Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust; Romford; Remote; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

High Cost Area Supplement (15%)}

Job summary

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust in Havering is seeking an experienced Speech and Language Therapist to lead the Specialist Schools pathway for children aged 4–19 with a wide range of communication needs. The role operates within a supportive MDT and involves collaboration with teachers, therapists and families to deliver targeted interventions.

The post is permanent, based in Romford, 4 days per week (0.8 WTE), with opportunities for professional development and supervision.

Qualifications

• Registered Speech and Language Therapist for children and young people.
• Experience leading a specialist pathway and working in school settings.
• Ability to work across universal, targeted and specialist levels within a MDT.
• Commitment to evidence-based practice and service development.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Havering Specialist Schools pathway and oversee SLT service delivery.
• Assess, plan, implement and evaluate care for children with complex communication needs.
• Collaborate with health and education professionals to deliver joined-up care.
• Supervise and support less-experienced SLTs and assistants.
• Provide training to families, carers and school staff.

Skills

SLT experience

Team collaboration

Autonomy

Multidisciplinary

Education

Registered Speech and Language Therapist

Job description

Job overview

An exciting position has arisen for an experienced Speech and Language Therapist to join a well-established, innovative and supportive team in the London Borough of Havering. Leading our Specialist Schools pathway, you will work closely with therapists and assistants working within specialist school settings, supporting children and young people aged 4–19 years with a wide range of speech, language and communication needs.

You will have the opportunity to support children and young people at a universal, targeted and specialist level, working collaboratively with a range of professionals within the multidisciplinary team, including teachers, teaching assistants, occupational therapists and other health and education professionals. You will also work alongside colleagues supporting our AAC, Complex Needs and Feeding pathways. There will be opportunities to provide clinical input into another part of the service, such as AAC or Dysphagia, depending on service need and individual experience.

This is a permanent position for 4 days per week (0.8 WTE), offering a wide range of personal and professional development opportunities. This role would suit a current Band 7 looking for new opportunities or a Band 6 therapist ready to take the next step in their career. We welcome applications from those who are enthusiastic and motivated, with a passion for supporting children and young people with complex communication needs and a commitment to bringing innovation and creativity to the service.

As part of NELFT (North East London Foundation Trust), you will have the opportunity to work in a flexible service where staff wellbeing is actively promoted and encouraged.

This is a great opportunity to join a team of passionate and enthusiastic professionals who support children and their families with their speech, language and communication needs across a wide range of areas. You will work closely with health professionals, education staff and our Local Authority partners to provide high-quality, evidence-based speech and language therapy. The role involves collaborative working with families and multidisciplinary teams. Training and supervision will be provided to support you in this role.

Based in Romford, with established transport links from London: we are 17 minutes by train from London Liverpool Street and 20 minutes from Stratford on the Elizabeth Line. We also have good transport links to Essex and Kent.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be a Registered Speech and Language Therapist responsible for children and their families allocated to them and will assess, manage, plan and deliver care, including being professionally and legally accountable. The post holder will work autonomously as a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist within the Integrated Children’s Services team in various settings.

The post holder will support their peers and team lead and be an effective team member whilst working on their own initiative. They will have a commitment to collaborative working and actively support and liaise with other health and social care professionals and agencies.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To take responsibility for the day to day running of a specialist pathway within the Havering Speech and Language.
• To have a comprehensive overview of the caseload in specific clinical areas to support service development and waiting list management.
• To independently manage and make differential diagnoses for a caseload of clients with Speech and Language Therapy needs which may include eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties. This includes clients with/without an Education, Health and Care plan.
• To devise and deliver appropriate specialist intervention/care plans/enhanced models of SLT for clients and provide suitable and timely support.
• To provide highly specialist knowledge, advice, training and teaching to parents, carers, students and SLT team in all aspects of management of children in the mainstream school service
• To work as part of the integrated therapies multi-disciplinary team ensuring the delivery of joined up care plans.
• To have a detailed knowledge of the national curriculum to devise and provide individualised intervention targets to be embedded within the educational curriculum.
• To provide oral and written feedback, advice and training to parents/family members, carers and members of the multidisciplinary team regarding communication needs and strategies to facilitate development.
• To develop and deliver training and support packages as appropriate.
• To supervise and support less experienced SLTs and assistants.
• To work within the SLT service guidelines

Working for Us

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives, along with staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been recognised in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and hold a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Through our staff networks and training opportunities, we strive to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT.

Our Values 2025 - 2030

Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.

They are:

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by
the best people.

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers, and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Goodmayes Hospital.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period.

High Cost Area Supplement – Outer London

(B&D, Goodmayes, Redbridge, Havering and Waltham Forest.)

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,870 to a maximum of £6,137 p.a. pro rata for part time).

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Use of AI

We value applications that genuinely reflect each candidate’s own skills, experience and motivations. We therefore strongly discourage the use of AI-generated content in applications.

Applications should be written in your own words and accurately represent your knowledge, skills and experience.

We reserve the right to reject an application where we reasonably believe AI has been used to generate or materially contribute to its content.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this when completing your application.

For an informal chat or to arrange a visit, please contact:

Name: Kara Morrison

Job title: Team/ Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapy- Havering

Contact Number: 07858 688 985

Email: [e-mail]