Speech and Language Therapist

East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust (Cambridgeshire); Cambridge; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 39,000; Full time

Job summary

East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust in Cambridge is seeking a Speech and Language Therapist (Band 5) to join our dynamic, supportive service. You will manage a varied caseload of children with speech, language and communication difficulties in community clinics and schools, delivering evidence-based interventions.

You will work with families, schools and colleagues, applying standardised and non-standard assessments, and you will receive regular supervision, CPD time and

Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent in Speech and Language Therapy.
• Registered Member of RCSLT.
• Registered Member of HCPC.
• Evidence of commitment to CPD.

Responsibilities

• Independently manage a clinical caseload of children in community clinics and schools.
• Conduct assessments and plan interventions per guidelines and service standards.
• Collaborate with parents, teachers and other professionals to set goals.
• Write reports and maintain case notes in line with service requirements.
• Participate in supervision, CPD and development activities.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Team working

Adaptable and flexible

Education

Degree or equivalent in Speech and Language Therapy

Job description

Employer East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust (Cambridgeshire) Employer type NHS Site Chesterton Medical Centre Town Cambridge Salary £32,073 - £39,043 per annum, pro-rata Salary period Yearly Closing 29/09/2026 23:59 Interview date 13/10/2026

Speech and Language Therapist

Band 5

East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust delivers expert healthcare in people’s homes, community hospitals and local settings across the East of England.

Our nurses, therapists, clinicians, support teams and partners work together to provide coordinated care that supports independence, recovery and wellbeing. We believe people are best cared for close to home, in the communities where they live and belong.

By combining professional expertise with strong local relationships, we help people stay well, feel supported and access the right care at the right time. Expert healthcare, close to home, trusted by our communities.

Different ideas, experiences and backgrounds make us stronger and more creative and applications from all walks of life are welcomed. Our processes ensure that all applicants are treated fairly at every stage of the recruitment process.

East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust is committed to creating a modern and inclusive work environment. We actively promote flexible working opportunities where possible to meet the needs and wishes of our workforce and maintain and improve their wellbeing. We also offer flexible working patterns and we would encourage you to discuss this with the recruiting manager before or during the application process if this would interest you.

We welcome applications from people who share our values and can help us deliver outstanding care in our local community.

Before applying for this vacancy, please make sure you’re familiar with ongoing GOV.uk sponsorship eligibility criteria which will impact the organisations ability to provide sponsorship, whether this is currently or in the future.

Please note, our selection processes are in place to ensure we recruit candidates with the right values and skills. Please be advised that the use of AI in applications is monitored. We remain watchful of candidates who misuse these tools to generate an application that doesn’t accurately reflect their skills.

Please note all new starters will be subject to a 6 month probationary period.

Job overview

Are you passionate, people‑focused and ready to make a difference?

We’re looking for a motivated Speech & Language Therapist to join our outstanding, dynamic and supportive service. We value our staff and are committed to improving the lives of the children we work with. Whether you’re newly qualified or building early experience, this is your chance to grow your skills while making an impact every day.

You’ll work with a varied caseload, building relationships with children and families. You’ll use evidence‑based approaches, but also bring empathy, curiosity and creativity to every session. You won’t be doing this alone; colleagues will check in, cheer you on and share their expertise.

We’re committed to your development, offering regular supervision, protected CPD time and opportunities to explore specialisms. To succeed you will be curious, flexible and have a passion for delivering needs-led, evidence-based speech and language therapy.

The ability to work in a team and have a flexible approach to patient and service needs is essential.

**Please note that remote interviews will not be possible as these interviews include observations of you in a clinical interaction with a child and parent**

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be responsible for the independent management of a clinical caseload of children in community clinics and mainstream schools in the Cambridgeshire area. The client group is children who have a range of difficulties in understanding and/or using speech and language. S/he will work independently with access to more senior colleagues as needed.

A typical day involves:

• Speak to families about their child's needs
• Organising your time to independently manage a busy caseload
• Planning sessions
• Seeing children for assessment and therapy in schools, clinic and early years settings
• Note-writing
• Accessing supervision and support
• Reflecting on clinical practice

Working for our organisation

Rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission, we are proud to provide high quality innovative services across most of the east of England that enable people to receive care closer to home and live healthier lives.

There’s one reason why our services are outstanding – and that’s our amazing staff who, for the seventh year running, rated us incredibly highly in the national staff survey.

If you share our passion for innovative and high-quality care delivery, then please submit your application and join us on our exciting journey as a leading-edge specialist community provider. All are welcome to apply and our promise to you is a culture which prioritises staff engagement and development.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities

To independently manage a caseload of pre-school and school age children who have speech, language and communication difficulties.

To undertake a range of assessments, both standardised and non-standardised, taking account of medical, social and educational factors, in order to make a differential diagnosis

To plan, deliver and evaluate intervention following professional guidelines and agreed service standards

As part of that process, to be able to plan appropriate long term and short-term goals working towards discharge

To undertake administrative duties connected with the caseload including maintenance of case notes and provision of written reports, following service standards

To ensure that all work is carried out in close collaboration with all those involved in children’s care so that the approach to intervention and support is co‑ordinated and comprehensive

To identify when there is a need for a second opinion, referring to senior colleagues or SLT specialists as appropriate

To make onward referral as appropriate

To identify any variations to service delivery or demands and inform the Locality Co-ordinator and Area & Clinical Lead of the likely impact on the service

To contribute towards policy, clinical governance and service development through discussion and involvement in projects as appropriate

To be familiar with local and national standards and to work in line with these

To ensure that parents/carers are aware of the standards they should expect from the speech and language therapy service

Communication

To ensure effective communication of complex condition‑related information to parents/carers regarding the assessment process, assessment findings and planned intervention, including engagement of parents/carers in intervention

To ensure children are involved in goal setting and decision making around their own care as appropriate to their age, developmental level and language skills

To ensure parents/carers are involved in decision making around their child’s care including discharge from the service

To liaise effectively and work in partnership with other professionals (particularly teachers and teaching assistants), including the development of shared goals for intervention

To write reports on children, in line with service standards, including contributions to statutory assessment

To offer advice to others concerning support for individual children

To actively contribute to case conferences/ review meetings for children on the caseload

To recognise how and when information may be shared within the bounds of confidentiality and the Data Protection Act

To attend SLT team meetings, actively contributing as appropriate

Contribute to the Trust’s internal communication strategies ensuring effective two‑way communication and engagement within the organisation

Contribute to the Trust’s external communication strategies working with the Head of Communications to raise awareness and promote the reputation of Trust’s services.

Patient and Public Engagement

To contribute to ensuring that the Trust’s responsibilities to engage and consult with patients and the public are met in line with statutory requirements

Training

To participate in training other professionals/ parents as appropriate

To identify training needs in the multi-disciplinary team needed to support the care of children on the caseload

To attend all Trust mandatory training

People Management

To supervise SLT assistants/ teaching assistants/volunteers as appropriate

To mentor newly qualified SLTs providing support and contributing to induction with guidance from more senior colleagues

To offer observation sessions for SLT students as agreed with the supervising therapist

Maintaining own professional development and requirement to take part in appraisal and KSF process

Research & Development Activity

To maintain and update skills and knowledge in relevant areas

To develop and monitor own clinical expertise in specialist area through planned CPD

To participate in service audit and projects as agreed with the Service Lead

To actively reflect on practice with peers and more senior colleagues to promote professional development and evidence-based decision making

To be advised on developments in current practice by more senior colleagues

Clinical and Practice Governance

Observe and maintain strict confidentiality with regards to any patient/family/staff/records and information in line with the requirements of the Data Protection Act.

Any data that is taken/shared as part of a phone call or transported, faxed or transferred electronically must be undertaken with regard to the Trust Information Governance and Information Security policies.

The post holder must adhere to the Trust risk assessment and risk management processes

The post holder must adhere to infection control policies and procedures

It is a condition of your employment that you are currently registered with HCPC and it is your responsibility to maintain your professional registration.

Undertake mandatory training and any other training relevant to the role as required by East of England Community Health & Care NHS Trust.

The post holder must participate in clinical and other audits as required

Provide patients and their families /carers with information on standards they should expect from the team.

Participate in clinical supervision on a regular basis.

The post holder is required to participate in relevant emergency preparedness process for their team.

Person specification

Qualifications & Training

• Degree or equivalent in Speech and Language Therapy
• Registered Member of RCSLT
• Registered Member of HCPC
• Evidence of commitment to CPD

Experience

• Experience working in community clinics (at undergraduate/post graduate level)
• Working in a mainstream school
• Working in a special school

Knowledge & Skills

• Knowledge about developmental speech and language disorders
• Excellent communication skills including the ability to convey sensitive or distressing information to parents/carers

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults

• Appreciates the significance of safeguarding and interprets this accurately for all individual children and young people/vulnerable adults whatever their life circumstances.

Equal Opportunities - We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome all applications irrespective of age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race or religion. Additionally, people with disabilities that fall under the Disability Confident Scheme will be offered an interview providing they meet the minimum criteria for the post (outlined in the Person Specification). All sites are Smoke Free.

If you need this application in an offline format, please let us know.

Immigration Status – East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust is a diverse employer and welcomes all job applications. However, potential applicants should note that although the Trust is registered with the Home Office as a sponsor organisation for migrant workers, sponsorship can only be offered against eligible roles. If you are an applicant from outside the UK and do not already hold a self‑gained right to work, we recommend you check the Home Office eligibility requirements before making an application.

Please note: Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for some job roles, and this will be identified through filtering questions at the start of any job application on the Trac recruitment system.

Our safe recruitment pre‑employment checks are undertaken before an appointment is confirmed and may include a DBS check. Where the role requires you to drive, we'll ask you to validate your driving licence online via or DVLA.

Redeployment - Please note that in the first instance priority for this vacancy will be given to staff who are on the Trusts Redeployment Register.
Closing and Interview Dates -This vacancy may close early if sufficient applicants are received.

Data Protection - A privacy notice detailing how we will handle your data is attached to this advert as a document. Your application will be transferred to our recruitment management system (Trac) once the advert has closed and you will receive notification then detailing how Trac will handle your data.

ALL CORRESPONDENCE will be via the e‑mail address on your application form. If you have not been invited to interview within 2 weeks of the closing date, you unfortunately haven’t been successful on this occasion, but keep an eye on our vacancies as a job that’s just right for you may appear!

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Name Katie Thompson Job title Area & Clinical Lead for SLT in Cambridge Email address [e-mail]