Band 6 Speech & Language Therapist

Job overview

Band 6 Speech & Language Therapist - Rotational Adult Acute Wards / Stroke

We are delighted to be able to offer a part time opportunity for a Band 6 rotational acute Speech and Language Therapist to join our team. This post will rotate with other Band 6 posts across the acute wards (including respiratory, oncology and CCU/HDU) and the stroke wards.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Band 5 therapist or band 6 therapist looking for a change to develop specialist skills within acute stroke and /or acute generalist wards for acquired swallowing and communication disorders.

If you have been a Band 5 Speech and Language Therapist for at least 12 months and are an independent practitioner in dysphagia we want to hear from you!

Main duties of the job

The post requires specialist skills in the management of patients with acquired communication disorders and/or dysphagia on the stroke unit or general acute wards.  The successful candidate would be required to have experience in working with a wide range of patient types and/or have completed RCSLT Level C dysphagia competencies or equivalent dysphagia training to support the assessment of patients in an inpatient setting.

The successful candidate will be developed to acquire the skills to lead videofluorscopy clinics and will have the opportunity to participate in FEES clinics once established. The SALT department has an excellent profile within the hospital and strong links to our main referring consultants, and other professionals. We foster effective MDT working and are an active member of the therapies department.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We are a very friendly speech & language therapy team  who seek to enable all staff to progress to their maximum potential, and to support their colleagues to do the same.  The SALT department has a good profile within the hospital and strong links to our main referring consultants, and other professionals.

With a strong ethos in evidence based practice and supportive patient intervention, the team works across acute and stroke wards to provide excellent patient intervention and therapy within the acute phase of their illness. We foster good links with our community colleagues to ensure seamless care for patients who may need continuing care post discharge.

For full details about this varied and rewarding role, please see attached job description, but some of the responsibilities include

The main responsibilities of the band 6 speech and language therapist are

• To undertake all aspects of clinical duties as an autonomous practitioner.
• To take a specialist interest in at least one defined area of the service or particular patient type: eg Stroke Acute Rehab, Neuro, CogNeuro, Palliative Care etc working without direct supervision.
• To participate in clinical audit, protocol development, objective-setting etc as required by the development of the SALT team.
• To deputise for the Clinical Lead/Band 7 as and when required to do so at meetings etc.
• To attend clinical supervision in the form of regular face to face meetings with your supervisor, clinical reasoning sessions, peer review, and team case discussions.
• To provide supervision and education of Band 5 SALTs and speech and language therapy students / assistants.
• To undertake evidence-based audit and research projects to further own and team’s clinical practice.