Senior Clinician Speech and Language Therapist (Community)

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust; Burnley; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is expanding its community Speech and Language Therapy service to support adults with acquired neurological disorders of communication and swallowing in home and community settings. The post involves observing videofluoroscopy, contributing to the community care pathway, and leading service improvement projects in collaboration with inpatient teams.

The successful candidate will be part of a well‑established SLT service with access to a multidisciplinary team,

Qualifications

• Specialise in dysphagia and communication in community settings.
• Observe and utilise videofluoroscopy and FEES pathways where available.
• Deliver specialist Speech and Language Therapy services to adults with neurological communication and swallowing disorders in the community.

Responsibilities

• Provide SLT services in adults in home, community hospital sites and care homes.
• Promote understanding of clinical disorders and SLT services.
• Undertake videofluoroscopy to competency.
• Support design and delivery of the community clinical care pathway.
• Lead continual improvement projects within the service in collaboration with inpatient teams.

Skills

Dysphagia expertise

SLT clinical skills

Quality improvement

Job description

We are looking for someone who is ready to specialise in dysphagia and communication in the community setting. Our expanding community service covers patient in their own home, community hospital sites and also in a care home setting. Our care home pathway utilises digital healthcare to support with achieving timely assessments for patients. Our community team has a strong everyday improvement focus and recognises the value of speech & language therapy services in supporting right care, right place initiatives, and enabling a seamless pathway and collaboration between hospital and community. We have established videofluoroscopy and FEES pathways and the successful applicant will have the opportunity to observe these clinics and have access to both objective and instrumental assessments for patients on their caseload., To work as part of the staff team delivering specialist Speech and Language Therapy Services to:

• Adults with acquired neurological disorders of communication and swallowing in community settings.
• To promote an understanding of clinical disorders and speech and language therapy services.
• To undertake Videofluoroscopy to level of competence.
• To support the Clinical Team Lead in the design and delivery of the community clinical care pathway.
• Actively lead and engage in continual improvement projects within the service with a strong focus on working differently to meet the clinical demand, peripheral hospital site management and preventable and avoidable admissions in collaboration with our inpatient team.

The SLT service has an experienced team of clinical leads - Critical Care, Dysphagia, Voice, Head & Neck, Stroke, FEES, Videofluoroscopy, Neurorehabilitation and Community (including progressive disease).

Actively involved in a range of service and workforce initiatives across the Lancashire and South Cumbria IC and research including collaborations with ELHT & AHP Professor in Neurorehabilitation and Stroke.

The service is well equipped and is supported by a team of administrators and Therapy Assistant Practitioners. Regular team meetings, an annual SLT Showcase of best practice, SLT, Stroke and Neuro Improvement Showcase and continual improvement is embedded in our daily work and service improvement initiatives. We are committed to continuing professional development and this is underpinned by supervision, regular line management and an annual appraisal system.

Established in 2003 East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) is a large integrated health care organisation providing high quality acute secondary healthcare for the people of East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen. Our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We currently provide high quality services and treat over 700,000 patients a year from the most serious of emergencies to planned operations and procedures. We employ over 8,000 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work and achievements.