Go back Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Speech and Language Therapist
The closing date is 09 July 2025
Would you like to be part of community Speech and Language Therapy for adults with Learning Disabilities and to develop your skills and career in this area?
The post holder will be working within a Learning Disability specialist community team across the Black Country area. This is an innovative team of different disciplines and specialties who will give a supportive start to your career.
You would be working with our teams of therapists and assistants, providing a communication service for this varied population. There would also be opportunity to build on dysphagia competencies in this role.
Main duties of the job
Assess, diagnose and manage the communication and/or swallowing needs of patients receiving clinical assessment and intervention in community settings. Responsible for initial patient diagnosis and assessment under the supervision of a senior SLT clinician:
Collection of detailed case history information
Informal assessment and observation
Undertakes clinical work with individuals and groups of clients
Uses formal standardised assessment and informal assessment procedures
Reads and abides by risk assessments relating to patients of the service
Communicates assessment and therapeutic findings within the multi-disciplinary team
Completes contemporaneous case notes and written clinical information completion according to Trust procedures
Undertakes clinical work with individuals and groups of clients with guidance from senior SLT
Develops coordinated multidisciplinary programmes of care / care packages
Makes decisions leading to SLT review or discharge of clients and/or referral to other services, as appropriate
Is responsible for managing own community clinical caseload under guidance of a more senior clinician
About us
We are a forward-thinking, friendly and supportive Trust with dedicated therapy services. We have therapy staff working across the service within the community, enhanced inpatient settings and pathway teams reducing hospital admissions across the Black Country.
Continuing professional development is actively supported via annual appraisals, opportunities to attend webinars/courses, regular clinical supervision opportunities and through networking and skill sharing with therapy colleagues from across the service.
The Trust has friendly and down-to-earth 'bostin' staff teams, a comprehensive wellbeing offer for staff and an embedded set of values and behaviours. Our community Learning Disability services are a particular strength of multi-disciplinary working and support for a vulnerable client group.
Job responsibilities
* Contributes to audit, research and developments in the clinical field and service as directed by service leads.
* Provides advice in relation to care of clients with specific communication and swallowing needs to the multi-disciplinary team.
* Provides both direct and indirect intervention, consultation, advice and support; working within a multi-disciplinary model to a complex caseload in order to ensure that the inter-agency needs of clients are met, seeking highly specialist support and second opinions from senior clinical leads for the most complex patients.
* Promotes, supports and integrates the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists guidance and standards into all clinical work.
* Actively participates and supports MDT intervention by regularly attending patient MDT meetings and clinical reviews.
* Liaises both orally and in writing with any significant others involved in the management of the client, within and outside the NHS, to ensure the clients needs are met effectively and efficiently.
* Functions as a fully integrated multi-disciplinary team member supporting and facilitating communication within the therapeutic process including MDT clinical formulation and reflective practice
* Provides specific communication and/or dysphagia training alongside more senior colleagues to the MDT, the patient and their environment as part of clinical intervention.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* SLT degree and HCPC registration (or pending within 2 months)
* Undergraduate, postgraduate work or placement experience in the assessment/management of communication and/or swallowing difficulties.
* Knowledge of Learning Disability and associated national drivers
* Undergraduate, postgraduate work or placement experience with adults with LD
* Evidence of Learning Disability-relevant training - e.g Talking Mats, Makaton, Intensive Interaction, PECS etc
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.
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
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