Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

TN United Kingdom; Salisbury; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative hospital is seeking a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist to enhance their acute adult care team. This role offers a unique opportunity to work with a supportive SLT team, focusing on the assessment and treatment of patients with swallowing and communication impairments. The position allows for professional growth through various development opportunities and training, ensuring that team members thrive in a collaborative environment. With a commitment to high-quality patient care and staff well-being, this role promises to be both rewarding and impactful.

Benefits

27 days holiday plus Bank Holidays

Access to a pension scheme

Life assurance

Health and Wellbeing programs

Cycle to work scheme

On-site Day Nursery

On-site health and fitness club

Learning and training opportunities

Exclusive deals and discounts

Uniform provided

Qualifications

• Experience in assessing and treating adult dysphagia and communication disorders.
• Ability to manage a caseload effectively in a busy acute setting.

Responsibilities

• Manage patient assessments and treatment decisions across acute wards.
• Contribute to the development of the SLT team and training of hospital staff.

Skills

Dysphagia Assessment

Communication Disorders Treatment

Clinical Decision Making

Patient Management

Team Collaboration

Education

Degree in Speech & Language Therapy

Postgraduate Training in Dysphagia

Registration with HCPC

Job description

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Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, Salisbury

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Client:

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust

Location:

Salisbury, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Reference:

5e8bed21bdbd

Job Views:

6

Posted:

05.05.2025

Expiry Date:

19.06.2025

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Job Description:

Job overview

Would you like to enhance your specialist skills with acute adult in-patients, in a service with a wide range of development opportunities as part of a supportive SLT team based at Salisbury District Hospital? This fixed term post is to cover a maternity leave until August 2025, although opportunities to extend the contract may arise. This post can be tailored to either a current Band 6 Specialist SLTs looking to extend skills and experience, or can be adapted to an experienced Band 5 SLT who has experience working in an NHS adult setting.

Qualifications required include a degree in Speech & Language Therapy, and ideally postgraduate training (or qualification) in adult dysphagia. Registration with the Health & Care Professions Council. Membership of the Royal College of SLT is desirable.

Postgraduate experience includes autonomous assessment, diagnosis and treatment of adults with swallowing and communication impairments from a wide range of acquired neurological conditions, ideally in an in-patient setting. It would be desirable but not essential for the candidate to have had experience of instrumental dysphagia assessments and treatments, particularly FEES, planning and delivering training courses to other professionals, and undertaking clinical audit. The applicants must flexible, be able to use initiative well, have effective caseload management and good clinical decision-making skills.

Main duties of the job

Work would be across a range of 18 acute wards and units (general medical, surgical, & elderly), with responsibility to manage patient assessment & treatment decisions, and ensure excellent liaison with SLT and MDT colleagues.

You would contribute to the development of the SLT team, including student supervision, NQP supervision, and in house CPD. You would be involved in wider hospital initiatives such as improving MDT working in specific areas (e.g. on the new elderly ward, in-patient PD or Stroke, mouthcare, and SLT Link Nurse recruitment and training) as well as being involved in training a wide range of hospital staff in communication and swallowing.

The SLT team embraces new ways of working and has worked hard to be at the forefront of helpful and emerging technology. Therefore our patients have good access to a range of instrumental dysphagia investigations for swallow assessments and instrumental devices for treatment. For patients with communication disorders, we have a broad range of computer based therapy available, and quick access to unlimited AAC.

We feel strongly that it is important to provide our SLT team members with as much training and development as we can and as needed, and as a small team we meet often. We thrive on an ethos of sharing our learning, being supportive to each other, and being helpful and flexible at work when needed.

Working for our organisation

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust (SFT) is an innovative hospital with a proud heritage and over 250 years of experience behind us. Here we’re driven to deliver an outstanding experience for everyone and have been well regarded for the quality of care and treatment we continue to provide for our patients and also our staff.

We are an acute Trust, rated “Good” by the CQC, with a track record of high performance providing regional and super regional specialist services such as: Burns, Plastics & Reconstructive Surgery, Wessex Regional Genetics Laboratory, Wessex Rehabilitation, Spires Cleft Centre and the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre. We have about 470 beds and employ over 4000 staff.

We support flexible working and will consider requests taking into account the needs of the service. We think working here is pretty rewarding. You can access a range of NHS discounts, receive a minimum of 35 days paid holiday (pro rata), and we offer a generous pension scheme. On-site benefits include car parking (fee applies), leisure centre, day nursery and holiday play scheme.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please find the attached job description and main responsibilities for your kind perusal. Also, please go through the person specification for this job.

The hours available are 37.5 hours per week. Applicants wanting less part time hours per week are welcome to apply, but priority will be given to ensure service provision. Recently qualified applicants seeking a Band 5 role are also welcome to apply, but priority will be given to those with the relevant experience to undertake the role independently.

Person specification

Clinical Experience

• Several years working as qualified SLT working independently with adult patients
• Competency in and experience of independently assessing and treating adult dysphagia
• Experience of assessing and treating adults with acquired communication disorders
• Experience of a wide range of adult acquired neurological disorders
• Experience of working well with other professionals on acute wards
• Experience of instrumental assessment in dysphagia
• Experience of working in an NHS adult setting
• Understanding demands of working in a busy acute setting
• Demonstrating EBP and effective treatment
• Experience of providing training to other SLTs and Health Care colleagues

Qualifications

• Degree in Speech & Language Therapy
• Registration with HCPC
• High standard of spoken and written English language
• Postgraduate training in instrumental dysphagia assessments
• Postgraduate training in adult acquired & acute disorders
• Postgraduate training in instrumental and computer-based treatments
• Member of RCSLT

Clinical Decision Making

• Able to manage own caseload effectively
• Able to make decisions in complex cases

We offer excellent benefits that help make SDH a great place to work. These include but aren't limited to:-

• Holiday starting at 27 days plus Bank Holidays rising to 29 days after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years for Agenda for Change staff
• Holiday entitlement for Medical and Dental staff starts at 27 days for Junior/Senior Clinical Fellows, Specialty Doctors and rises to 32 days after 5 years. Consultant entitlement starts at 32 days and rises to 34 days after 7 years
• An additional day's leave to celebrate your birthday (after 12 months)
• Access to a career average revalued earnings pension scheme
• Life assurance if a member of the pension scheme
• An extensive Health and Wellbeing offer to help you deal with life's challenges
• Exclusive deals and discounts websites saving you money on everyday purchases, treats for the family, eating out and utility bills for home
• Cycle to work scheme
• Uniform provided (where required)
• On site Day Nursery and Holiday Play scheme
• On site health and fitness club
• Opportunities to get on - take advantage of our ongoing learning opportunities and training, to help you achieve the job and career you want.