innovative social enterprise covering the Great Yarmouth and Waveney localities whilst working within the James Paget University Hospital. This provides you a rare benefit of not only working within the acute service but also maintaining close working relationships with the ECCH stroke ESD service and onwards throughout the whole stroke pathway.
Main duties of the job
Your role will be to assess, diagnose and manage communication and swallowing difficulties with inpatients on the stroke unit and, where appropriate, outliers on the acute wards at the James Paget University Hospital. You will be the lead SLT on the unit working with a band 5 SLT and with support from a band 7 SLT. You should have excellent communication skills and a proven track record of successful multi-disciplinary team working, maintaining good working relationships with the ability to work flexibly and balance changing priorities in a fast paced inpatient environment. You will be experienced and confident in your ability to assess, devise and deliver therapy programmes for clients with speech and language difficulties following stroke. You will be competent in independently assessing and managing swallowing difficulties post stroke and seeking second opinions and onward referrals where appropriate. We have an established Dysphagia Trained Nurse programme on the unit which you will be involved in. You will have a working knowledge of the National Stroke Strategy, National Clinical Guidelines for Stroke and SSNAP and keep abreast of research and new developments in stroke care and contribute to in service training.
We are a small team, where you will receive a warm welcome, regular supervision, training and development opportunities and a united team approach.
About us
ECCH is well established health care provider and has been successfully delivering NHS care within the community since 2011. We provide a range of NHS, community health and social care services predominantly across the easterly region of the Norfolk/Suffolk borders.
We are aligned to NHS terms and conditions, and offer many employee benefits, to find out more about us visit our website - We are a social enterprise and staff owned organisation which means staff can opt to be shareholders and have a real say in how ECCH is run and evolves to deliver healthcare for the future.
At the heart of our ambition, we work in partnership with and for the community to become the provider and employer of choice for community healthcare.
We are a small team where you will receive a warm welcome, regular supervision, training and development opportunites and a united team approach. We offer good administrative support. ECCH spans the beautiful Norfolk/ Suffolk Coastline and we are less than an hour away from the vibrant university city of Norwich.
This post is advertised as a full time position but may be suitable for a job share. If you would like to know more about what we have to offer and how we work please do contact us. We would welcome visits from interested applicants.
We encourage you to apply as early as possible as this job may close earlier than the advertised closing date once enough applications have been received.
Job description
Job responsibilities
1. To adhere to National and local standards and guidelines relating to Professional Practice (CQ3 and HCPC).
2. To be aware of and adhere to current legislation and employer procedures relating to the post.
3. To demonstrate commitment to personal development and acquisition of further skills and knowledge.
4. To keep abreast of research in the field of stroke care.
5. To be responsible for collecting own work statistics as specified in the James Paget University Hospital service level agreement.
6. To be responsible for managing own time appropriately.
7. To be responsible for managing a defined caseload.
8. To work closely and effectively with staff on the stroke unit.
9. To supervise work with volunteers and assistants where appropriate.
10. To be responsible for student observation.
11. To be responsible for assessment, differential diagnosis, formulation of treatment plans, writing assessment reports, providing appropriate intervention and evaluating the treatment outcomes for each individual patient.
12. To review and discharge individual patients.
13. To seek second opinions when necessary.
14. To make onward referrals when necessary.
15. To accept support from designated colleagues.
16. To offer advice to clients, carers and significant others about individual patients, and demonstrate practical procedures when appropriate.
17. To attend and contribute to staff and team meetings.
18. To contribute to local and national audit and quality measures.
19. To highlight and request equipment necessary for caseload management.
20. To attend multi-disciplinary meetings on the stroke unit.
Indicative Features:
Teaching Training and Clinical Supervision
21. Regular access to department supervision system for support.
22. Attend in-service training.
23. Assists senior speech and language therapists in training of work experience students, volunteers, assistants, carers, S< students and other professions students by offering example setting by observation and explanation.
Clinical Advice and Interpretation or Action
24. Recognises own professional boundaries and seeks advice and support (from Social worker).
25. Provides advice and information on specific clients to Health Service Professional, and staff working with the client ( Social worker).
26. Provides information/advice on appropriate clinical matters to clients/carers, assistants and other individual professionals.
Specialist Experience
27. On full practice register.
28. Supported by experienced staff to develop skills in all areas when support is required.
29. Access second opinions.
Complexity
30. On-going professional support in all areas when required.
31. May work in more than one location.
32. Manages own caseload and increased complexity of cases.
Resource Management, Planning and Policy Making
33. Manages own time efficiently.
34. Responsible and accountable for own clinic equipment.
35. Contributes to discussion on service planning and policy as a member of his/her team.
Research, Evaluation and Development
36. Keeps professionally up to date in the field/s in which working.
37. Ensures own practice is safe and appropriate.
38. Evaluates own performance through outcome measures.
39. May provide data for others research.
40. Participates in clinical audit activities.
Staff Management and Leadership
41. May direct SLT Assistants or volunteers.
42. To be aware of content of the HR policies and how this applies to their area of responsibility.
43. All roles within East Coast Community Healthcare CIC (ECCH) require staff to demonstrate our Values and Signature Behaviours in the care and service they provide to patients, service users, stakeholders and colleagues. All members of staff should consider these as an essential part of their job role.
44. Our Values outline the core behaviours that we can all achieve and are summarised as an acronym within the word CARE. These stand for: Compassion, Action, Respect and Everyone .
45. Underpinning our Values are our Signature Behaviours which highlight by taking the right actions we continue to build a strong culture. Our four Signature Behaviours are: Compassion - We Listen, We Learn, We Lead| Action - My Accountability, My Responsibility | Respect - Respect Our Resources: People, Time and Money | Everyone - Work Together, Achieve Together .
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
46. Recognised qualification in Speech & Language Therapy
47. Registered member of HCPC/ RCSLT
48. Dysphagia trained
Experience
Essential
49. Broad and varied clinical experience in the field of Stroke minimum one year experience
Desirable
50. Experience of working on an acute Stroke Unit
Personal Attributes
Essential
51. Punctual and reliable
52. Able to organise workload and manage time
53. Able to maintain intense concentration in all aspects of patient management
54. Able to identify when to seek support
55. Able to convey complex condition related information clearly to clients and other professionals in written and verbal form
56. Friendly and approachable
57. Able to appreciate and use good humour appropriately within work
58. Able to manage emotional consequences of working with patients with a range of conditions/needs
59. Accepts and follows advice and guidance
60. Understands the importance of self-awareness and reflection
61. Willing to support colleagues and work collaboratively
62. Resilient and has an awareness of the biological and pyscho-social influences which may impact on work with clients and may also have an impact on the way the multi-disciplinary team functions
63. Ability to embrace our Culture, Values and Signature Behaviours:
64. (Compassion - We Listen, We Learn, We Lead| Action - My Accountability, My Responsibility | Respect - Respect Our Resources: People, Time and Money | Everyone - Work Together, Achieve Together).
65. Willingness and ability to work across different sites and travel to alternative sites and across the community as required.
Skills and Knowledge
Essential
66. Dysphagia trained
67. Highly developed auditory & perceptual skills for use in all areas of practice
68. Ability to identify and describe use of appropriate assessments for all client groups
69. Demonstrates a passion for Stroke care
70. Keeps abreast of stroke research
71. Ability to plan treatment packages for clients with communication difficulties
72. Ability to apply band 6 knowledge of clinical issues/developments to clinical practice
73. Ability to communicate effectively with clients with communication impairment
74. Ability to identify own strengths and needs in relation to post
75. Ability to form relationships with clients and carers/family
76. Ability to work within a team
77. Good knowledge of legal requirements/government initiatives which may influence practice
78. Awareness of the importance and usefulness of measuring the impact of therapy
79. Demonstrates an interest in innovative practice
80. Able to work within trust moving and handling guidelines
81. Able to demonstrate good understanding of the principles of managing diversity and the implications of this on good Speech and Language Therapy practice
Desirable
82. Has basic counselling skills