Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapist - Head and Neck

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; York; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A rare opportunity for an experienced Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapist specializing in head and neck services. Join a supportive team at York Hospital, overseeing innovative clinical practices and ensuring high-quality patient care. Enjoy a competitive salary, generous benefits, and the chance to lead change in service delivery while engaging in training and professional development.

Benefits

NHS Pension Scheme

27 to 33 days holiday

Generous relocation package

Employee Assistance Programme

Discounts on various services

Qualifications

• Experience managing complex head and neck cases.
• Evidence of leading clinical interventions and supporting staff.
• Significant experience in AAC and dysphagia care.

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical leadership in head and neck speech therapy.
• Manage a complex caseload, including laryngectomy cases.
• Train and support staff and families in therapy techniques.

Skills

Leadership

Clinical Expertise

Autonomy

Education

Post graduate qualification relevant to role

HCPC Registered Speech and Language Therapist

Job description

Please note that contact with applicants will usually be by email, and so please check all of your mail folders regularly (unfortunately some providers filter our messages into junk mail folders).

Our Values

• We are KIND
• We are OPEN
• We pursue EXCELLENCE

We are looking for applications from people who share our values to help make us a valued and trusted partner within our care system, that delivers safe effective care to our local population.

People for Patients. Our People, our Patients, our Priority

Job overview

Are you a passionate and experienced Speech and Language therapist, ready to lead innovation? A rare and exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated and enthusiastic Clinical Lead Speech and Language therapist in head and neck.

You will work closely with speech and language therapists and multi-professional colleagues across the Trust and to ensure high quality care is provided for all patients in the service. You will also have the opportunity to influence change in service delivery, work effectively in local and regional teams and lead improvement and innovation across head and neck pathways. We are ideally looking for an experienced and autonomous individual who has knowledge and skill in laryngectomy and surgical voice restoration. We have an established Videofluoroscopy service and have recently been successful in funding for a FEES Service.

This an excellent opportunity to expand your clinical knowledge within head and neck services, alongside expanding your skills across each of the Four Pillars of Practice. This role has a strong component of leading clinical transformation and improvement projects across clinical areas within the service. There will be opportunities to engage in research, present your work and educate in the areas of your clinical expertise. You will also be expected to support the learning and development of other speech and language therapists and multi-professional colleagues through training, supervision and reflective practice.

Main duties of the job

• To provide visible clinical leadership for speech and language therapy across clinical service, with a focus on head and neck, which includes autonomously managing a complex caseload, evaluation of quality and service performance and creating a culture of learning and development.
• To use evidenced based highly specialist skills to manage a complex head and neck caseload, which includes laryngectomy, surgical voice restoration, tracheostomy and late effects. This will be in outpatient and inpatient setting.
• Provide training/support to staff, patients and their carers.
  You need to be resilient and able to manage and prioritise your caseload whilst supporting the work and development of the team.
• The speech and language therapy department provides clinical inpatient and outpatient services to a variety of specialities, including critical care, voice, ENT, stroke and community.
  The department is well established in facilitating the training of speech and language therapy students and staff are involved in delivering a variety of rolling training programmes for other health care professionals across the Trust, relating to eating, drinking and communication.
• You will be part of a supportive senior speech and language leadership team, including other clinical lead speech and language therapists, team manager, as well as senior operational manager and speech and language therapy professional lead.

Working for our organisation

You will join a friendly team of over 20 speech and language therapists. You will be primarily based at York Hospital and will travel to Scarborough and other Trust localities regularly.

Our benefits

We offer a range of benefits to support our staff including:

• Access to the NHS Pension Scheme, providing generous benefits upon retirement, as well as a lump sum and pension for dependants
• 27 days holiday rising to 33 days (depending on NHS Trust service)
• A generous relocation package of up to 30% of salary (capped at £18k) to support with relocation expenses for hard to fill positions where relocation would be an expectation to undertake the role fully. If you would like to discuss a potential relocation package, please speak to the recruiting department/manager
• A variety of different types of paid and unpaid leave covering emergency and planned leave
• Confidential advice and support on personal, work, family and relationship issues, 24/7, from our Employee Assistance Programme
• NHS Car Lease scheme and Cycle to Work scheme
• An extensive range of learning and development opportunities
• Discounts on restaurants, getaways, shopping, motoring, cinema and finance from a range of providers

For further information on the fantastic range of benefits we offer please visit the Trust's dedicated Staff Benefits pages.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

A full description of the role is available in the attachment: job description.

Please note that if a high number of applications are received this advert may close early. You are advised to submit your application at the earliest opportunity.

Working for the Trust

Across our organisation, people are guided by values that were co-developed with staff: we are kind; we are open; and we pursue excellence.

Our values play into our ambition to develop a more diverse workforce, truly representative of our communities. We welcome applications from everyone, while working with our Staff Networks - including our Race Equality, LGBTQ+, Disability and Carers Networks - to increase the number of applications we receive from different backgrounds. If there is anything we can do to make our application process more accessible to you, please contact: [e-mail].

As part of seeking to become more inclusive, we will consider requests for flexible working from the start of your employment. It may not be suitable for every role, but we will try and be supportive where we can. We would encourage you to speak to the recruiting manager named within this advert to discuss any requirements you may have.

Armed Forces Friendly Employer

We are holders of the Gold Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, which is helping actively promote SaBRE - Supporting Britain's Reservists and Employers. This means that we have made a statement of intent to support all Defence personnel, including with applications for employment.

Person specification

Experience and Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Experience in specialist role, including the management of a range of specialist conditions, with substantial evidence of additional knowledge acquired through formal and informal clinical supervision
• Evidence of ability to lead and act as an authority on the management of complex clinical presentations in specialist area.
• Substantial experience of assessment and provision of specialist interventions including AAC and dysphagia care where appropriate.
• Significant experience of delivering clinical treatment within specialist area
• In-depth understanding of current issues in health care Standards of Professional Practice

Desirable criteria

• Highly experienced in the identification and use of outcome measures to evaluate clinical treatment.
• Highly developed specialist clinical skills within relevant area
• Significant experience of training/supporting others (including students) within specialist clinical area
• Evidence of having led the delivery of relevant audit/research projects.
• Practice placement supervisor qualification
• Master's level study within relevant area of practice or research and evidence-based practice.

Qualifications and Training

Essential criteria

• HCPC Registered Speech and language therapist
• Evidence of relevant structured CPD activities
• Post graduate qualification relevant to role and clinical specialty.
• Evidence of significant post graduate training within specialist area

Please note that some of our substantive vacancies may be available on a smaller number of hours than advertised. If you would be interested in applying on this basis, we would encourage you to contact the appointing manager to enquire further.

DBS Checks

Please be aware that all new employees starting work with us will be charged for the cost of their DBS check if it is required for the role. The cost will be deducted from your salary either in 1 payment or over a six month period once you start employment. By applying you are agreeing to this undertaking. If you are successful you will be asked to confirm if you wish to pay in one amount or in instalments. The charges are currently £27.38 for a standard check and £55.38 for an enhanced check. The level of check will be determined by the post you are applying for.

Please note that Volunteers and Bank only staff will not be charged.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) offers a confidential checking service for transgender applicants in accordance with the Gender Recognition Act 2004. This is known as the sensitive applications route, and is available for all levels of DBS check - basic, standard and enhanced.

The sensitive applications route gives transgender applicants the choice not to have any gender or name information disclosed on their DBS certificate that could reveal their previous identity. To contact the sensitive applications team, please telephone [phone] or email [e-mail].

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Please note, the selection processes at York & Scarborough Teaching Hospitals are in place to ensure we recruit candidates with the right skills and values. We remain vigilant against candidates who misuse these tools to generate an application that doesn't accurately reflect their skills. You will be required to acknowledge that you are aware of this before submitting your application.

Agile and Flexible Working

We are committed to helping all staff balance their work with other commitments and have recently launched our new Agile and Flexible Working policy to support this, entitling all staff to request flexible working from day one - for all posts. We encourage you to speak to the recruiting manager named within this advert to discuss any requirements you may have.

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

All our employees have access to a free, confidential counselling and wellbeing support service. Our EAP is available 24/7, 365 days a year.

Relocation Package

The Trust offers a generous relocation package of up to 30% of salary (capped at £18k) to support with relocation expenses for hard to fill positions where relocation would be an expectation to undertake the role fully. If you would like to discuss relocation further, please speak to the recruiting manager at interview.

A bit more about us and the surrounding area

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is situated in a fantastic part of the country that is home to two national parks, a beautiful coastline, and the city of York - consistently voted one of the best places to live in the UK. We provide a comprehensive range of acute hospital and specialist healthcare services for approximately 800,000 people living in and around York, North Yorkshire, North East Yorkshire and Ryedale - an area covering 3,400 square miles.

Our annual turnover is approaching £0.5bn. We manage eight hospital sites and have a workforce of around 10,000 staff working across our hospitals and in the community.

Sponsorship

If you require sponsorship to work in the UK, check you are eligible under the UKVI points based system online. Not all jobs we advertise are eligible for sponsorship.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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

• Job Description (PDF, 520.6KB)
• Reasonable Adjustment Guidance (PDF, 232.6KB)
• Our Strategy at a glance 2018-2023 (PDF, 54.1KB)
• Guidance for Applicants (PDF, 798.8KB)
• Relocation Offer Information (PDF, 134.7KB)