Senior Health Practice Manager – Speech and Language Therapy

Community Integrated Care; Widnes; Hybride; GBP 50 000 - 54 000; Plein temps

Avantages offerts par ce poste

Car allowance

Hybrid working

Four-day week

Résumé du poste

Community Integrated Care is seeking a Senior Health Practice Manager, Speech and Language Therapy to drive the strategic development of SLT practice nationwide across England and Scotland. You will lead on communication, interaction and dysphagia, guiding safe, accessible and person-centred support to reduce health inequalities and improve quality of life.

You will collaborate with leaders across our services and external partners, shaping workforce capability, clinical standards and service

Qualifications

• Current registration with the HCPC as a Speech and Language Therapist.
• Degree or equivalent in Speech and Language Therapy.
• Senior experience in Speech and Language Therapy, health or integrated care.
• Knowledge of dysphagia assessment and intervention.
• Experience leading or influencing multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience in governance, audit, assurance and risk-management.
• Experience using evidence and service intelligence to improve practice.

Responsabilités

• Set the strategic direction for Speech and Language Therapy across England and Scotland.
• Provide senior leadership and specialist advice on communication and dysphagia.
• Lead the Learning Disability and Autism specialism within the clinical and health team.
• Produce governance reports and evaluate frameworks and learning programmes.
• Oversee clinical quality assurance within the Quality Management System.
• Support safe, evidence-based decisions on communication and swallowing.
• Collaborate with operational leaders and external professionals to coordinate services.
• Embed Speech and Language Therapy within clinical, quality and operational approaches.

Connaissances

Speech and Language Therapy

Leadership

Strategic planning

Clinical governance

Audit

Staff development

Formation

Degree in Speech and Language Therapy

HCPC registration

Description du poste

The opportunity and what makes Community Integrated Care a great place to work

Could you set the direction for Speech and Language Therapy across a national charity and help people communicate, participate and live more independently? We are looking for a Senior Health Practice Manager, Speech and Language Therapy to lead the strategic development of Speech and Language Therapy practice across our services in England and Scotland. As our subject matter expert for communication, interaction and eating, drinking and swallowing needs, you will help us deliver safe, accessible and personalised support that reduces health inequalities and improves people’s quality of life.

This opportunity offers:

• A salary of £49,995 to £54,075 plus £5,000 car allowance
• A four-day working week, with 37.5 contracted hours
• Hybrid working, with attendance at our Widnes head office at least once a month
• A national remit across England and Scotland
• The opportunity to set the strategic direction for Speech and Language Therapy practice
• A leading role in developing evidence-based practice, clinical governance and quality assurance
• The opportunity to shape workforce capability, professional standards and service improvement
• The chance to influence practice for people with learning disabilities, autism and complex support needs
• Infrequent national travel to visit services

You will have the scope to develop innovative and practical approaches to communication accessibility, dysphagia management and specialist Learning Disability and Autism practice. Working across professional and organisational boundaries, you will translate clinical evidence into support that makes a tangible difference to people’s safety, independence and everyday lives.

Who you’ll be supporting & more about the role:

The people we support may have learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs, acquired brain injuries or complex care needs. Your expertise will help ensure that communication requirements and eating, drinking and swallowing needs are understood, assessed and reflected in safe, inclusive and person-centred support. As Senior Health Practice Manager, Speech and Language Therapy, you will provide professional leadership and specialist advice across the organisation. You will establish clear practice expectations and ensure Speech and Language Therapy is embedded within our clinical, quality and operational approaches.

Your key priorities will include:

• Setting and leading the strategic direction for Speech and Language Therapy across England and Scotland
• Acting as our specialist lead for communication, interaction, dysphagia and related clinical practice
• Leading the Learning Disability and Autism specialism within the clinical and health team
• Produce clinical governance reports and evaluating whether frameworks, interventions and learning programmes improve communication, participation and outcomes
• Providing senior specialist oversight and advice on complex cases
• Supporting safe, evidence-based decisions relating to communication and eating, drinking and swallowing
• Designing and maintaining clinical quality assurance frameworks, standards and practice models
• Embedding clinical effectiveness, specialist practice and audit within our Quality Management System
• Reviewing incidents and learning reviews to identify risks, themes and improvement opportunities
• Commissioning and leading thematic reviews of services, practice issues and quality or safety concerns
• Translating professional standards, research and clinical evidence into practical guidance and resources
• Providing professional leadership, clinical advice and supervision to colleagues
• Identifying workforce capability needs and shaping effective training and development
• Supporting Positive Behaviour Support, trauma-informed practice and recovery-oriented approaches
• Promoting accessible communication and reducing barriers to healthcare
• Ensuring people with lived experience help design and improve clinical practice
• Contributing specialist expertise to organisational governance, risk management and quality improvement

You will work closely with operational leaders, managers and specialists, as well as colleagues across Business Development, Learning and Development, People Operations and the wider health team. You will also collaborate with external professionals and multidisciplinary partners to ensure support is coordinated and effective. Your work will include supporting assessments, shared formulations, care and support planning, case reviews and service evaluations. You will contribute to safeguarding discussions, health assessments and multidisciplinary meetings where specialist communication or dysphagia input is required. Success will mean colleagues have greater confidence and capability, specialist standards are consistently applied and learning from audits, incidents and reviews leads to demonstrable improvement. Most importantly, people will experience more accessible communication, safer support and greater choice, participation and independence.

About you:

You will be an experienced Speech and Language Therapist with the professional credibility, strategic outlook and practical understanding needed to influence practice across a large and geographically dispersed organisation.

Essential qualifications and experience include:

• Current registration with the Health and Care Professions Council as a Speech and Language Therapist
• A recognised degree or equivalent professional qualification in Speech and Language Therapy
• Significant senior experience within Speech and Language Therapy, health, social care or an integrated care environment
• Specialist knowledge of communication assessment, intervention and support planning
• Applied knowledge and experience of dysphagia assessment, management and risk reduction
• Experience supporting adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs, acquired brain injuries or complex care needs
• Experience leading or influencing multidisciplinary clinical and health teams
• Experience contributing to or leading clinical governance, audit, assurance and risk-management arrangements
• Experience using evidence, audit findings and service intelligence to improve clinical practice, safety and outcomes
• Experience of Speech and Language Therapy service development, pathway redesign or practice improvement
• An understanding of adult social care, disability support and community services
• Experience working across organisational and professional boundaries
• Evidence of continuing professional development relevant to Speech and Language Therapy, dysphagia, leadership and service development

You will be able to interpret research, clinical guidance and professional standards and turn them into clear, practical approaches for frontline teams. You will also be comfortable presenting complex information to operational leaders, senior colleagues and external audiences. Strong partnership-building and influencing skills will be important. You will need to work effectively across systems, lead complex projects and use digital platforms to share knowledge and support geographically dispersed teams. Experience of delivering training, contributing to research or innovation, and working with regulators, commissioners or external professional networks would be valuable. An executive leadership or quality improvement qualification would also strengthen your application. Above all, you will be person-centred, collaborative and committed to professional excellence. You will value co-production, act with integrity and ensure people’s rights, choices, communication requirements and aspirations remain central to clinical practice.

If you are ready to use your Speech and Language Therapy expertise to influence national practice and improve outcomes for people.