Speech and Language Therapist

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a speech and language therapist to work in specialist mental health inpatient services in Leeds and York Partnership Foundation NHS Trust. The role would provide dysphagia and communication assessments, and interventions to our CAMHs, working-age adult and older persons services, where service users will have a mental health disorder and co-occurring communication and/or eating and drinking difficulties. Dysphagia competency training could be supported.

The nature of the role will be varied and dynamic, covering different wards across a small number of inpatient sites, tailoring interventions to the holistic needs of the service users. The work will involve assessment and one-to-one therapy, as well as working with ward staff, external care staff and families. Due to the nature of service users’ difficulties, the post-holder will have ample opportunity to design creative interventions to support service users’ care and pathway towards discharge. This will include working with the multidisciplinary team, for example delivering training, contributing to MDT meetings, facilitating capacity assessments, and contributing to Formulations and differential diagnosis.

This is a new role within the growing Speech and Language Therapy team on inpatient mental health settings and we encourage proactive and innovative working, to help our service users achieve the best possible outcomes, and develop the SLT service as a whole.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be working in inpatient hospitals across the Trust to deliver high quality dysphagia and communication assessment and intervention to our caseload of service users with mental illness and/or dementia.

The post holder will be a valued member of our multi-disciplinary teams, providing their expertise, skills and knowledge to service users, carers/families, and ward staff. There will be the opportunity to work with allied health professionals across the wider organisation, including contribution towards areas such as service development, research, student education and awareness-raising.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post-holder will receive support from an experienced and welcoming team of therapists. There will be plenty of scope to develop skills and knowledge in the role, but previous experience of working with mental health difficulties, neurodiversity (including autism) and dementia, would be beneficial.

We welcome expressions of interest and informal queries about the role, and encourage potential applicants to contact the recruiting manager on the details given below.

We recruit people based on their values and qualifications (where required) and believe that their lived experience is an advantage, this means that together we are as diverse as the communities we care for. Simply put, when we employ caring people who act with integrity and have the right skills, we can give those with mental health challenges, learning disabilities and neurodiversity high-quality care and support to live fulfilling lives, and make our staff feel purposeful, happy and valued. All our information is available in accessible formats. Please contact the Recruitment team [email protected]  Attached to this advert is our candidates guide to values-based recruitment and supporting guidance on how to make a successful application.  If you require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Recruitment Team or see the attached candidate guide to reasonable adjustments.  To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience you’ll need, look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the Supporting Documents heading.  So that you’re even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, you’ll need to take time to read the Candidate Guide to Values Based Recruitment. This document provides you with information to help you apply.