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Job overview
We are seeking an enthusiastic, experienced and highly motivated Band 7 Specialist Speech and Language Therapist to join our Children's Therapy Service in Merton, leading the provision for children and young people with Eating, Drinking and Swallowing (EDS) difficulties.
This is an exciting opportunity for a clinician with a passion for improving outcomes for children with complex feeding and swallowing needs. The successful candidate will provide specialist assessment, diagnosis and intervention for children and young people with a range of developmental, neurological and complex health conditions, working across community, clinic, education and home settings.
As the Eating and Drinking Lead, you will play a key role in service development, quality improvement and the implementation of evidence-based practice. You will work collaboratively with multidisciplinary colleagues, families, education settings and health partners to ensure safe, effective and person-centred care.
Main duties of the job
Key Responsibilities
- Manage a highly specialist caseload of children and young people presenting with eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties.
- Undertake complex clinical swallowing assessments and develop appropriate management plans.
- Lead on the development and review of EDS pathways, policies and clinical guidance.
- Provide expert advice and consultation to families, education staff and multidisciplinary colleagues.
- Deliver training and competency programmes to health, education and care professionals.
- Contribute to service development, clinical governance, audit and quality improvement initiatives.
- Supervise and support junior staff, students and support workers as appropriate.
- Work closely with paediatricians, dietitians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, specialist nurses, schools and other stakeholders to deliver integrated care.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Successful applicants will be required to demonstrate alignment with the Trust’s values & the behaviours aligned to those values - Accountability, Inclusion, Compassion, and Empowerment, alongside fulfilling the duties detailed in the attached Job Description and Person Specification.
Person specification
Skills
Essential
- Excellent interpersonal skills including observation, listening and empathy skills.
- Highly specialist knowledge of a wide range of appropriate therapeutic interventions and evidence of a specialist level of clinical expertise in relevant areas.
- Independence in managing dysphagia within a paediatric population.
- Experience in using a range of assessment techniques for managing patients with dysphagia and complex needs.
- In-depth knowledge of principles of clinical governance and audit.
- Ability to use IT including PowerPoint, Excel, Word
- Excellent presentation skills, both written and verbal.
- Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills.
- Highly developed negotiation and problem-solving skills.
- Good analytical & organisational ability
- Ability to identify and assess the potential risks involved in work activities and processes for self and others.
- Ability to deputise for service lead as required.
- Ability to listen effectively and provide constructive feedback to families and colleagues.
- Awareness of the management and use of data in the NHS setting
Desirable
- Postgraduate research in a relevant area.
- Completion of CPD related to dysphagia management
Experience
Essential
- Extensive experience of working in a variety of clinical settings
- Experience of working and liaising with other MDT professionals
- Recent experience within community SLT setting, specialising in complex needs and dysphagia in a paediatric population
- Ability to understand complex issues, problem solve and propose solutions.
- Able to communicate with families and young people in an empathetic manner regarding their treatment and procedures
- Experience of supervising/ managing junior staff and students
- Experience working with families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
- Experience in the assessment and management of patients who require AAC
- Participation in audit; research projects; service development
Desirable
- Experience of working within a community paediatric SLT service.
- Experience of working through the RCSLT NQP and dysphagia frameworks with junior SLTs
Key attributes
Essential
- Ability to work in a team and be a proactive member and able to engage in change process in the team.
- Ability to self-organise, prioritise and delegate effectively.
- Ability to motivate others.
- Flexible work ethic
- Ability to assume leadership responsibilities.
- Ability to address sensitive issues e.g. complex condition-related information to families/carers.
Desirable
- Able to demonstrate initiative and innovative approaches towards work.
- Hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010) or be able to travel around independently using public transport or another mode or transport
Qualifications
Essential
- Recognised SLT degree or equivalent
- Current AHP with UK HCPC registration
- Evidence of competence in managing complex dysphagic patients in the 0-19 age group including those requiring enteral feeding
Desirable
- Evidence of relevant post-registration education and training e.g. SCERTS, VERVE, Intensive Interaction, Attention Autism, Hanen, Gestalt Language Processing, AAC, Dysphagia, Infant Feeding, Breastfeeding, Tracheostomy
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Highly Specialist Paediatric Speech and Language Therapist with Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust in London, London, England. It is listed as a Band 7 Speech and Language Therapist role. The advertised salary is £55,524 - £62,652 per annum, inclusive of HCAS. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 19 Jul 2026.
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