Speech and Language Therapist

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust; Erith; On-site; GBP 34,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading NHS organization as a Speech and Language Therapist in Erith, providing vital services to children in educational settings. You will work within a supportive team to assess needs, implement therapy, and foster learning opportunities in schools. This role offers excellent professional development and the chance to make a meaningful impact in the community.

Qualifications

• HCPC Registration and Royal College of Speech & Language Therapy Registration required.
• Experience working with children in various settings.
• Evidence of additional training courses is valued.

Responsibilities

• Provide assessment and diagnostic services for children referred to the Speech & Language Service.
• Plan, deliver, and evaluate evidence-based therapy interventions.
• Support collaboration with teachers and parents for promoting speech, language, and communication development.

Skills

Communication

Empathy

Teamwork

Clinical assessment

Education

Speech & Language Therapy Degree

Job description

Site Speech and Language Therapy, Outpatients Department Town Erith Salary £34,521 - £41,956 pa inc Salary period Yearly Closing 06/07/2025 23:59

Job overview

Are you looking for a new opportunity to further build your clinical skills or join the world of Speech and Language Therapy? Join our friendly team in Bexley working with school-age children across primary mainstream schools. We are a well-established team that can offer fantastic support and opportunities to develop your career. Would you want to join The Bexley Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) Team, winners of the Children and Young People's Directorate Team of the Year award 2021? Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust is a vibrant and diverse organization; with new values: We’re Kind, We’re Fair, We Listen, We Care. Located within reach of the Kent countryside and central London. The post attracts Outer London pay weighting.

You will work with mainstream school-age children and young people, providing assessment and therapy, with a supportive team of therapists and assistants and a Specialist teacher.

You will work within the integrated Bexley Joint Communication Team, made up of Therapists, Assistants and Specialist Teacher (from Bexley Local Authority). This part of the role involves visits to mainstream schools, assessment, recommendations to schools and opportunities to deliver training together with colleagues. The role includes providing advice to enable parents, carers and teaching staff to support the children.There are also more opportunities to deliver specific EHCP SLT provision.

We welcome applications from current students who are due to qualify in 2025.

Main duties of the job

• To provide an assessment, diagnostic and treatment service for children referred to the Speech & Language Service within the Borough of Bexley.
• To implement programmes in a variety of locations depending on need, including mainstream school settings.
• To be responsible for the planning, delivery and evaluation of evidence-based therapy interventions to enable functional improvement. To monitor and review the progress of therapy programmes implemented and facilitate modifications of interventions/targets as appropriate.
• To ensure maximum involvement of the client, family/carer, education staff and other professional staff where appropriate in planning care and the therapy programme.
• To work with class teachers, SENCo and Teaching Assistants in promoting the child’s speech, language and communication development through joint planning.
• To support the establishment and development of standard service speech language and communication packages in the mainstream schools such as Chatterbox, Talk Boost, Speech and Language Link and BLAST.
• To provide therapy planning and intervention within a multidisciplinary framework wherever possible, working alongside SLT Assistants, Advisory Teachers and Educational Psychologists.
• To make appropriate clinical decisions following assessment seeking support and advice from supervisor where appropriate.

Working for our organisation

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.

We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We Listen
• We Care

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Bexley Children’s Speech and Language Therapy service offers a range of services with specialist teams across EYs, ASD, Hearing Impairment, Dysfluency, Specialist Resourced Provisions and SEMH. We work closely across teams to provide clinical support and second opinions. We also have opportunities to develop training skills to enhance skills and knowledge for staff working with children with SLCN.

There is the opportunity for professional development, and the support of a team of therapists and assistants. You will have access to administrative, managerial and clinical support. Continuing professional development is supported and the development of clinical interests is encouraged.

• To make a differential diagnosis on the basis of evidence from assessment seeking advice from supervisor where appropriate.
• To manage and prioritise a defined caseload independently accessing planned supervision to support the process.
• To manage and prioritise own workload, accessing planned supervision to support this process.
• To demonstrate the ability to reflect on practice with peers/clinical supervisor.
• To develop the ability to target training (formal and informal) appropriately to the needs of course participants, with the support of colleagues.
• To develop the ability to reflect on and evaluate training provided.
• To be aware of and adhere to service and team plans and policies.
• To maintain up to date and accurate case notes in line with RCSLT professional standards and local trust policies.
• To supervise the work of assistants/therapy support staff/administration and clerical staff and learning support assistants.
• To explain the role of Speech & Language Therapists to visitors, students and volunteers.
• To be accountable for own professional action and recognise own professional boundaries, seeking advice as appropriate through mentoring, peer support, clinical and managerial supervision.
• To work within defined departmental and national protocols/policies and professional code of conduct.
• To participate in the co-ordination, development and delivery of training programmes and information packages for colleagues in health, education, voluntary sector organisations and parents/carers.
• To maintain sensitivity at all times to the emotional needs of the client and their carers in particular when imparting potentially distressing information regarding the nature of the client’s difficulties and implications of the same.
• To maintain sensitivity at all times to the emotional needs of the clients, carers and colleagues when managing distressing situations such as child protection issues and exposure to terminal illness.
• To develop the ability to manage children with challenging behaviours including the appropriate management strategies.
• To monitor stock levels in own service area and request new equipment as appropriate.
• To be responsible for the security, care and maintenance of equipment ensuring standards of infection control and safety are maintained – including equipment loaned to clients.

COMMUNICATION

• To communicate effectively and with empathy with the child, parents and carers to impart information regarding diagnosis and/or prognosis, treatment plans and predicted outcomes in an understandable format enabling children, parents and carers to be involved in the decision making process at the beginning of and throughout their care. Utilize specialised verbal and non- verbal communication skills where appropriate.
• To apply advanced interpersonal skills to enable change within complex and multifaceted social/family situations regularly involving multicultural customs and language barriers.
• To impart sensitive advice/information to health, social care and colleagues in education in the overall management of the child presenting with complex problems. This will include the preparation of reports for presentation at relevant Social Care, Educational and Medical Case Conferences including child protection issues, with guidance from senior therapists.
• To respond to the requirements of relevant Education legislation by providing advice as part of any re-assessment process and taking part in Annual and Transfer Reviews as appropriate.
• To write detailed official reports regarding the child’s Speech, Language and Communication and the Speech and Language Therapy advice for Education Health Care plans with the support of an experienced therapist.
• To ensure that reports (medical, statutory and legal) adhere to standards as stated by the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists, Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) and local guidelines.
• To ensure accurate, reliable and contemporaneous documentation of client electronic and manual records and that all administrative processes are maintained according to agreed policies.
• To develop skills in motivating clients and or carers to engage in the therapeutic process.
• To deal with initial verbal complaints sensitively in discussion with your line manager, avoiding escalation and attempting to resolve, following the Trust’s complaints process.
• To ensure the Trust policies relating to absence / leave are adhered to.

Person specification

Registration

• HCPC Registration
• Royal College of Speech & Language Therapy Registration

Qualifications

• Speech & Language Therapy Degree

Experience

• Experience of working with children in any setting

Training

• Evidence of short courses

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that welcomes and supports individuals of all abilities. Remember, if you meet the minimum criteria for this role and you have a disability, you can be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme - Please ensure you select this on your application form. We would encourage you to be open about your needs so we can work with you to design a comfortable and accessible interview experience. Any information you provide regarding a disability or a need for adjustments will be treated in confidence and will only be shared with colleagues who are supporting this request.

If you require any adjustments to participate fully in the interview process, please let us know by adding the relevant details when scheduling your preferred interview date and time. Please feel free to contact the appointing manager to discuss your needs.

We encourage applicants to contact the hiring manager before their interview, if they have any questions about the role or the process. This is a great way to get clarity and prepare effectively for the interview.

Please note that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is prohibited during the interview process. We also discourage overuse of AI during the application process because this can negatively impact the quality of your application and may hinder your chances of being shortlisted. Thank you.

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.