Employer NELFT NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Acorn Specialist Children's Centre Town Romford Salary £47,810 - £54,710 pa (plus HCAS) pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 15/08/2025 08:00
Paediatric Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist
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 therapist? An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 7 SLT to join a well-established and dynamic team in Havering, London's Eastern-most borough.
This is a permanent role leading on our specialist caseloads
There may also be sessions in other clinical areas depending on service need.
You will provide assessment, strategies and advice for children and young people in mainstream schools, as well as delivering intervention in clinic settings.
You will work closely and collaboratively 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.
As a Band 7 you will also support with the leadership and management of the wider team by delivering supervision, covering meetings and supporting service development.
This a very exciting time to join the service as we are reviewing and developing our mainstream offer and embracing new ways of working.
Based in Romford with established transport links, we are less than 30 minutes by train from London Liverpool Street and 20 minutes from Stratford on the Elizabeth Line. 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.
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. You will be required to:
* Provide highly specialist support within each clinical pathway
* Work autonomously as a highly specialist speech and language therapist providing specialist assessments and interventions for children with diverse needs and varying presentations.
* 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.
* Be involved in the service development of the speech and language team.
* 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
You will be well-supported with 1:1, group safeguarding, and band 7 peer supervision.
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 on 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-CostArea Supplement
This post also attracts payment for High-Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the Basic salary (a minimum of £4,714 - £4,941a maximum of) pro rata for part-time.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Detailed Job Description and Main responsibilities
Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at Northeast London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application.
We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role, can be discussed at the interview stage.
References
Please ensure that the references are from your most recent employer and one of these must be your direct Line Manager or Supervisor. You must provide professional email addresses for all referees as we will contact them as soon as an offer has been made. Please note we do not request references prior to interviews. Additionally, ensure that any gaps in your employment history are clearly indicated. All applications made through NHS Jobs account will be processed by TRAC System. Please note that some emails may go to your spam/junk mailbox so make sure you check this regularly
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
* 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
* Evidence of completion of specialist short courses up to Master’s degree or equivalent
Experience
* Significant experience with skills in assessment and management of children with SLCN
* 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
Knowledge
* An awareness of NHS priorities
* 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
* Awareness of Government policy and legislation and how this may affect service delivery
Skills
* 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
* Good auditory discrimination skills and ability to transcribe speech phonetically
* Able to construct clear care plans for complex cases including assessment for differential diagnosis, providing therapy from a range of options based on analysis of information
* 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
* Putting people first / Prioritising quality/ Being progressive, innovative, and continually improve/ Being professional and honest/ Promoting what is possible, independence, opportunity, and choice
Other
* To be able to travel efficiently throughout the area
We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:
* A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
* A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.
* Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
* Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link .
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.
We recognise the valuable contribution that the Armed Forces community make to our organisation. We have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and achieved Gold Award under the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme. We have supportive policies, guaranteed interview schemes for veterans. reservists and military spouses and give additional leave to our Reservists so that they can attend their annual camp.
Equal opportunities employer
We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of any protected characteristic.
We are a Disability Confident employer and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with disabilities.If you require this application in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape please contact the recruitment team on 0300 300 1530 or email recruitment@nelft.nhs.uk.
Correspondence with us
You are advised to regularly check your emails (including any junk mail/spam folders) for correspondence related to this post.
As part of our recruitment process, we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS. We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Name Kara Morrison Job title Clinical Lead for Speech and Language Therapy Email address kara.morrison@nelft.nhs.uk Telephone number 0300 300 1888
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