Band 4 Senior Speech and Language Therapy Assistant

Due to maternity leave, we would welcome the opportunity for a Senior Speech and Language Therapy Assistant to join our team to support people with speech, language and swallowing needs due to Head & Neck Cancer. The post holder would assist and support the work of the Speech and Language Therapy service to patients with communication swallowing and swallowing needs. This could include the provision of communication and swallowing therapy, assisting at mealtimes, completing dysphagia screening tests, completing referrals and liaising with patients, families, carers and the MDT. The role is based in Head and Neck Cancer and Oncology and will cover both inpatients and outpatients, including group work and working with people post laryngectomy., The successful candidate would work within the SLT team at QEHB serving a clinical caseload within Head & Neck Cancer. You would work closely with the SLT Team Leaders, Specialist SLTs and Band 5 SLTs to provide an excellent level of care to our patient group. The role is fixed term for 12 months and is based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston Birmingham. The post holder will work closely members with of the multidisciplinary team at the QEHB with particular emphasis of close working relationships with ENT, dietetic team and nursing teams as well as with carers and voluntary organisations. The successful post holder will support the Speech and Language Therapy team at QEHB with the head and neck cancer caseload including with the following tasks:

• Working with voiceless patients-advanced communication skills to understand and support people who are alaryngeal
• Ordering the surgical voice restoration valves
• Organising and attending the laryngectomy and head and neck support groups
• Gathering patient feedback and collating findings about what works and doesn't work for the patients we support, this is particularly complex given poor literacy and communication compromise
• Supporting service development and service evaluation
  
  QEHB benefits from one of the largest acute SLT teams in the country with more than 40 team members and our Trust is one of the largest teaching hospital Trusts in England serving a national and international population., We are recognised as one of the leading NHS Foundation Trusts in the UK. Our vision is to Build Healthier Lives, and we recognise that we need incredible staff to do this.
Our commitment to our staff is to create the best place for them to work, and we are dedicated to: Investing in the health and wellbeing of our staff, including a commitment of offering flexible working where we can;Offer our staff a wide variety of training and development opportunities, to support their personal and career development objectives. UHB is committed to ensuring that our staff are treated fairly and feel that they belong, by creating a kind and inclusive environment. This is about equity of opportunity; removing all barriers, including discrimination and ensuring each individual member of staff reach their true potential, achieve their ambitions and thrive in their work. This is more than words. We are taking action. Our commitment to an inclusive culture is embedded at all levels of the organisation where every voice is heard, driven by our diverse and active staff networks, and at Board level by the Fairness Taskforce led by our CEO. We nurture a culture which empowers staff to challenge discriminatory behaviours and to enable people to bring their 'whole self' to a kinder, more connected and bold place to work. University Hospitals Birmingham is a Smoke-Free premises hospital.