Specialist Speech and Language Therapist in Shiremoor

Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

NHS AfC: Band 7

Main area Speech and Language Therapy Grade NHS AfC: Band 7 Contract Permanent Hours

• Part time
• Flexible working

22.5 hours per week Job ref 319-8310216IO-A

Site Shiremoor Resource Centre Town Shiremoor Salary £49,387 - £56,515 pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 02/11/2026 23:59

Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022). Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare and, this is…the Northumbria Way!

What the Northumbria Way means for you:

• Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
• Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
• A range of flexible working opportunities
• Generous annual leave and pension scheme
• Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
• Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
• Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank

We work closely with Kids First Nurseries that are based within our trust grounds at Wansbeck, North Tyneside and Hexham hospitals to care for our Trust family's children, they offer care for children from 6 weeks old up to 4 years. There are a number of funding options run by the government to help working parents, including Early Years Funding and Tax Free Childcare.

Flexible working offers choice in where, when, and how we work, ensuring patients remain at the heart of all we do. It’s open to everyone, and we aim to find solutions that work for both you and the organisation. All arrangements must be reasonable and balanced to maintain safe and effective patient care.

We are proud to be one of the country’s top performing NHS trusts – rated ‘outstanding’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England. Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people’s homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.

We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise – a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people’s lives, such as education, employment and the economy.

Whilst Northumbria Healthcare are a highly innovative organisation, the use of Third Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity your individual recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.

Job overview

We are excited to be offering a career opportunity within NHCFT Speech and Language Therapy Complex and Additional Needs Team.

We are looking to recruit an innovative, caring and dynamic Speech and Language Therapist (SLT), who would like to further develop their existing skills in children's speech, language and communication assessment and treatment, and to further develop clinical leadership, in particular for children / young people with complex needs and disability.

Main duties of the job

The posts will involve working primarily into the paediatric part of our team, with sessions into both our pre-school and community-based team who work into children's homes, early years settings and mainstream and special school settings. Both aspects involve working jointly with other professionals in a child's multi-disciplinary team.

The post holder will take a lead role for developing, coordinating and evaluating service delivery within the caseload area and will be involved with the supervision of junior SLT's.

The successful candidate should have knowledge and skills in the assessment and management of complex communication difficulties including for those with Autism, cerebral palsy, severe learning disability etc. The successful candidate should also have knowledge and skills in supporting families and settings to embed communication strategies into their daily practice. It is desirable for the successful candidate to have knowledge and skills in assessment and management of eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties to enable them to work alongside colleagues to provide care for the needs of those referred to the service.

Excellent organisational, prioritisation and time management skills are essential along with well-developed interpersonal and influencing skills and an ability to effectively contribute to multi-agency teams across health and education to ensure holistic care to enable the highest standards of service delivery.

Working for our organisation

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Complex and Additional Needs Speech and Language Therapy team is a small team who are passionate about supporting children/young people and adults with SEND and their families. We have well established and strong connections with our Health and Local Authority colleagues allowing us to work in partnership at all levels.

We can offer you a highly rewarding post which includes:

• Clinical supervision
• Regular team meetings, peer support and supervision, clinical focus groups and the opportunity to attend Regional Clinical Excellence Networks
• In-Service Training including in areas of clinical leadership.
• Opportunities to contribute to Trust and Local Authority quality improvement work and innovations
• Opportunity to be actively involved in the design and implementation of the team annual planning
• Opportunity to work in partnership with other Health colleagues and Local Authority Services such as Portage, Community Paediatricians, Occupational Therapy, educational staff within mainstream and specialist provisions, to ensure the highest quality of care
• Opportunity to work with the Regional Communication Aid Service (RCAS) when coordinating care and engaging in development work
• Close links with Newcastle University and other regional services including The Great North Children’s Hospital
• Close working with Clinical Leads, and other Highly Specialist SLTs in Dysphagia, Autism and AAC in relation to evidence based practice, innovation, audit and caseload management.

Person specification

Qualifications / Professional Registration

• Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree qualification or equivalent
• Health Professions Council – License to Practice
• Registered Member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
• Evidence of successful completion of specialist short courses up to Master’s degree or equivalent

Experience and knowledge

• Experience of supervising, mentoring and supporting less experienced SLTs, students and assistants
• Relevant specialist experience within specified clinical area
• Experience of developing and delivering training packages

Applicants who are members of the Armed Forces, those who have a disability that requires support in the work place (two ticks pledge) and those who have been looked after by the care system as a child or young person (for example, in foster care, children's homes, kinship or local authority care) who meet the essential criteria will be interviewed under the Trust's interview guarantee scheme.

We recognise the positive value of diversity and inclusion and are committed to a workforce that is diverse, equal and inclusive. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME people are currently under-represented in our workforce as well as other under-represented groups such as LGBT+ and disabled candidates. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, we have a Gold award from the Defense Recognition Scheme, and we are delighted to support Apprenticeships, Age Posi+ive and are a mindful employer.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend interview please make the recruitment team aware as soon as possible by calling our HR Recruitment Team on 0191 203 1415 option 2.

Applicants who meet the Fit and Proper Person Requirements (FPPR) will require additional pre-employment checks in line with CQC and NHS England statutory guidance.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust proudly hold a sponsor licence. In order to provide sponsorship you and the role you are applying for must meet UKVI eligibility requirements. Please check your eligibility prior to submitting an application. Skilled Worker visa: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Please note that it is a requirement of this Trust that all successful applicants pay for their own DBS certification if a DBS check is required for the post. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first monthly pay.

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.

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