Mental Health Speech and Language Therapist

Job overview

Are you ready to be part of a growing and dynamic field of Speech and Language Therapy in Mental Health? We’re offering an exciting opportunity for a Band 6 Specialist SLT to join our supportive Allied Health Professions (AHP) team within urgent care mental health services across the Black Country (Inpatient mental health wards in Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton).

This permanent, full-time post offers the chance to make a real impact with adults and older adults on mental health wards. We’re open to part-time applications for the right candidate and offer flexible working arrangements (subject to service needs and policy).

Main duties of the job

• ·         Deliver a specialist SLT service for dysphagia and communication needs.
• ·         Work with clients presenting with complex and diverse mental health conditions, including behaviours that challenge.
• ·         Provide dysphagia assessment, advice, and intervention to reduce clinical risks and support safe oral intake.
• ·         Offer communication assessments and interventions tailored to individual needs.
• ·         Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams to support holistic care.
• ·         Contribute to staff training and service development initiatives.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Assess, diagnose and manage the communication and/or swallowing needs of patients referred to the service in inpatient settings. Responsible for autonomous initial patient diagnosis and assessment:
• Collection of detailed case history information
• Specialist informal assessment and observation
• Uses formal standardised assessment procedures
• Evaluates intervention plans using outcome measures and revises plans as necessary
• Contributes to, reads and abides by risk assessments relating to patients of the service.
• To carry out and support with mental capacity assessments.
• Communicates assessment and therapeutic findings within the multi-disciplinary team.
• Completes contemporaneous case notes and written clinical information completion according to Trust procedures.
• Undertakes specialist clinical work with individuals and groups of patients with guidance for the most complex cases from senior SLT.
• Makes decisions leading to SLT review or discharge of patients and/or referral to other services, as appropriate.
• Is responsible for managing own clinical caseload.
• To undertake any other duties of a similar nature consistent with the responsibilities of this post in order to provide a quality Speech and Language Therapy service.