Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist | Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust; City Of London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent NHS foundation trust in the UK is seeking an experienced Speech and Language Therapist to work with chronic respiratory patients. The ideal candidate will provide specialist care in a team setting, managing swallowing and communication disorders. Candidates must possess significant experience in respiratory diseases and demonstrate excellent interpersonal skills. This position offers an opportunity to work in a distinguished healthcare environment.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in chronic respiratory diseases and related therapies.
• In-depth knowledge of swallowing disorders and assessments.
• Ability to communicate complex information tactfully.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialized care for patients with complex swallowing and communication needs.
• Manage and supervise junior therapists.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams for patient management.

Skills

Communication skills

Clinical expertise in respiratory diseases

Teamwork

Empathy

Education

Clinical qualifications in speech and language therapy

Competency in advanced respiratory disease assessment

Job description

Overview

We are looking for a driven, dynamic and enthusiastic individual who has a passion, and clinical interest, in the specialty of chronic respiratory disease. The successful postholder will work within a small team of highly skilled speech and language therapists, working closely with other allied health professionals to provide highly specialist care to patients.

This is an exciting opportunity to extend skills with tertiary level patients including complex dysphagia and upper airway disorders across the varied field of respiratory medicine, including complex asthma, COPD (including lung volume reduction), neuromuscular disease and ILD. We offer opportunities to participate in regular objective instrumental swallow assessments (FEES and VFS) – please contact us for more information if you think this could be the role for you.

The post holder will be an integrated member of the multi-professional therapy team, providing therapy to patients with chronic and severe respiratory conditions at Royal Brompton Hospital. They will receive operational and professional management from the Clinical Specialist and Adult Clinical Lead SLTs.

They will lead the assessment, treatment and management of swallowing, voice, and upper airway disorders throughout the patient pathway in both outpatient and inpatient settings including in-reach to critical care. Significant experience, in-depth knowledge and skills in advanced respiratory disease is essential, including non-invasive (NIV) and invasive ventilation (IV) via a tracheostomy for respiratory muscle weakness.

Completion of competency-based learning and substantial experience with instrumental dysphagia assessments is required (Level 2b FEES practitioner (or equivalent)), and significant experience in video fluoroscopy. Familiarity with using MBSImP in practice is desirable. Experience with inducible laryngeal obstruction (ILO) management and laryngoscopy with provocation is also desired.

The post holder will be part of the wider SLT team and be responsible for line management and clinical supervision of the band 5 and 6 Speech Language Therapists in the respiratory SLT service.

They may on occasions be asked to support the cardiothoracic and critical care teams at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals as required by service needs.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UK’s best known hospitals – Guy’s, St Thomas’, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield – as well as community services in Lambeth and Southwark, all with a long history of high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation. We are among the UK’s busiest, most successful foundation trusts.

We have a long tradition of clinical and scientific achievement and – as part of King’s Health Partners – we are one of England’s eight academic health sciences centres, bringing together world-class clinical services, teaching and research. We have one of the National Institute for Health Research’s biomedical research centres, established with King’s College London in 2007.

Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ in February 2021 and is the largest specialist heart and lung centre in the UK and among the largest in Europe. We provide treatment for people with heart and lung disease, including rare and complex conditions, offering some of the most sophisticated treatment that is available anywhere in the world.

Our integrated approach to caring for patients from before birth, through childhood, adolescence and into adulthood and old age has been replicated around the world and has gained Royal Brompton and Harefield an international reputation as a leader in heart and lung diagnosis, treatment and research.

Main tasks and responsibilities

1. Communication

• To provide highly specialist advice and input for patients with communication and swallowing needs at the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals
• To liaise with SLTs, AHPs, medical and nursing teams, and other members of the MDT regarding prioritisation, case management and risk management of patients with communication and swallowing disorders.
• To demonstrate interpersonal skills that grow and maintain positive working relationships with all healthcare professionals involved in patient care.
• To communicate sensitive and complex information and sometimes unwelcome news tactfully and diplomatically to patients, parents and carers, acknowledging this may trigger a range of emotions, and to provide ongoing counselling and support.
• To promote and contribute to multi-professional team building and collaborative practices, e.g. knowledge and skills sharing, joint working.
• To ensure close liaison with SLT colleagues in other trusts including community teams to ensure adequate handover of individual cases working towards a seamless service.
• To promote the department, the Trust and the profession by participating in joint initiatives with other members of the team as required by the operational and professional leadership team.
• To write comprehensive, clear reports to inform medical, education and social services with regard to current and future needs of the patient.
• To recognise communication breakdown/conflict when it occurs and generate potential solutions.
• To network with other SLTs locally, nationally and internationally.
• To produce information for patients which is accessible and user friendly and in accordance with Trust policy.
• To demonstrate empathy with patients and their carers, particularly in situations where they may be highly stressed or grieving and where barriers to understanding may exist (e.g. linguistic and cultural differences).
• To contribute positively and constructively to staff meetings and in-service trainings.

Please see the job description document for full role responsibilities.

This advert closes on Sunday 28 Sep 2025