Speech and Language Therapist Team Lead

We are delighted to be able to offer this exciting career opportunity within the Community Paediatric SLT service of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust. This senior position is aimed at highly experienced Band 7/8 Therapists who wish to extend their clinical leadership and people management skills across the full breadth of an SLT clinical service area. There is an expectation that you will bring strong leadership abilities and experience to this Team Lead role, supporting the localities’ structure and teams across Northumberland and North Tyneside. You will be working collectively with other service and team Leads and deputising for the Clinical Lead as required to successfully deliver on our service vision, values and strategic objectives.

This role will appeal to dynamic, motivated and experienced lead Therapists who are committed to delivering the highest quality service for children and young people with a broad range of speech, language and communication needs. They will be passionate about improving the quality of evidence based SLT practice and be able to demonstrate strong leadership within a service improvement and development context.

Excellent organisational and time management skills are essential along with high level interpersonal skills and an ability to effectively negotiate and influence at a broader level across the service and within a multi-agency context.

To provide leadership and management of a clinical service area, being responsible and accountable for the clinical and corporate governance of that service provision.

To work collaboratively with the SLT leadership team to deliver on strategic objectives.

To act as an expert clinical practitioner providing a point of reference at a local and regional level.

To provide core, specialist and highly specialist training for other Speech and Language Therapists, and other disciplines across Health, Education and Children’s Services.

To take a leading role in research, quality improvement and development within the clinical service area.

To be accountable for own professional actions and recognise own professional boundaries through the interpretation of national clinical/professional policies.

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, in addition to our state-of-the-art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. We also care for people in their homes and provide services from facilities in local communities such as health centres. We give people greater choice and control over their care to help them to live independently at home and avoid hospital admission where appropriate. High quality patient care is at the heart of everything we do and we strive to ensure every single patient and service user has an exceptional experience with us. We have one of the most extensive patient experience programmes of any trust in England.

**We can offer**:
A well-established network of support, supervision and mentorship.

A personal approach to continued professional development.

Opportunities to further develop your leadership skills set in healthcare.

Collaborative working with a team of highly skilled, dedicated Speech and Language Therapists and Assistant Speech and Language Therapists.

Successful partnership working with colleagues in Health, Education and Children’s Services.

We have a nationally recognised track record of innovation and clinical excellence. Teams are encouraged to explore new ways of implementing evidence into practice. Close links are maintained with Newcastle University and Therapists have full access to library and R&D facilities within Northumbria Healthcare.

**Essential Criteria**:
Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree Qualification or equivalent.

Evidence of successful completion of specialist courses up to Master’s level or equivalent.

HCPC registration.

Registered Member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

High level of self-reflection, identifying and meeting own personal and professional learning needs and those of the team

Demonstrable portfolio of experience in leading a team including recruitment and selection, clinical and managerial supervision and complex work planning ensuring equity of access across the client group.

Experience of leading successful service development and quality improvement initiatives.

High level communication skills with the ability to negotiate and influence within Health, Education and/or Children’s Services.

Extensive experience of working holistically with clients with a broad range of more complex communication needs.

**Desirable Criteria**:
Relevant post registration learning/experience in leadership and management.

Experience of successful collaborative working within a leadership team.

Knowledge of and active involvement in annual planning at a service level