Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist, Lead Community Clinics

NHS; Erith; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

An established healthcare provider is seeking a highly specialist Speech and Language Therapist to lead their early years and community clinic service. This role offers a unique opportunity to enhance your leadership skills while working with a dynamic team dedicated to supporting children with diverse speech, language, and communication needs. You will oversee operational activities, manage a dedicated team, and ensure high-quality service delivery. This position is perfect for a motivated professional eager to make a significant impact in the community and contribute to the ongoing development of clinical services. Join a supportive environment where your expertise will help shape the future of children's health and well-being.

Qualifications

• Experienced Speech and Language Therapist with leadership skills.
• Strong clinical knowledge and ability to manage complex cases.

Responsibilities

• Lead the early years community clinic team and ensure service development.
• Manage complex caseloads and provide specialist advice.

Skills

Speech and Language Therapy

Leadership

Clinical Decision Making

Problem Solving

Negotiation Skills

Education

Recognised Speech & Language Therapy degree

Membership of The Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC)

Completion of specialist short courses

Job description

Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist, Lead Community Clinics

Information:

This job is now closed

Job summary

Are you looking for an opportunity to develop your leadership skills within an early years/community clinic service? If so come and join Bexley Children's Speech & Language Therapy service.

You will be an experienced and self-motivated highly specialist speech and language therapist who enjoys working in a community clinic environment, leading the service for early years and some school age children with diverse speech, language and communication needs, referred for assessment, advice and therapy. You will lead a small team of therapists and assistants as well as being responsible for day to day operational and management activities. You will be involved in all aspects of caseload management, recruitment, service development, audit, training, supervision and appraisal.

The Bexley Children's Speech and Language Therapy service is a dynamic and supportive team and we offer many opportunities for developing clinical skills through CPD. The service has excellent internal supervision and support structures and would provide the ideal environment to develop clinical and management skills and contribute towards operational projects to support service development. We also offer extensive opportunities to work effectively with partners in health, social care and education.

If you would like more information about the position, please do contact us to discuss this job opportunity further, by calling 020 30040092, to speak to Jo Copp Early Years & Community Clinics Co-ordinator.

Main duties of the job

• To provide leadership to the early years community clinic team ensuring continued clinical service development.
• To demonstrate and provide highly specialist knowledge in clinical specialism/s underpinned by current evidence-based practice and to evaluate outcomes.
• To manage complex and highly specialist caseload independently and plan the workload of others.
• To make highly specialist clinical decisions in assessment of complex cases.
• To provide highly specialist advice to others regarding the management and care of children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).
• To manage, lead and provide highly specialist supervision to therapists and assistants working within the early years' community clinic team and other parts of the service.
• To meet with parents, child and young people, taking and responding to feedback to develop care pathways and monitor the quality of child and parent information.
• To ensure that children, young people and families are involved in the planning and prioritisation of their care plans wherever possible.
• To take a clinical specialist role in the development of local clinical guidelines informed by evidence, for children and young people with SLCN.

About us

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children's centres, schools and people's homes.We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We're Kind
• We Listen
• We Care

Job responsibilities

For more information and a detailed description of the main duties please refer to the Job Description attached

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Recognised Speech & Language Therapy degree qualification or equivalent
• Membership of The Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• Evidence of successful completion of specialist short courses up to Master's degree equivalent. Membership of relevant CEN/s

Experience

• Clinical experience of working with children with specific speech and language difficulties in early years community clinics at least 5 years
• Experience of co-ordinating service delivery
• Experience of supervising staff/conducting appraisals
• Experience of writing local policies

Knowledge & Skills

• Well established knowledge of a broad range assessment tools relevant to the client groups
• Demonstrates flexibility and ability to respond to workload demands as priorities arise.
• Highly developed negotiation and problem-solving skills in complex situations and ability to facilitate these skills in others.
• Experience of leading clinical development

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.

Early Years/Community Clinic Co-ordinator