Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (Neuro)

TN United Kingdom; Chigwell; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a highly specialist Speech and Language Therapist to join their innovative team in Chigwell. This role involves working with patients facing complex communication and swallowing challenges due to neurological conditions. You will independently manage a diverse caseload while contributing to multidisciplinary care. The organization prides itself on a supportive environment and invests heavily in staff development, ensuring you have the resources to thrive. If you are passionate about making a difference in patient care and enjoy working collaboratively, this opportunity is perfect for you.

Benefits

Flexible working opportunities

Employee assistance programme

Health and wellbeing support

Training and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Experience with neurological conditions and complex dysphagia needs.
• Ability to supervise junior colleagues and provide training.

Responsibilities

• Manage and diagnose clients with neurological conditions.
• Develop and deliver intervention plans for complex needs.

Skills

Clinical reasoning

Interpersonal skills

Organizational skills

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Education

Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree

HCPC Licence to Practice

Tools

Videofluoroscopy

FEES clinic

Job description

Social network you want to login/join with:

Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (Neuro), Chigwell

Client:

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust

Location:

Chigwell, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

-

EU work permit required:

Yes

Job Reference:

c1a5dc563660

Job Views:

6

Posted:

05.05.2025

Expiry Date:

19.06.2025

Job Description:

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, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video.

Job overview

We are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for a Band 7 Speech and Language Therapist to join our growing service in the area of community neurology care.

The post will be primarily based in Redbridge and will involve MDT working to assess and manage swallowing and communication difficulties of patients with a range of neurological conditions, including MND.

The NELFT Speech and Language Therapy service provides a service to adults with acquired disorders in the London boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge. The successful candidate will join a supportive and innovative team with established clinical specialists across multiple fields, including progressive neurology, head and neck cancers, and voice disorders.

We are interested in recruiting an individual who is able to provide a thorough, evidence-based and holistic approach to patient care. The successful candidate will be responsible for independent assessment and management of patients with acquired communication and swallowing difficulties. You will be expected to supervise junior colleagues and provide training to other healthcare professionals. Clinical support will be provided by the Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapists in adult neurology and head and neck/ENT.

Main duties of the job

• Independently manage and differential diagnose a caseload of clients with neurological conditions and complex dysphagia needs within the Speech and Language team in Redbridge.
• Devise and deliver appropriate highly specialist intervention/care plans for clients with complex needs and provide suitable and timely support.
• Contribute to multidisciplinary support for clients with a range of swallow and communication difficulties.
• Provide feedback, advice and training to family members, carers and members of the multidisciplinary team regarding communication needs and swallowing difficulties and strategies to facilitate development.
• Develop and deliver training and support packages.
• To participate in the delivery and development of the LSVT service to patients that require this service.
• To participate in the delivery and development of the Videofluoroscopy / FEES Clinic as a member of the Adult Speech and Language Therapy Team.
• To provide highly specialist clinical/technical skills for interpretive assessment techniques, reading videofluoroscopic / FEES examinations.
• To provide supervision and leadership to junior speech and language therapy colleagues.

All team members are encouraged to attend training in, and lead, formal quality improvement projects, with the team winning the trust’s Make a Difference Award for Quality Improvement in 2019. Members of the team regularly present their projects at national conferences.

Working for our organisation

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

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 meet the executive team, senior managers and attend drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing, and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

High Cost Area Supplement - Outer London

This post also attracts a payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,551 to a maximum of £5,735 pro-rata for part-time).

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used, then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Detailed Job Description and Main responsibilities

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 closely to this when completing your application.

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role can be discussed at the interview stage.

References

Please ensure that the references are from your most recent employer and one of these must be your direct Line Manager or Supervisor. You must provide professional email addresses for all referees as we will contact them as soon as an offer has been made. Please note we do not request references prior to interviews. Additionally, ensure that any gaps in your employment history are clearly indicated. All applications made through NHS Jobs account will be processed by TRAC System. Please note that some emails may go to your spam/junk mailbox so make sure you check this regularly.

Person specification

Other

• To be able to travel efficiently throughout the area

Skills

• Basic awareness of IT and IT skills
• Demonstrate clear clinical reasoning based on evidence-based practice
• Able to use own initiative
• Organise and manage own caseload
• Allocate duties and supervise therapy assistants
• Formulate care programmes, identify goals by organising and prioritising
• Excellent interpersonal skills including observation, listening and empathy
• Negotiation, problem solving, concentration, analytical and reflection skills
• Written and verbal presentation skills
• Present information in a clear and logical manner
• Ability to be a good team member

Knowledge

• An awareness of NHS priorities
• Awareness of NHS Plan, NSF, clinical governance priorities, and changing service needs
• Government policy and legislation and how this may affect service delivery
• Knowledge of acquired communication and swallowing disorders
• Knowledge of assessment tools, treatment techniques, and therapeutic interventions
• Awareness of the roles of other professionals
• Awareness of standards of record-keeping
• Understanding of safeguarding
• Awareness of the principles of clinical governance/audit

Experience

• Working collaboratively with carers and other professionals
• Experience of working in a multi-agency and/or multidisciplinary team
• Working with clients who have a range of speech, language, and communication needs resulting from neurological conditions
• Planning and delivery of training to other professionals
• Experience of videofluoroscopy clinic
• Experience of running a FEES clinic

Qualifications

• NVQ level 2 or equivalent standard of literacy and numeracy
• Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree Qualification or equivalent
• HCPC Licence to Practice
• Show active interest in CPD in line with RCSLT guidelines
• Competencies in working with patients with neurological conditions
• Member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy
• Competencies in FEES
• Competencies in videofluoroscopy

Trust Values

• Demonstrates 5Ps

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

• A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long-term/chronic conditions, and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work-life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our efforts to support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognized as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations, and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part-time hours, or another flexible pattern.