Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (Deafness)

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust; Liverpool; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading children's healthcare organization in Liverpool is looking for a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist. You will support children and families in various settings, manage a complex caseload, and collaborate with a dynamic team. Ideal candidates will have a recognized degree and experience in deafness. The role offers training opportunities and a supportive network.

Qualifications

• Successful completion of specialist post graduate short courses.
• Experience working in community paediatric settings.
• Participation in research and audit.

Responsibilities

• Manage complex and highly specialist caseloads in various settings.
• Collaborate with SLTs and educational professionals to meet client needs.
• Support training and knowledge development for community team members.

Skills

Knowledge of British Sign Language

Experience as a specialist speech and language therapist in deafness

Multi-agency working

Developing training packages

Leadership in a clinical role

Education

Recognised Speech and Language Therapy degree qualification

Registration certificate of HCPC

Membership of Clinical Excellence Network for deafness

Job description

Go back Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (Deafness)

The closing date is 22 September 2025

We have an exciting opportunity to join the Cheshire and Merseyside Specialist Speech and Language Therapy Network for Deaf People. If you have a passion for working in the field of Deafness, then we have the vacancy for you. We are looking to appoint a Highly Specialist SLT and we welcome applications from candidates with highly specialist skills as well as from those who aspire to develop their knowledge and experience in this specialist clinical area, through a dedicated competency framework, with access to regular supervision from experienced clinicians, focused CPD activities and a clear pathway for completion of your training (including British Sign Language Levels 1 and 2).

As part of the Cheshire and Merseyside SLT Network for Deaf People, you would work for Alder Hey Foundation Trust based in the community in Liverpool. You will work with children, young people, adults, and their families in settings, across the city. You would also be part of the wider Network, working with a team of Highly Specialist SLTs who are dynamic and passionate about the service they provide. This offers a great support network throughout the team. You will work alongside our local community SLT team to provide specialist assessment and intervention, with the opportunity to train and support local professionals. We work collaboratively with our education colleagues (such as Teachers of the Deaf) and audiology.

Main duties of the job

You will be part of the Network team based in Liverpool, providing highly specialist support for children, young people and adults who are Deaf, and their families, across a range of settings (that may include resource bases).

You will manage a complex and highly specialist caseload, using evidence-based practice/client-based principles to assess, plan, formulate, implement, and evaluate interventions.

You will work collaboratively with SLTs; Teachers of the Deaf; and other education professionals, to meet the needs of the caseload.

You will also utilise your specialist skills in Deafness to support differential diagnosis and support of co-occurring conditions, such as Autism, Developmental Language and Speech Disorders. You will work with colleagues in the community team to support and develop their knowledge in Deafness, providing training and second opinions as needed.

You will contribute to service development and quality improvement projects to shape the delivery of specialist speech and language therapy for Deaf people across the Network.

We offer an induction period to enable you to shadow and work with the therapists across the region as well as ongoing support, supervision, training and CPD opportunities.

About us

As one of Europe's biggest and busiest children's hospitals, at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, we treat everything from common illnesses to highly complex and specialist conditions. In addition to our main hospital site, we offer paediatric services at a number of community sites and hold local clinics across Merseyside, Cumbria, Shropshire, Wales and the Isle of Man. We also provide specialist inpatient care for children with complex mental health needs in our recently relocated and newly opened state of the art facility.

Alder Hey has a thriving research portfolio and leads research into children's medicines, infection, inflammation and oncology. We are becoming recognised as one of the world's leaders in children's healthcare and research. We contribute to public health, lead cutting-edge research and teach the next generation of children's specialists. Alongside this is ourInnovation Hub, a dedicated space where clinicians and industries can come together to create new products and technologies.

We know that a children's trust is different and that our job is more than just treating an illness. To us, every child is an individual. As well as giving them the very best care, we set out to make them feel happy, safe and confident as they play, learn and grow. At Alder Hey we are here to look after a child and their family and that includes mums, dads, brothers and sisters.

Job responsibilities

The Cheshire and Merseyside Specialist SLT Network for Deaf People is the only regional network in the country that highly provides specialist speech and language therapy support for Deaf people. Recognised as a model of good practice by the RCSLT, as a regional service we offer consistent, high-quality evidence-based interventions to the population of Cheshire and Merseyside. We provide peer and managerial supervision by therapists who are clinical specialists in the field of Deafness.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for further details about this post. This is a developmental post.

Person Specification

Education and Training

• Recognised Speech and Language Therapy degree qualification or equivalent
• Registration certificate of HCPC
• Registered member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
• Evidence of successful completion of specialist post graduate short courses
• Knowledge of British Sign Language
• Evidence of successful completion of Communication Skills Development (CSD) Working with Deaf People Part 1 and Part 2.
• Membership of Clinical Excellence Network for deafness.
• Masters level or other recognised post-graduate course linked to specialism

Experience

• Working as a specialist speech and language therapist in deafness.
• Multi-agency working, and an in-depth knowledge of SEND legislation and its relevance to deafness, with links to national policies
• Developing and delivering training packages to other disciplines, carers and service users.
• Adapting a broad range of assessments and appropriate therapeutic interventions in SLT for deaf clients
• Working in community paediatric settings.
• Participating in research and audit
• Supervising junior members of staff
• Participating in service development initiatives or projects.
• Transcribing speech using auditory and visual information
• Working with 0 -2 age group
• Working with deaf adults
• Leadership in a clinical role.

Knowledge

• Specialism and skills as a result of experience or CPD
• An in depth understanding of appropriate therapeutic interventions for deaf people and an ability to compare and contrast relative benefits.
• Audiological assessments and their relevance to client management.
• BSL and the use of sign systems in supporting communication.
• A broad range of clinical disorders, assessments and appropriate therapeutic interventions in SLT and adaptations for deaf clients
• National policies and procedures relevant to deaf clients.
• Deafness and communication development.
• Functional listening skills and delivery of appropriate auditory training programmes for deaf people

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Alder Hey Community Therapies, Kilby House

Alder Hey Community Therapies, Kilby House