Band 6 Speech and language therapist

Job overview

The Hillingdon Speech and Language Therapy department is a friendly, enthusiastic team where we strive to provide services of high quality for the diverse population of the London Borough of Hillingdon.

The service over the years has built up excellent relationships with parents, service users and the local authority. The Hillingdon paediatric Speech and Language Therapy Service is commended for continually developing their service based on evidence, feedback and innovations.

We have an opportunity for a  Full Time band 6 speech and language therapist to work in our Early Years Team  alongside our SLT Assistants

We are looking for enthusiastic, flexible and innovative therapists with a special interest and knowledge of working with children with a range of  difficulties, to join the Early Years team. This post will require proficient skills in the assessment and management of pre school children, as well as working with other members of the team to support junior colleges and to continue to develop the service being offered. The appointed therapist will maintain up-to-date knowledge of national guidelines and policies related to service delivery.

The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.

Main duties of the job

• To provide a specialist service to pre school children with speech language and communication needs/ Speech disorders/Social communication differences
• To be responsible for providing specialist assessment and diagnosis of children within Early Years settings
• To provide specialist ongoing therapy through individual therapy sessions and groups where appropriate
• To provide advice and training to parents and other professionals around early identification intervention and prevention.
• To contribute to, and provide feedback about, possible developments in the team

We can offer you:

• A supportive, friendly team of speech and language therapy colleagues
• An identified buddy
• Regular supervision meetings with a senior therapist every 6 weeks, along with an annual appraisal
• Termly peer supervision meetings where you can discuss difficult cases, read articles together and share your experiences
• A busy but manageable caseload working with pre-school children
• Working with experienced assistants
• Opportunities to develop your clinical skills and knowledge through termly study afternoons, shadowing more experienced therapists, membership of a SIG/CEN, opportunities to invite a senior therapist for a joint consultation

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1.1           To assess, develop and implement specialist Speech and Language Therapy treatment.

1.2           To provide appropriate specialist intervention and evaluate outcomes.

1.3     To demonstrate highly developed auditory and perceptual skills in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of children.

1.4           To facilitate relevant professionals/parents  to carry out speech and language therapy programmes/strategies/advice

1.5           To monitor the effectiveness of speech and language therapy programmes/strategies/advice being delivered by other relevant professionals/parents and adjust as necessary

1.6     To make a differential diagnosis on the basis of evidence from assessment seeking advice as appropriate

1.7     To develop clear packages of care based on best practice and differential diagnosis and to use specialist clinical knowledge to inform case management.

1.8     To demonstrate clinical effectiveness by use of evidence based practice and outcome measures.

1.9      To keep up to date with new techniques and developments for the promotion and maintenance of good practice in own specialist clinical area.

1.10    To demonstrate the ability to reflect on practice with peers and supervisors and identify own strengths and development need

1.11       To manage own complex caseload independently and to prioritise workload using specialist skills, accessing support as appropriate

1.12    To ensure that children, their families and schools are involved in the planning and implementation of their care

1.13   To evaluate own delivery and to be accountable for own professional actions and decisions, and recognise own professional boundaries seeking advice as appropriate from supervisor/ team leader.

1.14   To report, in a timely manner, all concerns regarding Safeguarding issues to Team Leader or supervisor & to refer onto Social Services & Named Nurse for Safeguarding as appropriate, following the latest Safeguarding guidance/policy.