Highly Specialist SLT - Band 7 EDS and CSN Lead in Croydon

Part Time - 22.50 hours per week, Permanent

We are strengthening our Eating and Drinking / Complex Special Needs team and have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic Highly Specialist SLT to join our friendly and supportive team.

Main duties of the job

• The successful candidate will have experience of working with children and young people with eating and drinking needs.
• Experience of working with babies (under the age of 6 months) is essential.
• You will work within a small team of specialist speech and language therapists, providing assessment and management of children with eating and drinking difficulties, and complex communication needs.
• The Croydon Children's Speech and Language Therapy Service work closely with families and multi-disciplinary professionals, providing a service in children's homes, in clinic and in their education settings.
• The Eating, drinking and swallowing service is currently piloting a number of exciting service improvement projects along with MDT hospital and community colleagues.

About us

• You will have access to the following support with your role and development:
• Regular 1:1 supervision with your line manager.
• Half termly group and 1:1 clinical supervision with a highly experienced external supervisor.
• An identified mentor/buddy who will be available to support you with any questions you may have and to help you settle in.
• Termly Reflective Practice sessions with the wider Allied Health Professionals within the organisation.
• Regular dysphagia team meetings with opportunities for case discussions, CPD and working on service development projects.
• Termly whole department meetings with a regular focus on CPD.
• Opportunities to access a range of quality internal and external training courses in order to support your CPD.
• Opportunities to develop leadership skills through taking the lead in team projects, service developments and line management responsibilities across the team.
• The advantage of strong links between tertiary centres, local hospital teams and community teams - including physio, OT, dietitians and children's nursing and paediatricians.

Job responsibilities

• At a highly specialist level, to assess, diagnose, treat and discharge children/young people referred with speech, language, communication and eating and drinking problems.
• To work as a member of the Early Years, Primary and Secondary Teams to provide an efficient, effective and co-ordinated Speech and Language Therapy Service.
• To take a lead role for the EDS/CSN team, overseeing the caseload and providing clinical support for team members.

Person Specification

• At least 5 years post qualification experience including significant, relevant post qualification experience of managing children with dysphagia and/or complex needs.
• Competencies in assessment and management of neonatal dysphagia and complex special needs.
• Experience of supporting junior therapists, SLTAs and students.
• Experience of working in a range of paediatric settings.

• Recognised Speech and Language Therapy qualification and Postgraduate dysphagia training.
• Post graduate training in communication approaches relevant to complex needs e.g. makaton/AAC.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£53,751 to £60,651 a year pro rata incl HCAS (outer)