Speech and Language Therapist

Employer information

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

Barts Health supports the Pregnancy Loss Pledge and commits to supporting their staff through the distress of miscarriage.

We are dedicated to being an outstanding place to work and will work with you to get the best experience. We know flexible working is not a one size fits all and will mean something different to everyone. We are inclusive, so if you are interested in flexible working, please speak to the recruiting manager.

Job overview

We are seeking a speech and language therapist to join our Early Language team within Barts Health NHS Trust. This is a team of SLTs and Bilingual Co workers that supports children with speech and language difficulties until the end of Reception class. The successful applicant will work in community settings including: children and family centres, nurseries/schools, clinics, patient's homes and various venues in Tower Hamlets.

This is an exciting time as we have changed our service to better meet the needs of the community. You will have opportunities in universal, targeted, and specialist levels of support, and will have the opportunity to support ongoing development of the service. You will be working with parents and children under five years of age (up to the end of Reception) in community and health venues, with a focus on children with language and speech sound needs.

We provide group clinical supervision, individual line management, a programme of in-house training and support, along with ad hoc support from experienced colleagues who will share your office base.
Our office is based at Mile End Hospital, conveniently located between Mile End and Stepney Green tube stations and serviced by a number of local buses. Locations around Tower Hamlets are easily reached by walking, cycling, or using public transport.

Main duties of the job

The post holder is an autonomous practitioner, providing assessment, diagnosis, prognosis, and a variety of intervention programmes in the management of the under 5s caseload.

The post holder provides clinical support and may supervise more junior speech and language therapists, as well as providing day-to-day supervision of bilingual speech and language therapy (SLT) co-workers involved in providing a service to preschool / Early Years Foundation Stage children managed by speech and language therapy.

The service provides a graduated offer of universal, targeted, and specialist support. This specific post is in the Early Language Team, which supports children up to the end of Reception who have difficulties with comprehension, expression, or speech. The postholder may also be required to support other speech and language therapy teams working with under 5s.

Working for our organisation

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

We are dedicated to being an outstanding place to work and will work with you to get the best experience. We know flexible working is not a one size fits all and will mean something different to everyone. We are inclusive, so if you are interested in flexible working, please speak to the recruiting manager.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Recognised degree in Speech and Language Therapy
• Registered member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and The Health and Care Professions Council

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working with a broad range of paediatric communication disorders within one or more setting
• Experience of working collaboratively with others as part of a speech and language therapy or multi-disciplinary team

Desirable criteria

• Applied knowledge of issues relating to the SEN Code of Practice
• Experience of working in deprived socio-economic, inner-city areas
• Experience of working in the community clinic setting
• Experience in the organization and presentation of workshops, courses, or other training packages
• Evidence of attending specific and relevant training courses and further developing clinical knowledge in areas related to the post
• Experience of working with a range of cultural and religious practices in the community
• Working knowledge of the Care Aims Model
• Clinical experience of working with bilingual families
• Experience of providing universal and targeted level support

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Theoretical and practical knowledge of child development, and the broad range of communication difficulties and implications of difficulties for a child
• Theoretical and practical knowledge of assessment tools relevant to the client group(s)
• Knowledge of a range of interventions and well-developed applied knowledge of more specialized intervention techniques relevant to the client group(s). Including, but not limited to, Developmental Language Disorder and Speech Sound Disorders.
• Excellent awareness of standards of record-keeping

Desirable criteria

• Well-developed awareness of the issues around training parents and professionals
• Excellent awareness of issues of multilingual and multicultural communities relating to speech and language therapy
• Awareness of clinical governance
• Knowledge of Signalong sign system

Skills

Essential criteria

• Time management, organisation, delegation, and prioritisation skills
• Highly developed auditory and visual perception skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Good analytical and reflection skills
• Ability to work independently without on-site, direct support from colleagues
• Flexible and able to work in different situations / locations
• Competent IT skills
• Ability to work efficiently in a team and support other team members
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with a range of audiences in writing or orally both in formal and informal situations

Desirable criteria

• Ability to manage conflict in a professional manner and seek advice from supervisor, where necessary
• Good negotiation and problem solving skills
• Empathetic to the needs of clients and their families
• Good skills in managing different levels of motivation in clients and their families

Additional employer information

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment where staff treat one another with dignity and respect. We aim to create an equitable working environment where every individual can fulfil their potential.

As an Equal Opportunities Employer we actively support applications from individuals' who apply under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme and will process your application as appropriate.

We reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once a sufficient number of applications has been received and we regret that we are unable to provide notification if your application is unsuccessful.

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to Barts Health NHS Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Barts Health is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and to child protection. The Trust aims to ensure as far as is possible that anyone, paid or unpaid, who seeks to work in our organisation and who gains access to children, is safe to do so. As such, you may be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Check as part of the recruitment process if appointed to a post with direct access to children or vulnerable adults.

Barts Health promotes active travel as part of its goal to reach Net Zero. Each site is accessible by public transport and the Trust has a cycle to work scheme and some sites have Brompton Hire Pods.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.

Documents to download

• JD & PS (PDF, 670.5KB)
• Our Values and Behaviours (PDF, 334.9KB)
• Policy Statement on the Recruitment of Ex-Offenders (PDF, 92.0KB)
• Candidate Information Pack (PDF, 549.5KB)