Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust; London; On-site; GBP 51,000 - 59,000; Part time

Job summary

Central London Community Healthcare is seeking a highly specialist Speech and Language Therapist to support children with complex communication needs and dysphagia. This role offers part-time flexible working opportunities, a comprehensive induction, and responsibility in a dynamic service within a supportive team.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Annual travel card loan

Training, support, and development

Qualifications

• Experience working with complex needs and dysphagia in children.
• Evidence of relevant post-registration education.
• Competence in managing complex dysphagic patients 0-19 years.

Responsibilities

• Provide assessment, advice, and treatment for dysphagia to children.
• Support the paediatric dysphagia knowledge of the wider SLT team.
• Work in clinics/schools and family homes focused on the preschool population.

Skills

Empathy

Interpersonal Skills

Problem Solving

Communication

Education

Recognised SLT degree or equivalent

Current AHP with UK HCPC registration

Member of a relevant Clinical Excellence Network

Job description

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Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Band 7

Main area Speech and Language Therapist Grade Band 7 Contract Permanent Hours

• Part time
• Flexible working

15 hours per week (Negotiable) Job ref 824-SOUTH-7242652-A

Site Cricket Green Polyclinic Town Mitcham Salary £51,883 - £58,544 per annum, inclusive of HCAS (pro rata) Salary period Yearly Closing 13/07/2025 23:59

Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) is one of the largest community healthcare organisations in London and Hertfordshire, providing our services to diverse communities/boroughs in 14 London Boroughs - Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hounslow, Kensington and Chelsea, Merton, Richmond, Wandsworth, Westminster, Hillingdon, Sutton, Kingston - and Hertfordshire.

We are rated Good by the Care Quality Commission and are ranked among top NHS employers. Community healthcare is our focus and our passion. We champion the role of community health professionals to make sure our patients get great care closer to home.

At Central London Community Healthcare, we promote equality and foster an inclusive environment where our diverse workforce feels they belong and are treated with fairness, respect, and dignity, enabling everyone to reach their full potential.

CLCH aims to create a culture where staff feel supported, valued and respected for what they do and where the values we seek to show to our patients are the same values we show to each other, in line with the NHS People Plan and Our NHS People Promise and our own strategic Equality values and objectives.

Job overview

Merton Community Children’s Speech and Language Therapy Service

Band 7 Highly Specialist - Children’s Speech & Language Therapist

(Complex Needs and Dysphagia)

Do you feel passionately about delivering the best possible SLT care to children and young people with complex communication needs and dysphagia?

Do you want to develop and support the dysphagia needs of our SLT team?

Want a chance to shape and influence SLT clinical service delivery?

We are looking for an experienced, passionate Speech & Language Therapist with complex needs experience and paediatric dysphagia skills to be part of our dynamic team in Merton.

Main duties of the job

Your role will be to provide assessment, advice and treatment for dysphagia to infants, children and young people (birth-19yrs) and for communication to an early years complex needs caseload in the community. You will also support and develop the wider team’s paediatric dysphagia knowledge. You will work as part of the Preschool Complex Needs Team, including work in clinics/schools and family homes with a largely preschool population. This is a unique opportunity for the right person to assist in developing and supporting the paediatric dysphagia skills of SLTs in Merton. The successful candidate will also need to demonstrate an understanding of current alternative and augmentative communication approaches (high, mid and low tech).

Just as we care about our patients’ well-being, we care about yours!

We can offer you:

A comprehensive induction into the community service followed by a local induction to introduce you to the role
Car lease scheme(only available for Band 5 and up)
Flexible working options
Annual travel card loan
Training, support and development in your career

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to Job Description and Person Specification for outline of skills, knowledge and experience required.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Recognised SLT degree or equivalent.
• Current AHP with UK HCPC registration
• Member of a relevant Clinical Excellence Network
• Evidence of competence in managing complex dysphagic patients in the 0-19 age group including those requiring enteral feeding
• Evidence of relevant post-registration education and training e.g. SCERTS, VERVE, Intensive Interaction, Attention Autism, Hanen, Gestalt Language Processing, AAC, Dysphagia, Infant Feeding, Breastfeeding, Tracheostomy

Experience

• Extensive experience of working in a variety of clinical settings
• Experience of working and liaising with other MDT professionals
• Recent experience within community SLT setting, specialising in complex needs and dysphagia in a paediatric population
• Ability to understand complex issues, problem solve and propose solutions.
• Able to communicate with families and young people in an empathetic manner regarding their treatment and procedures.
• Experience of supervising/ managing junior staff and students
• Experience working with families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
• Experience in the assessment and management of patients who require AAC
• Experience of working within a community paediatric SLT service.
• Experience of working through the RCSLT NQP and dysphagia frameworks with junior SLTs

Skills

• Excellent interpersonal skills including observation, listening and empathy skills.
• Highly specialist knowledge of a wide range of appropriate therapeutic interventions and evidence of a specialist level of clinical expertise in relevant areas.
• Independence in managing dysphagia within a paediatric population.
• Ability to use IT including PowerPoint, Excel, Word
• Excellent presentation skills, both written and verbal.
• Awareness of the management and use of data in the NHS setting
• Completion of CPD related to dysphagia management

Key Attributes

• Ability to address sensitive issues e.g.complex condition-related information to families/carers
• Hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010) or be able to travel around independently using public transport or another mode or transport

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close this vacancy before the advertised closing date. Therefore please apply for this post as soon as you can, if you are interested and you meet the requirements of the Person Specification.

Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification will be shortlisted for this job.

Interview arrangements will be communicated via email so please check your email regularly following the closing date.

At CLCH we appreciate and are proud of the diversity in the communities we serve and the workforce we employ. Applications are open and welcome to anyone, regardless of your age, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, religion, and disability.

We are proud to say that we follow the workforce race equality standard and 28% of our senior staff (8A and above) are from a BAME background. CLCH also has active BAME and LGBTQI networks:

Disability and Wellbeing Network (DAWN)

Race Equality Network

Rainbow Network which supports LGBTQI staff.

Each network has a champion who is an executive director at the Trust and they hold regular meetings to discuss issues and make plans to improve CLCH.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.