Bank Highly Specialist Paediatric Speech & Language Therapist Band 7

As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination uptake as this remains the best line of defence against COVID-19. At Epsom and St Helier Hospitals, above all we value respect. We put respect at the heart of all we do, by living up to our shared behaviours of kindness, professionalism, positivity and teamwork. This enables us to provide great patient care and make ESTH a great place to work. When you sign up to work with us, you sign up to this and we welcome applicants who share our values.

Job overview: The post holder will provide a highly specialist speech and language therapy service for children and young people with severe and complex learning difficulties in Perseid special schools, in accordance with the service level agreement for Sutton Health and Care Alliance. They will contribute to the development of the special schools speech and language therapy service for children. They will plan and provide highly specialist speech and language therapy assessment, advice and treatment to a defined caseload of children with severe and complex needs. They will work in partnership with the children, their families and with other professions and agencies, including school staff and the wider health team, to reduce the impact of these difficulties on children’s social and emotional development, their learning and their ability to participate in daily life. They will work autonomously and without direct supervision, and be accountable for their own actions.

Main duties of the job:

• To be responsible for a clinical caseload of children and young people attending Perseid Special Schools as identified by the service specification, managing the defined caseload independently and prioritising own workload to ensure effective service provision.
• To manage the needs of children presenting with eating and drinking difficulties, including assessment, diagnosis and treatment as appropriate.
• To provide support and training to families and school staff to enable eating and drinking programmes to be implemented as part of children’s therapy packages.
• To assess, diagnose, treat and manage a defined caseload of children with complex communication needs within the school, including the use of AAC devices where identified.
• To provide training to enable SLT communication programmes to be implemented as part of the child’s therapy package.
• To be involved in planning the development of the SLT service in liaison with the school management team and Perseid Team Leader / Service Manager for Children’s Specialist Nursing and Therapies.
• To act as a resource to the Sutton Health and Care Alliance SLT service and other agencies.

Working for our organisation: To demonstrate a well developed knowledge of paediatric therapy for both eating and drinking and communication skills, underpinned by current evidence based practice. To manage a specialist and highly complex clinical caseload as an autonomous practitioner. To use and demonstrate highly specialist knowledge to inform sound clinical judgements / decision making for complex case management and advise others on the same, often in the absence of robust evidence base. To make appropriate differential diagnoses and highly specialist clinical decisions based on assessment findings. To contribute to and when appropriate coordinate applications for AAC devices including funding requests. To work in partnership with the education SLTs to research and implement the use of AAC devices within school. To develop clear care plans and pathways based on best practice and to update these according to departmental standards.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities: To assist the Service Manager in planning and providing the commissioned speech and language therapy input to children attending Perseid schools, including attendance at appropriate meetings, developing guidelines and protocols and reviewing service provision. To keep the Service Manager up to date with service provision issues and report promptly any untoward incidences, clinical or non-clinical, co-operating with any investigation undertaken. To actively review efficacy of service delivery and facilitate setting up of new standards or amendment of existing ones, in close liaison with the Service Manager. To actively contribute to formulating policies for specialist area and proposals for general service changes. To support the development of the speech and language therapy service in the special schools, facilitating development and implementation of effective client / care pathways and outcomes for children in conjunction with the Service Manager.

Person specification: Professional Registration, 6 Months Experience.

Our mission: ‘to put the patient first by delivering great care to every patient, every day.’ We offer all employees some fantastic staff benefits, and are the only hospitals in Surrey to offer staff the London high cost area supplement. Our hospitals also benefit from great locations, so whether you’re attracted to the bright lights of the city or the countryside of Epsom Downs, both are within easy reach.

FURTHER INFORMATION: PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POSITION MAY CLOSE EARLIER THAN THE STATED CLOSING DATE IF A SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS ARE RECEIVED. IF YOU WISH TO APPLY FOR THIS POSITION, YOU ARE ADVISED TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE CONTACT ALL APPLICANTS VIA EMAIL AND NOT BY POST. YOU ARE ADVISED TO CHECK YOUR RECRUITMENT SYSTEM ACCOUNT ON A REGULAR BASIS. YOU CAN ACCESS THIS ACCOUNT VIA OUR WEBSITE > WORK FOR US > CURRENT VACANCIES > MY JOB ACCOUNT. For new entrants into the NHS, your pay under the Agenda for Change or Medical & Dental Pay Bands, will normally be set at the minimum of the pay band as advertised. If you apply for this position and do not hear from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been short-listed for interview on this occasion. ESTH values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities. As a Disability Confident Employer we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve. Internal applicants from underrepresented minority groups are encouraged to seek development support such as work shadowing and interview skills coaching. Please contact the recruitment team for more information.