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 five 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
We are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for a Band 7 Speech and Language Therapist to join our innovative service in community frailty.
The NELFT Speech and Language Therapy service supports adults with acquired disorders in Barking & Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge. The successful candidate will join a supportive and innovative team with established clinical specialists across multiple fields, including stroke, progressive neurology, head and neck cancers, and voice disorders.
The service offers weekly community videofluoroscopy and FEES clinics, and a monthly joint voice/dysphagia clinic with ENT. Competencies in these procedures would therefore be desirable. All staff are encouraged to lead quality improvement projects. In 2024, we were highly commended at the HSJ Awards for our community laryngectomy service development.
Clinical support will be provided by the Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapists in head and neck/ENT and adult neurology. CPD is actively supported through regular supervision, appraisals, and excellent training opportunities. Members of the team are supported to get involved in CENs and research. For further information, please follow our X @NELFTAdultSLT .
Main duties of the job
We are interested in recruiting an individual who is able to provide a thorough, evidence-based and holistic approach to patient care. The successful candidate will be responsible for independent assessment and management of patients with acquired swallowing difficulties. You will be expected to supervise junior colleagues and provide training to other healthcare professionals. There will be a specific expectation within this role to work collaboratively and in a timely fashion with dietetic, nursing and medical colleagues to keep people in their home environments wherever possible and work proactively to reduce future risks for the individual linked to their swallowing or communication concerns. The role will also involve collaboration with external teams, particularly primary care teams, our local virtual frailty ward and the frailty unit at the new St George’s Health and Wellbeing Centre in Hornchurch.
Clinical support will be provided by the Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapists in adult neurology and head and neck/ENT and also via the clinical leads for the Community Treatment Team. CPD is actively supported through regular clinical supervision, appraisals, quality improvement ‘huddles’ and excellent training opportunities. For further information on some of our work, please follow our twitter @NELFTAdultSLT .
Working for our organisation
The NELFT Speech and Language Therapy service provides a service to adults with acquired disorders in the London boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge. The successful candidate will join a supportive and innovative team with established clinical specialists across multiple fields, including progressive neurology, head and neck cancers, and voice disorders. All team members are encouraged to attend training in, and lead, formal quality improvement projects, with the team winning the trust’s Make a Difference Award for Quality Improvement in 2019. Members of the team regularly present their projects at national conferences, including our Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Programme, domiciliary laryngectomy service, and community FEES provision. This is an opportunity to work with this dynamic and innovative team in exploring a new area of speech therapy service provision.
Speech and Language Therapy are a respected and integrated part of the multidisciplinary team across our inpatient and community pathways. Recognised post graduate training in dysphagia management is essential. The Speech & Language Therapy service offers weekly community videofluoroscopy and FEES clinics. Experience of videofluoroscopy and/or FEES would therefore be desirable.
High Cost Area Supplement - Outer London
This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,551 to a maximum of £5,735 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 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.
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.
Person specification
Other
Essential criteria
1. To be able to travel efficiently throughout the area
Skills
Essential criteria
2. Basic awareness of IT and IT skills
3. Demonstrate clear clinical reasoning based on evidence based practice
4. Able to use own initiative
5. Organise and manage own caseload
6. Allocate duties and supervise therapy assistants
7. Good supervision skills
8. Formulate care programmes, identify goals by organising and prioritising
9. Excellent interpersonal skills including observation, listening and empathy
10. Negotiation, problem solving concentration, analytical and reflection skills
11. Written and verbal presentation skills
12. Present information in clear and logical manner
13. Ability to be a good team member
Knowledge
Essential criteria
14. An awareness of NHS priorities
15. Awareness of NHS Plan, NSF, clinical governance priorities and changing service needs
16. Government policy and legislation and how this may affect service delivery
17. Knowledge of acquired communication and swallowing disorders
18. Knowledge of assessment tools, treatment techniques and therapeutic interventions
19. Awareness of the roles of other professionals
20. Awareness of standards of record keeping
21. Understanding of safeguarding
Desirable criteria
22. Awareness of the principles of clinical governance/audit
Experience
Essential criteria
23. Significant relevant experience at undergraduate/post graduate level
24. Working collaboratively with carers and other professionals
25. Experience of working in a multi-agency and/or multi-disciplinary team
26. Working with clients who have a range of speech, language and communication needs resulting from neurological conditions
27. Planning and delivery of training to other professionals
Desirable criteria
28. Experience of videofluroscopy clinic
29. Experience of running a FEES clinic
Qualifications
Essential criteria
30. NVQ level 2 or equivalent standard of literacy and numeracy
31. Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree Qualification or equivalent
32. HCPC Licence to Practice
33. Show active interest in CPD in line with RCSLT guidelines
34. Post graduate training in dysphagia
35. Competencies in working with patients with neurological conditions
Desirable criteria
36. Member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy
37. Competencies in FEES
38. Competencies in videofluroscopy
Trust Values
Essential criteria
39. Demonstrates trust values
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:
40. 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.
41. 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.
42. 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.
43. 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.