Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Job overview

This is a fixed term post for 6 months.

The post holder will be a registered Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with expertise in assessment and management of children and young people with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). The key role is to ensure the development of high quality, brain injury related speech and language therapy provision within the Cambridge Centre for Paediatric Neuropsychological Rehabilitation (CCPNR), within Cambridge and Peterborough Foundation Trust (CPFT) and across the wider region.

This post offers an exceptional opportunity to make a significant contribution to the development of a pioneering service offering specialist holistic neurorehabilitation to children and adolescents with acquired brain injuries.  This is the first NHS service for this client group in the UK.

Main duties of the job

• As a clinician the post holder will be responsible for a small caseload of children/young people with acquired brain injury who are undertaking neuropsychological assessment and/or rehabilitation. Their needs will be complex in nature requiring specialist skills in an area where there is limited evidence base for speech and language therapy (SLT) practice.
• The post holder will be expected to lead by example, demonstrating a commitment to client focused and evidence-based practice in all areas of their work.
• They will also be expected to work as an interdisciplinary team member taking on a co-ordinating role with clients as required. Based at Brookside, Trumpington Road, Cambridge and sharing close links with the Department of Psychological Medicine for Children Young People and Families at Cambridge University Hospital the service is also housed in the same building as the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, provided by Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.
• As a member of an 8 strong interdisciplinary team, you will contribute to the provision of highly specialist assessments and interventions for the individual cognitive, social, emotional and physical needs of children and young people with non-progressive brain injury, referred to the service from local, regional, national and international sources.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities

• To independently assess, differentially diagnose and develop and implement highly specialist intervention programmes for children/young people with highly complex social and cognitive communication needs, following acquired brain injury.
• To be responsible for the speech and language therapy components of the integrated programmes provided by the interdisciplinary team at the CCPNR, including the setting and management of agreed goals and contributions to individual education plans (IEP) and EHCPs (Educational, Health and Care Plans).
• To effectively communicate highly complex condition-related information resulting from assessment, that is accessible to the children/young people, their parents/carers, families, teaching staff and team members/other professionals.
• To provide specialist SLT advice, guidance and consultation to other professionals contributing directly to the children/young people’s assessment, formulation and treatment plan, making contributions to IEPs as required.
• To liaise and act in partnership with other professionals and as part of the interdisciplinary team to ensure the development of a well co-ordinated care plan.
• To liaise and work closely with parents/carers, families and teaching staff as appropriate, to establish goals for therapy/management.

Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines. You will need to hold a full UK driving licence* and have use of a vehicle. You cannot use public transport for this role as this is not a reliable form of transport and will not allow you to meet service needs. Please confirm in your application that you meet the specified criteria.

*DVLA have a number of reciprocal arrangements with overseas countries, for further information please visit the DVLA website