Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

The Barking and Dagenham Speech and Language Therapy team in North East London Foundation Trust (NEFLT) recently had a Business Case approved. This is a really exciting opportunity for us to continue to grow and develop as a team and provide an innovative and effective service to the children/young people and families that we work with. We have filled most of these posts and are now looking for aHighly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist to help lead our Complex Needs and Dysphagia Pathway. 

You will join a supportive team environment and be provided with robust personal development opportunities. 

We are open to offering this position as a developing Band 6-7 post.

Salary for NHS AfC: band 6 is £37,338 - £44,962 per annum (pro rata)

Salary for NHS AfC: band 7 is £46,148 - £52,809 per annum (pro rata)

Main duties of the job

·Co-Lead on the provision of Complex Needs and Dysphagia services for community paediatrics in Barking and Dagenham

·Work closely with clients, carers, families and professionals to raise awareness, knowledge and skills related to the range of strategies that improve feeding outcomes across settings

·Be able to further develop your interests and skills in an area/ areas of interest and expertise

·Contribute to both speech and language therapy and multi-disciplinary team working to ensure co-ordinated service provision

·Lead a small team of therapists and assistants working in your Pathway.

·To provide supervision of colleagues and peer support

·Deliver comprehensive formal and informal assessment and make differential diagnosis on the basis of assessment findings

·Develop evidence based intervention programmes, adapt and facilitate therapy according to client centred needs

·Provide highly specialist knowledge, advice, training and teaching to parents/carers, education staff, multidisciplinary team members and other colleagues.

·Be involved in the Service Development of the SALT team

Working for our organisation

Starting with NELFT
NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focusing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff). 

High Cost Area Supplement - London

This post attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (minimum payment of £4,551 and a maximum payment of £5,735 per annum pro rata).

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points based system. 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for further details about our vacancies.

Please get in touch if you think you could bring something to the role and are interested in joining our team (even if you don't meet all of the role requirements!)

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

Degree in Speech and Language Therapy Achieved Level C in Dysphagia Competency Framework

Desirable criteria

Achieved Level D in Dysphagia Competency Framework

Experience

Essential criteria

At least 3 years experience working in paediatrics with clients who have a range of speech, language and communication needs At least 2 year working in paediatrics with clients who have feeding difficulties

Desirable criteria

Previous NHS experience 4+ years of dysphagia experience

Skills

Essential criteria

Excellent written and verbal presentation skills Administering assessments, analysing assessment results and setting appropriate goals Delivering evidence-based intervention programmes Experience of working closely within a multidisciplinary team

Desirable criteria

Experience of working in a transdisciplinary model

Knowledge

Essential criteria

Knowledge of NELFT Trust Values Some knowledge of Specialist Pathway and associated assessments and interventions

Desirable criteria

Robust knowledge of Specialist Pathway and associated assessments and interventions

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff. A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity. Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors. Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.