Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Children's Speech & Language Therapy Service for a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist - Early Years Complex Health Needs Lead to join our team.
The Children's Speech and Language Therapy team provides a Speech and Language Therapy Service consistent with professional standards to children with communication difficulties and dysphagia. This includes children with specific difficulties and/or complex needs at home, on the wards, in community clinics, pre-school settings and mainstream/special schools.
The Speech and Language Therapy Team offers a wide range of clinical assessments, providing interventions which are determined by specialist care pathways and offering direct support to children, young people, their families, education, health and social care colleagues.
We are a countywide SLT service and the post holder will be required to travel and work flexibly across the county to meet service demands and will be a car driver and be able to provide Business Insurance on their vehicle.
Main duties of the job
- To provide Speech and Language Therapy at a highly specialist level within early years complex needs pathways, working in partnership with other agencies and disciplines to support in the holistic assessment, diagnosis and intervention for children and young people known to the service.
- To demonstrate highly specialist knowledge in clinical specialism (dysphagia and complex health needs impacting on access to communication) underpinned by current evidenced based practice.
- To manage a complex and highly specialist caseload and take a lead on the wider caseload across the county demonstrating evidence of sound clinical judgement and outcome measurement with access to support and supervision as necessary.
- Support and develop members of the S< team supervising staff in their development of RCSLT dysphagia competencies to gain skills and knowledge within this highly specialist area.
- To provide highly specialist assessments, intervention and advice for children and young people who have eating and drinking/swallowing difficulties.
- To contribute to training and increased understanding of best practices in supporting children and young people with eating and drinking difficulties within Northamptonshire
About us
NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools.We also provide health services to various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
NHFT promotes a culture of learning to improve the care and safety of our patients and staff, which focuses on people who enable our Trust to be 'outstanding' by supporting opportunity, innovation, development and growth.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- To assess, develop and implement highly specialist dysphagia intervention and advice.
- To deliver this service in clinic/home/hospital/nurseries/school settings/respite and via online consultations where appropriate.
- To make appropriate clinical decisions following assessments, including differential diagnosis on the basis of evidence from assessment.
- To develop specialist care plans based on best practice and expert knowledge providing clear written recommendations and empowering parents to be partners in their childs care
- To provide effective liaison with professionals/carers to ensure safety and appropriate management.
- To manage and prioritise a complex and/or specialist caseload independently.
- To be accountable for own professional action and recognise own professional boundaries, seeking advice as appropriate. This may necessitate seeking specialist advice from outside the organisation.
- To work independently accessing appraisal and supervision at pre-determined intervals.
- Demand & capacity planning.
- Quality & Audit relevant to role and service.
- Actively engage and involve Service Users to inform future service developments and use learning from incidents and complaints to improve the quality and safety of service delivery.
- Risk, Incident & Complaint Management.
- Provide advice/second opinion to others re: management of c&yp with complex health needs.
- To work in partnership with the other S< Clinical Leads and other health professionals to ensure positive outcomes for CYP
- To work closely with partners in tertiary and community settings to support consistent and timely management of children receiving care between settings.
Person Specification
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree or equivalent qualification.
- Member of the RCSLT
- Registered as Speech and Language Therapist with the Health Care Professions Council
- Recognised post graduate Dysphagia training
- Documented evidence of Continuing Professional Development.
Desirable
- Neonatal training experience and a desire to further this area of practice.
- Member of relevant CEN.
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Experience providing highly specialist dysphagia assessment, intervention and advice for children and young people who have eating and drinking difficulties. Knowledge and application of SLT assessments and specialist interventions relevant to client group. Experience of supporting and developing members of the S< team to gain skills, knowledge and competencies within this highly specialist area. Ability to lead, manage and deliver projects related to job role Ability to work independently and organise a varied specialist caseload, meeting competing demands. Provide second opinions and supervision for therapists working with Children and Young People (CYP) with eating and drinking difficulties.
Desirable
- Experience and competencies for delivering videofluoroscopic swallow studies or a desire to develop these skills with supervision
- Experience of delivering training
Other
Essential
- Valid UK driving licence, access to vehicle and able to drive to different locations within working hours is essential.
- Able and willing to travel across the county to fulfil clinical requirements.
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.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website .
Employer details
Employer name
Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust
Address
Sudborough House, St Mary's Hospital
London Road
Kettering
NN17 7PW