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 a qualified speech and language therapist seeking a new role?
At NELFT, we have the perfect opportunity for you. And we flex to suit you, let us know if we can accommodate a flexible working arrangement to suit your personal circumstances.
We are looking for a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist to join our diverse Children’s Speech and Language Therapy Team in the London borough of Redbridge. Redbridgeis a great place to live and work - a thriving community with an abundance of amenities and good transport links. You can find out more about the area and the services that we provide to local residents on our careers website – .
You will be working as part of a friendly, diverse and supportive team to provide a service for babies, children and young people presenting feeding difficulties within a range of settings such as patient homes, pre-school settings, community clinics and schools. As part of your role, you will provide assessments as well delivering intervention and training to upskill parents, carers and education staff. You will have lots of opportunities to develop your skills through training cross-borough peer meetings.
This post will ideally suit an established Band 6 Speech and Language Therapist looking for a new challenge or an experienced Band 7 Speech and Language Therapist ready to diversify their career.
Main duties of the job
Speech and Language Therapists are core to the efficient service delivery that we provide to our patients.
As a Speech and Language Therapistin our Children’s Speech and Language Therapy Team,you will deliver care to service users in the community, clinics and education settings.
The main responsibilities of the post:
1. To lead on and contribute to the provision of SLT services for children (0-19 years) living in Redbridge with eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties.
2. To independently manage a clinical caseload of children with a range of feeding difficulties.
3. To provide an advanced standard of assessment, clinical diagnosis and treatment for babies, children and young people with feeding difficulties.
4. To make highly specialist clinical decisions following assessment of complex cases.
5. To provide specialist advice and disseminate information accordingly to parents and other professionals as appropriate.
6. To work in the context of a multi- disciplinary team in the Redbridge Child development Centre.
7. To make differential diagnosis on the basis of assessment evidence providing advice when appropriate and input into EHCPs.
8. To provide supervision, advice and second opinions to more junior colleagues.
Working for our organisation
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-Cost Area Supplement
This post also attracts payment for High-Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (minimum payment of £4,714 and a maximum payment of £5,941) pro rata for part time staff.
Certificates of Sponsorship
Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points based system
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East 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.
We offer:
9. A programme of induction
10. A team of friendly, supportive colleagues with a range of specialist knowledge
11. A well developed and supportive Multi disciplinary Team, including joint clinics with a dietitian
12. A well-developed supervision and appraisal structure (including monthly supervision with a named therapist and annual appraisals)
13. Access to a base with opportunities for frequent contact with other therapists
14. An accessible base close to an underground (Central Line) and mainline station (Elizabeth Line)
15. Opportunities for frequent contact with other speech and language therapists within NELFT.
16. A well-developed support, supervision and appraisal structure.
17. Extensive opportunities for continuing professional development (attending specialist courses)
18. Well developed agile working facilities
19. Monthly speech and language team meetings to discuss current matters and keep up-to-date with changes in the services
20. Flexible working hours and arrangements
Candidates will need to demonstrate the following requirements:
21. A recognised Speech and Language Therapy degree qualification or equivalent and relevant professional registration
22. Specialist clinical skills in terms of assessment and therapy for children and young people with eating and drinking difficulties
23. Some experience of working with Children Under 1 (This can be under-supervision) and a desire to build skills and knowledge in this area.
24. Outstanding interpersonal skills, and the ability to work as an effective multi-disciplinary team member.
25. Experience in supervising other team members
26. 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
Essential criteria
27. To demonstrate professional knowledge as evidenced by 1st degree level or qualification or equivalent HPC registration Membership of RCSLT Membership of relevant specialist interest group
Experience
Essential criteria
28. Skills and knowledge required of a Speech and Language Therapist working with babies and children with feeding difficulties including: For at least the last 6 months has met the criteria for ‘specialist dysphagia practitioner, level C, highly specialist’ in the RCSLT dysphagia training and competency framework and has evidence of this. Ability to critically analyse the validity of assessments and interventions and clearly communicates the results to parents/carers/colleagues
Skills
Essential criteria
29. Ability to critically analyse the validity of assessments and interventions and clearly communicates the results to parents/carers/colleagues
Skills
Essential criteria
30. •Outstanding interpersonal skills,verbal and written communication skills and the ability to work as an effective multi-disciplinary team member
Benefits
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:
31. 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.
32. 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.
33. 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.
34. 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.