Employer Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Royal Hallamshire Hospital Town Sheffield Salary £27,485 - £30,162 pa/pro rata for part time staff Salary period Yearly Closing 18/01/2026 23:59 Interview date 27/01/2026
Speech and Language Therapy Assistant
NHS AfC: Band 4
We are committed to helping our staff balance their work and home lives and ensure they feel supported, valued and appreciated so whilst you care for our patients and clients, we’ll take care of you. We offer many different ways of helping staff including career development opportunities, flexible working, good annual leave and pension schemes, health and wellbeing packages and financial support systems. Joining the Trust also allows you access to a number of saving options via our salary sacrifice schemes and a wide range of discount opportunities with retailers and service providers.
Job overview
An opportunity has arisen for a Band 4 Speech and Language Therapy Assistant (SLTA) role in the acute SLT team in Sheffield. It is an exciting environment, and you would be working within a supportive and very friendly team of Speech and Language Therapists.
The post is 22.50 hours a week as a permanent position.
The successful candidate will be based in the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) service working as members of the acute team working with adult patients on the acute wards who could in one of three hospitals, the Northern General, the Royal Hallamshire and Weston Park.
Main duties of the job
To provide high quality speech and language therapy support to adult patients with swallowing and/or communication difficulties associated with a wide range of conditions under the guidance of the speech and language therapist.
To work within a specified scope of competence with swallowing disordered patients. This will include and equate with Levels 3 and 4 on the Eating, Drinking, Swallowing Competency Framework (EDSCF) of the RCSLT (Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists).
Working for our organisation
You will be working for an organisation which values and respects all of its staff and the community it serves. The Trust is a leader in the NHS and research sectors and provides excellent benefits for its staff. This includes commitments to professional development but also many policies to support employees in balancing their personal and professional lives.
The SLT service cover acute and community SLT for adults in Sheffield. It is a large service with 66 members of the team (51.94 wte) including SLTs, SLT assistants and admin support.
The SLT teams are highly motivated to provide a quality service to their patients, they are research active and embrace innovation. The service has established processes for supervision and supports personal and professional development.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please view the attached Job Description and Person Specification documents for full details regarding this post.
When completing your application please ensure that you clearly demonstrate how you meet the role criteria
Person specification
Qualifications
* Evidence of Foundation Degree Level Study (Level 4) or equivalent knowledge/experience
* Functional skills at level 2 (literacy and numeracy/GCSE grade A-C or equivalent in English and Maths)
Experience
* Experience of working in a range of healthcare settings e.g. acute wards, people’s own homes and care homes.
* Experience of supporting people with dysphagia
* Experience of communicating with and supporting people with communication difficulties.
* Experience of, and ability to, work as part of a team.
* Ability to relate to the client group/s.
* Ability to interpret dysphagia or communication therapy programmes.
* Ability to devise new activities to enable client to reach goals.
* Experience of working with people with long term medical conditions.
* Experience of training other health and social care professionals
* Experience training and supporting carers
Skills
* Ability to engage successfully in further in-house training in dysphagia in order to gain competence at Levels 3 and 4 on the RCSLT EDSCF. (Eating, drinking and swallowing competency framework.
* Understands the remit and boundaries of Assistant Practitioner role.
* To know where, when and how to obtain information and guidance.
* Able to communicate effectively with carers/ families.
* Understanding of client confidentiality.
* Ability to organise own work
* Ability to cope with change
* Ability to work under own initiative
* Computer literate – including basic software packages e.g. Word processing, Power Point, Excel
* Good communication and interpersonal skills (verbal and written).
* Ability to adhere to protocol guided assessment processes.
* Ability to effectively communicate findings of protocol guided assessment and implement appropriate management plans.
Other Factors
* Flexibility in approach to changes in service need.
* Ability to be proactive and show initiative and take responsibility.
* To maintain and understand the importance of confidentiality in work environment.
* Commitment to equal opportunities in work and service delivery.
* Commitment the Trust’s policies relating to Risk Management, Confidentiality and the Health & Safety at Work Act.
* Infection prevention and control is integral to this post. The post holder should at all times demonstrate effective infection control and hygiene practice.
* Able to support the implementation of local and national agendas for health under the guidance of the Registered Practitioner
* Ability to prioritise care delivery in a professional manner, considering Trust policies and procedures.
* Ability to manage own time effectively.
* Commitment to continued personal development and reflective practice.
* Knowledge and application of professional standards and code of conduct.
* Commitment to user and carer involvement
Please note that in order to comply with the UK Government’s rules on Skilled Worker sponsorship, any applicants who do not meet the eligibility requirements or concessions on salary thresholds under the Skilled Worker visa will not be eligible to receive sponsorship from the Trust. Please keep this in mind when submitting your application. Further details on these concessions, and who qualifies for them, can be found here .
Candidates are advised to read the attached guidance on using AI technology. W hen you complete your application, you are required to declare that the information in your application form is true and complete. The personal statement is exactly that; personal.
When selecting to apply via NHS Jobs, you will be redirected to our preferred recruitment system called Trac. You will be asked to create and submit your application via the Trac recruitment system.
You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. All communications should be sent via your Trac system account.
It is a full time role and all decisions regarding hiring will be made by the team managers and HR Consultants.
If you are offered employment at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals your information will be transferred from the Trac recruitment system into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system. In addition, in submitting an application form, you authorise our Trust to confirm any previous NHS service details via the ESR IAT process should you be appointed.
Please note, all communication regarding your application will be made via email sent via the Trac recruitment system, please ensure you check your junk/spam folders as emails are sometimes filtered there.
The Trust is committed to its obligations in accordance with the Equality Act 2010, and we positively encourage applications from all sections of the community. Should you require any assistance in applying for the position please contact the General or Medical Human Resources Departments on the number identified on the NHS Jobs page for the organisation.
Job Share applicants are welcome for all full time posts unless indicated but cannot be guaranteed. In addition for Fixed Term Contracts, internal secondments may be considered, please seek the approval of your current line manager before applying for the position.
All employment with the Trust is subject to a number of NHS Employment Checks being met to a satisfactory standard including verification of identity, eligibility to work in the United Kingdom, references and qualifications in addition to professional registration, a disclosure and barring records check and occupational health check if these are deemed to be a requirement for the position to be undertaken.
For more information about our organisation and the opportunities available, please visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook
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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.
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