Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

We have a fantastic opportunity for a suitably experienced SLT to join our friendly, supportive, clinically passionate, speech and language therapy team at the Royal Surrey Hospital.

The ideal candidate will have previous experience managing a wide range of patients encompassing both complex dysphagia and acquired communication difficulties. Ideally you would be a fully competent videofluoroscopy and FEES Practitioner, and be able to work independently with patients with a tracheostomy; however, we can offer training and support to help you achieve these competencies. Experience providing education and training relevant to the clinical specialism would be beneficial. This is a team-lead post, as such, you should also have experience of supervising junior members of the SLT profession.

The successful candidate should work well under pressure, be passionate about high standards of patient care, and embrace the challenge of service development. Support will be available both internally, through regular supervision and peer support, and externally through access to relevant Clinical Excellence Networks (CENs).

You must be registered with the HCPC and the RCSLT for this post.

Main duties of the job

The speech and language therapy team have extensive expertise in the management of patients with head & neck cancer (including laryngectomy), stroke, neurology, critical care, neuro-oncology, general medicine, and voice disorders. The team place a high value on the acquisition and development of evidence-based clinical skills for the benefit of patients. We offer a supportive environment with regular team meetings and a rolling in-service CPD programme.

The team is committed to sharing best practice in the fields of acquired communication and swallow disorders, so provide regular training sessions for doctors, nurses, and healthcare assistants as well as those staff trained to carry out basic dysphagia screening.

For informal discussion, or to arrange a visit to the hospital please contact Kate Blick at kate.blick@nhs.net or call 01483 408376.

Job responsibilities

To provide a specialist service to patients at the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust with a range of acquired communication and swallowing disorders. To provide leadership to less experienced Speech and Language Therapists.

Provide a holistic, timely, and proactive service to patients with a wide variety of diagnoses. To undertake service development and promotion of the SLT service. To manage and prioritise own specialist caseload, including patients with acquired complex communication/swallowing difficulties or receiving end of life care. To form part of the SLT band 7 leadership structure. To provide teaching and training (formal and informal) to colleagues and members of the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT). To monitor referral guidelines, patient pathways, outcome measures, and best practice initiatives to maximise the patient experience.

Person SpecificationQualifications

• Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree or equivalent
• Health & Care Professions Council - Licence to Practice
• Registered Member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
• Evidence of successful completion of relevant specialist short courses
• Full driving licence

Knowledge

• Recent experience of working in an MDT setting and with patients with complex communication and swallowing disorders
• Experience of videofluoroscopy including interpretation of results
• Experience of FEES including interpretation of results
• Experience of managing patients with a tracheostomy
• Experience managing patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy
• Experience of service development
• Able to manage and prioritise own caseload and workload independently and support others with caseload management
• Understanding of the principles of Clinical Governance
• Knowledge of standards of record keeping

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Date posted

04 April 2025

Band

Band 7

£48,270 to £54,931 a year (per annum) includes high cost area supplements (HCAS)

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