Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust; Liverpool City Region; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is recruiting a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist to join Ashworth High Secure Hospital on a fixed-term 12-month contract. The role is embedded in a multidisciplinary team delivering evidence-based assessments and interventions for adults with complex communication and eating/drinking needs within a high-security setting.

The successful candidate will work with service users, families and the MDT to develop person-centred care plans, and to support

Responsibilities

• Provide direct intervention to enhance communication to empower service users to actively participate in their care and treatment.
• Support the development of independence and life skills.
• Reduce offending-related risk linked to communication difficulties and dysphagia.
• Support the wider team in providing a collaborative and accessible communication environment.
• Advocate for and implement reasonable adjustments to enable individuals to achieve their full potential.

Job description

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist to contribute to the delivery of Speech and Language Therapy in Ashworth High Secure Hospital for a fixed term of 12 months.

Ashworth is a specialist psychiatric hospital providing assessment, treatment and care in conditions of high security for men aged 18 and above and its catchment area covers the Midlands, North Wales and the North West. Ashworth is one of only three high secure psychiatric hospitals in England and Wales. We support men with a serious mental illness or personality disorder who are detained under the Mental Health Act and are assessed as presenting a grave risk to others.

Working collaboratively with service users, families, and the wider multidisciplinary team (MDT), we develop personalised care plans that promote recovery, maximise independence, and support progression through services in the most appropriate and least restrictive way. Our Speech and Language Therapy service delivers comprehensive assessment and a wide range of evidence-based individual and group interventions tailored to the holistic needs of the population we serve. Care is underpinned by the principles of trauma-informed and recovery-focused practice. All interventions are individualised and supported by robust risk assessment and management processes.

Whilst we are recruiting into a Band 6 position, applications would also be welcomed from those currently working in Band 5 positions.

To provide evidence-based Speech and Language Therapy assessment and intervention to service users who have communication and/or eating and drinking difficulties within the high secure hospital. The role will be integrated within the multi -disciplinary team and will work with the team to develop person‑centred care plans.

Clinically, The Successful Candidate Will Be Expected To

• Provide direct intervention to enhance communication to empower service users to actively participate in their care and treatment.
• Support the development of independence, and life skills.
• Reduce both offending‑related risk linking to communication difficulties; and physical risk due to dysphagia.
• Support the wider team in providing a collaborative and accessible communication environment.
• Advocate for and implement reasonable adjustments that enable each individual to achieve their full potential.

The successful candidate will work alongside an experienced Speech and Language Therapy team to continue to develop the service. Supervision will be provided by a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist.

Whilst the team support individuals with dysphagia, post‑graduate dysphagia training and competencies are not essential for this fixed term position.

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.