Acute Team Lead Speech and Language Therapist (SLT)

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced Speech and Language Therapist to lead the inpatient SLT team in the acute setting, managing a specialist caseload.

You will work with ward teams, develop care pathways and supervise and develop the SLT service, including FEES clinics, videofluoroscopy and tracheostomy care.

This role supports a diverse range of wards and sites across the trust, with the aim of delivering high quality patient care.

Responsibilities

• Lead the inpatient Speech and Language Therapy team in the acute setting
• Manage a highly specialist and complex caseload including swallowing, voice and communication disorders
• Provide line management, supervision and service development for inpatient SLT services
• Collaborate with ward teams to promote MDT working and education across services
• Develop documentation and guidelines related to the general inpatient SLT service
• Deliver videofluoroscopy and FEES clinics and provide tracheostomy care where appropriate

Job description

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

This post requires the post holder to be able to undertake all statutory and mandatory training and post holders must be able to undertake physical interventions. Fitness for physical intervention will be assessed by Occupational Health.

Clinically the role is diverse with service delivery to a range of wards including neurology, oncology and respiratory. There will be the opportunity to work with patients with tracheostomies and to hold a specialist clinical caseload. Access to FEES and videofluoroscopy is available. You will be responsible for managing the day to day operations of our acute general medicine team. In addition, you will provide line management, supervision and service development for our inpatient services and hold responsibility for the ongoing development of the whole SLT team in dysphagia management.

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

To lead the complex care inpatient Speech and Language Therapy team supporting service provision and embedding best practice in the acute setting.

To independently manage a highly specialist and complex caseload; including screening, in depth assessment, differential diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and review of adults with acute, chronic and complex acquired disorders of swallowing, voice and communication.

To work closely with the Operational Manager and Head of Profession for SLT in the ongoing development of the SLT service in the inpatient setting.

To work closely with the inpatient team and the ward teams in promoting information and education sharing to enhance MDT working

To evaluate and develop appropriate documentation associated with the general inpatient service, including, but not limited to care pathways, guidelines, policies and processes relating to the general in-patient service.

To actively participate in the SLT team providing videofluoroscopy, Fibreoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallow (FEES) clinics and tracheostomy care in the acute setting. Or willingness to undertake training.

To manage and prioritise own clinical workload as appropriate, working efficiently to manage professional time and delegate according to competency levels of other therapists.