Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (Children's Team)
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
South Tyneside and Sunderland Speech and Language Therapy Service Children's Team:
3.0 permanent Posts x B6.
Post1 - 0.7wte/26.25 hrs working mainly with children in community clinics and education settings, predominantly based in Sunderland.
Post2 - 0.6wte/22.5 hrs working with children with additional and complex needs, predominantly based in South Tyneside.
Post3 - 1.0 wte/37.5 hrs working in the community, education and specialist settings with a range of children including those with additional and complex needs, including those with eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties, predominantly based in South Tyneside.
Due to internal promotions, we have some exciting opportunities for Specialist Speech and Language Therapists to join our Children's Speech and Language Therapy Service. Our needs-led team is dynamic, well-structured and well-run. You will have the opportunity to develop your skills and work with other Therapists and Assistants. We cover South Tyneside and Sunderland localities. There are excellent supervision and support arrangements in place. Continuing Professional Development (CPD), research and innovation are encouraged. Our team has admin and SLT Assistant support.
Main duties of the job
You will have experience of working with children with a range of speech, language and communication difficulties, and be able to assess, plan and provide intervention and therapy within a range of settings. You will have excellent interpersonal skills and be committed to working in a multi-disciplinary way to facilitate the best outcomes for children. You will be well supported by our dynamic Speech and Language Therapy team. You may also have experience of working with children with eating, drinking and swallowing needs.
You will be part of a forward-thinking department that provides a range of specialist services and is always striving to be innovative and put research into practice to improve patient outcomes. Developing our team members in their career path is the cornerstone of this.
You will want to develop your skills working across a range of mainstream and specialist settings. Your values will align with those of our organisation and you will be passionate about making a difference to children and young people.
Job responsibilities
To carry out specialist assessment and diagnosis of children and to develop, implement and evaluate specialist therapy/programmes of care for children with wide-ranging complex speech, language, communication, eating and drinking difficulties.
PLEASE REFER TO ATTACHED JOB DESCRIPTION FOR FULL DUTIES OF THE ROLE.
Person Specification
Physical Requirements
* To have due regard for own personal safety and that of clients/carers, in particular to have regard to moving and handling regulations and ensure the safe positioning of self and others.
* Lifting and carrying equipment for assessment and treatment on a regular basis.
* To maintain intense concentration in all aspects of client management for prolonged periods, in particular, to monitor auditory, visual and kinaesthetic aspects of clients' communication, adapting and facilitating according to perceived client needs including cultural and linguistic differences.
* To be flexible to the demands of the environment including unpredictable work patterns, deadlines and frequent interruptions.
* To employ counselling skills with carers and clients (including clients with highly-complex needs).
* To demonstrate the ability to manage clients with challenging behaviours, including the application of appropriate management strategies.
* To be adaptable to the demands of a variety of working conditions and/or a wide range of clients.
* To work within infection control and Health & Safety guidelines in order to deal with unpleasant conditions relating to client contact as they arise, for example exposure to body fluids, infectious conditions, encountered on a regular basis.
* To be aware of how to employ appropriate strategies to manage verbally aggressive behaviour within the workplace.
* To be able to meet the travel demands of the role.
* Car driver/owner or access to mobility support.
Experience
* Significant knowledge and experience of a wide range of developmental speech, language and communication difficulties and their treatments.
* Experience of working within multi-disciplinary teams.
* Experience liaising with other health, education and social professionals.
* Experience of planning and delivery of training for other professionals and parents/carers.
* Relevant experience at post-graduate level e.g. assessment and intervention with more complex communication disorders and writing reports on outcomes.
* Experience of working alongside highly-specialised therapists for highly-complex cases.
* Relevant specialist experience post-qualification e.g. Dysfluency key-worker, Developmental language Disorder, Complex Language and Learning, Autism, Dysphagia.
Qualifications
* Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree qualification.
* Membership of Health Care Professions Council.
* Eligibility for membership of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
* Fulfilment of NQT RCSLT competency criteria.
* Evidence of attendance at a wide range of short courses in specialist area e.g. Motor Speech Disorders, Specific Language Disorders.
* Evidence of CPD including successful completion of specialist post-graduate training e.g. RCSLT accredited Dysphagia Management Course (Paediatrics), Hanen Certificate, Makaton Signing System.
* Membership of relevant Special Interest Groups.
* Well-established knowledge of a range of specialist assessment tools relevant to a wide range of paediatric communication disorders.
* Knowledge of current national policies and procedures e.g. Education, Health and Care Planning process (Children and Families Act 2014).
* Knowledge of trends/best practice across the clinical specialisms.
* In-depth knowledge of a range of therapeutic interventions relevant to the client groups and an ability to compare and contrast relative benefits of each.
* Knowledge of the principles of clinical governance/audit.
* Understanding of the roles of other professionals relevant to client group.
* Knowledge of standards of record-keeping.
* Working knowledge of child protection and vulnerable adult policies.
* Working knowledge of structure, policies and functioning of the NHS and Local Educational Authorities.
* Good working knowledge of structure, policies and functioning of STSFT and Local Educational Authorities.
* Good working knowledge of speech and language therapy service provision and examples of care pathways.
Skills / Attributes / Knowledge
* Excellent interpersonal skills - including observation, listening and empathy skills.
* Ability to communicate effectively with Health, Education and Social Services professionals, as well as parents/families/carers.
* Influencing and problem-solving skills.
* Demonstrate excellent analytical, assessment, deduction and reflection skills.
* Excellent presentation skills - written and oral.
* Excellent organisational and time-management skills.
* Innovative thinking skills.
* Highly-developed discrimination skills and ability to transcribe speech phonetically.
* Demonstrates ability to be a good team member and assume supervisory responsibilities of assistants and mentoring responsibilities of less-experienced therapists.
* Independent and autonomous working.
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.
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
£37,338 to £44,962 a year pro-rata for part-time
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