Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

We have exciting opportunities for enthusiastic and motivated Specialist Speech and Language Therapists to work in across mainstream schools (4.5 days) and the Hearing Support service (3 days) in Barnet and join our wonderful and supportive team (part-time/flexible working will be considered) ensuring that the role offers excellent work/life balance.
Band 5 candidates with experience will be considered for a band 5/6 run through post and will be supported to achieve Band 6 competencies before progressing
We have been given additional funding to expand our current universal and targeted offer to support children, young people and their families. The successful candidate will be involved in setting up and working on new initiatives as well as having a caseload of children for assessment and intervention.
This successful candidate will deliver a Speech and Language Therapy Service to children and young people attending Barnet mainstream schools with communication difficulties. There is also optional rotation between language and social communication pathways in the mainstream part of the role.
You will work independently and with supervision and support, alongside a friendly, open, supportive and experienced therapy team to deliver assessment and intervention for children and young people with a range of communication difficulties, and to provide training and advice to empower their families and education staff., The post holder will be expected to support their team, department, and organisation to achieve the Trust's Values in their day-to-day work. The post holder will achieve this by
Providing a comprehensive Speech and Language Therapy service to children presenting with a range of speech, language and communication needs in the borough.
Independently managing a paediatric caseload and delivering integrated therapeutic packages of care
Devising child centred speech, language and communication therapy programmes and care plans for clients
Contributing to multi agency care pathways for children with special educational need
Providing feedback, guidance and training to parents/carers and other professionals regarding language and communication needs and strategies to facilitate children's development.
Committing to collaborative working and actively supporting and liaising with other health, education, and social care professionals.
Supporting peers and colleagues by being an effective team member whilst working on own initiative.
Working for Whittington Health in Barnet will offer:
+ Excellent CPD opportunities;
+ Informal networking across the 4 Whittington Boroughs;
+ Commitment to excellence in practice;
+ Very strong supervision and direct line management;
+ Agile working in the community using mobile technology;
+ Flexible working hours and arrangements will be considered;
+ Shadowing opportunities;
+ Service and Trust Induction Packages;
+ Specialist advice and second opinions
+ Team Meetings
+ Appraisals
+ Support to develop your own clinical interests
+ Team projects co-working with other colleagues., Patient care
+ To be responsible for clinical delivery of SLT service to a caseload of children with a range of speech, language and communication needs within mainstream schools around the borough of Barnet.
+ Complete assessments, write individual programmes, implement groups, provide specialist advice and resources and review outcomes with a functional based focus.
+ To work collaboratively with children, families and other professionals to achieve outcomes for individuals, providing support, programmes, ideas, advice and assessment.
+ To demonstrate clinical effectiveness by use of evidence-based practice and outcome measures. This requires knowledge of current research and agreed best practice in working in the field of specialism.
+ To provide a service considering the needs of clients from a range of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.
+ To liaise with specialist teaching staff, classroom teachers and education support staff to provide specialist Speech and Language Therapy input to curriculum and programme planning.
+ To liaise closely with the Special Needs Services staff within Barnet and with members of the Learning Support Services working with children on the caseload.
+ To maintain close links with Speech and Language Therapy staff working in Early Years, School Age and Adult Teams within the trust to ensure smooth transition between phases as required.
Clinical - Direct
+ To provide a comprehensive Speech and Language Therapy service to clients referred with speech, language and communication difficulties within mainstream in the borough.
+ To take a specialist role in developing the Speech and Language Therapy service including developing care pathways and packages, developing assessment, therapy and training materials specific to this client group.
+ To deliver appropriate formal and informal assessments for a range of clinical specialisms, including autistic spectrum disorder, Augmentative and Alternative Communication systems, language and social communication delay/disorder and complex needs.
+ To make differential diagnosis based on this assessment and communicate complex condition related information from assessment to children, carers, families and members of the multi-disciplinary team/other professionals.
+ To always maintain sensitivity to the emotional needs of clients/carers when imparting complex and distressing information regarding the nature of the client's difficulties and the impact of this on individuals and their families.
+ Following assessment and differential diagnosis, to design and develop evidence-based treatment and management programmes by working closely with clients, carers and families, agreeing decision making relevant to client management, and providing the family with sufficient information to ensure meaningful choices that promote dignity, independence and quality of life.
+ To deliver programmes devised through a combination of 1:1 therapy, therapy groups, and indirect therapy to be implemented within the multi-disciplinary teams available, and within the child's family.
+ To demonstrate skills in motivating clients and/or carers to engage in the therapeutic process.
+ To work closely with school staff to embed inclusive speech, language and communication practice within the classroom.
+ To organise own caseload effectively, prioritising tasks and planning short- and long-term goals together with the children, family and other professionals.
+ To impart principles and provide training to establish the use of speech, language and communication enrichment techniques by parents/carers and fellow practitioners.
+ To review, adapt and facilitate treatment programmes and the use of augmentative communication systems according to client's needs.
+ To demonstrate empathy with clients, carers and families and colleagues, ensuring that effective communication is achieved, particularly where barriers to understanding exist.
+ To maintain a high level of concentration in all aspects of patient care at all times, in order to monitor auditory, visual and kinaesthetic aspects of communication adaptations, and to facilitate treatment programmes and the use of augmentative communication systems communication aids according to perceived need, with regard to cultural and linguistic differences.
+ To initiate referrals to other health professionals, specialist services and agencies.
+ To be computer literate and ensure accurate recording of actions, updating patient's records whilst maintaining confidentiality at all times.
+ Policy/Service Development/Implementation
+ To work within the Trust SALT service guidelines for children's services.
+ To contribute to the provision of speech and language therapy packages of care and clinical care pathways.
+ To input into service redesign projects.
+ To take an active interest in working parties and groups within the Trust to develop and improve on service delivery, protocols and guidelines.
Whittington Health is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
Whittington Mission, Vision and Goals
We have an excellent reputation for being innovative, responsive and flexible to the changing clinical needs of the local population. We are treating more patients than ever before and are dedicated to improving services to deliver the best for our patients.
Our mission
Helping local people live longer, healthier lives.
Our vision
Provide safe, personal, co-ordinated care for the community we serve.
Our goals
We have developed six key strategic goals to make sure we continue to support people to live longer, healthier lives.
+ To secure the best possible health and wellbeing for all our community
+ To integrate and coordinate care in person-centred teams
+ To deliver consistent, high quality, safe services
+ To support our patients and users in being active partners in their care
+ To be recognised as a leader in the fields of medical and multi-professional education, and population-based clinical research
+ To innovate and continuously improve the quality of our services to deliver the best outcomes for our local population
Whittington Values
Our values underpin everything we do. Our staff are committed to delivering the following values in everything they do.
Our ICARE values have been created by our staff and are embedded in our appraisal and planning processes and form part of our staff excellence awards.
Probationary period
Employment at Whittington Health is offered subject to successful completion of a 6-month probationary period for all staff with the exception of GMC Registered Doctors.
SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND ADULTS
To comply with the Trust's Safeguarding Children and Adults policies, procedures and protocols. All individual members of staff (paid or unpaid) have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults This will require you to:
+ Ensure you are familiar with and comply with the London Child Protection Procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.
+ Ensure you are familiar and comply with the London Multi Agency Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Pan London Procedures.
+ Ensure you are familiar and comply with local protocols and systems for information sharing.
+ Know the appropriate contact numbers and required reporting lines.
+ Participate in required training and supervision.
+ Comply with required professional boundaries and codes of conduct
Whittington Health is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
Your application form -
1. Provide only business email address for your referees - we are unable to request references from yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail accounts.
2. Make sure you to include all evidence of where you meet the essential requirement on the jobs description as this forms the base of our shortlisting criteria.
Our processes -
1. Closing dates are given as a guide; we are within our right to close adverts early so please ensure you submit your application as soon as possible to avoid delay.
2. If you do not hear from us up to 3 weeks after the closing date of the job unfortunately this means you have not been successfully shortlisted for interview. If your require feedback on your application please contact the appointing manager detailed in the body of the advert.
3. Please check your emails regularly as all correspondence from us will be via trac.systems - occasionally these emails will go into your Junk folder.
4. Employment at Whittington Health is offered subject to successful completion of a 6 month probationary period for all staff with the exception of GMC Registered Doctors.
Other important information -
+ Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Before submitting your application and to avoid disappointment please check that you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.
+ Applications are welcome from people wishing to job share or work flexible patterns. We are committed to equal opportunities.
+ In submitting an application form, you authorise Whittington Health NHS Trust to confirm any previous NHS service details via the Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process should you be appointed to the post.
If you are offered a role with one of the NLPSS partner trusts, as part of pre-employment checks your identity and right to work documentation will be verified remotely (in most circumstances), using a certified identity verification service provider TrustID. You will be asked to capture an image of the relevant documents as well as a "selfie" using your smartphone/tablet (if available) for facial matching. TrustID will also perform a digital address check using Trunarrative and Equifax, which is a soft check and does not leave a footprint on your credit rating. For more information, visit www.trustid.co.uk
Please note that during the recruitment process your Identity Documentation (i.e. passport, driving licence, visa, etc.) will be scanned using a device which recognises UV, Infrared and Machine Readable Zone security features of the documents provided
The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.
We would welcome applications from individuals who are from underrepresented groups in the organisation