Speech and Language Therapist

Job summary

We have an exciting opportunity for a highly specialist Band 7 Speech and Language Therapist to join our expanding Neonatal Speech and Language Therapy Service. This newly created permanent role offers the chance to play a key part in shaping and developing an innovative service that supports babies and their families during some of the most critical stages of early development.

Working within our neonatal team, you will help deliver specialist assessment,interventionand support for infants with feeding,swallowingand communication needs, while contributing to service development, qualityimprovementand multidisciplinary working across the neonatal pathway.

As part of a significant investment in the service, you will work alongside an experienced Band 7 Speech and Language Therapist at Kettering General Hospital and be supported by a friendly, knowledgeableand highly collaborative neonatal multidisciplinary team. You will alsobenefitfrom strong links with an established regional neonatal network,providingexcellent opportunities for professional development,networkingand shared learning.

Main duties of the job

Serving a population of approximately 350,000 from Northampton and its surrounding area, Kettering General Hospital is a busy district general hospital with a level 2 Local Neonatal Unit (LNU) that typically admits around 450 babies per year. Our neonatal service provides intensive, high-dependency and special care for 20 babies (from 27weeks gestation) as part of the East Midlands Neonatal Operational Delivery Network (EMNODN), Admissions to the unit comprise both kettering born babies and those born in other hospitals within EMNODN and referred to us for short-term intensive and high-dependency care.

We welcome applications from therapists with experience in neonatal care, paediatrics, feeding and swallowing, or related specialist areas. We would also encourage applications from dysphagia-trained Speech and Language Therapists who candemonstratethe clinical skills, knowledge, leadershipqualitiesand potentialrequired to develop into this highly specialist neonatal role.

Work within a supportive multidisciplinary neonatal team committed to delivering outstanding family-centred care.

o Access excellent professional development opportunities through local and regional networks.

o Benefit from flexible working arrangements, which will be considered for the successful candidate.

o Explore future opportunities foradditionalhours within our partnership neonatal services.

About us

Please submit your application as soon as possible, as we reserve the right to close adverts once sufficient applications have been received.

We recognise that AI tools can support application writing; however, candidates are asked to keep their use to a minimum. Responses should reflect your own experience, skills and knowledge, as over-reliance on AI-generated content may result in generic answers that do not accurately represent your abilities.

University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) brings together Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust. As a group, we are committed to improving services for our communities through collaboration, modernising care delivery and striving for excellence. Working together enables us to share expertise, strengthen services and create greater opportunities, and there may be a requirement to work across sites depending on service needs.

Our Excellence Values are Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Integrity and Courage. UHN welcomes applications from all backgrounds and is committed to an inclusive working environment. We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and hold the Gold Award under the Employer Recognition Scheme. Candidates who identify as members of the Armed Forces community and meet the essential criteria will be guaranteed an interview.

Job description

Job responsibilities

We are looking for a motivated and skilled Speech and Language Therapist with post-qualification clinical experience relevant to neonatal practice.

Be part of an expanding and developing neonatal SLT service with opportunities to influence its future direction.

Main duties of the job

CLINICAL:

Provide autonomous specialist assessment,treatmentand advice to inpatients on the local neonatal unit and neonatal transitional care unit. Neonates areward basedinpatients who present with feeding/swallowing difficulties.

To be able toidentifyneonates with feeding difficulties, swallow dysfunction, and dysphagia and develop suitable management plans to reduce their risk of stress,aspirationand feeding aversion.

Utilise a range of informal and formal approaches to assess theneonatesearly communication and pre-feeding/breastfeeding/bottle feeding skills and to support the MDT inidentifyingthese needs to informoptimumcare planning and intervention.

Maintain an in-depth, comprehensive knowledge of neonatal clinical needs and presentations resulting from a range ofacquiredconditions.

To communicate complex information effectively and clearly with clinical colleaguesregardingassessments and interventions both in spoken and written reports, as well as in day-to day liaison.

Deliver therapy programmes based on current evidence and clinical knowledge to meet the needs of the infant and familys profile.

To be aware of the boundaries of own practice, and to always manage the associated clinical risk effectively.

Work closely with members of the MDT to holisticallyidentifythe range of needs of the infant and family and how best to support these.

To communicate effectively,empathicallyand clearly with families and carersregardingissues which will sometimes be complicated or emotionally charged.

To sensitively deal with distressing or emotional circumstancesregardingpatient care e.g. imparting news or poor prognosis

To work with the MDT to ensuretimelycommunity referrals, discharge planning meetings, liaison with other medical specialities and healthcare professionals.

To be able toidentifyneed for further instrumental swallowing assessment.

To critically reflect on own and others performance and use this evaluation to enhance the effectiveness,efficiencyand quality of future practice.

Toidentifyown training needs and to keep skills up to date.

To continue to meet the clinical competencies according to RCSLT standards

Todemonstrategood organisational skills in terms of time and caseload management.

To attend meetings and seminars/case conferences asappropriate, and liaise with andadviseother disciplines, asappropriate, to achieve comprehensive,effectiveand confidential patient management through to discharge.

To always behave in a professional manner.

To appropriatelyseekand use supervision to review complex case material, develop skills, plan continuing professional development, set learning targets and address any issues which may be relevant to the fulfilment of your role.

To actively engage with East Midlands Neonatal operational delivery network (EMNODN) vianetwork meetings and externally via relevant Clinical Excellent Networks (CENs).

CONSULTATION:

To provideexpertiseand specialist neonatal speech and language therapy advice and consultation to other professionals in relation to patient assessment, diagnosis,treatmentand care.

MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

To attend Trust working parties as requested by the Service Lead to contribute to strategic service and at times for Trust wide development

To provide governance, strategic and recruitment support as requested to Acute SLT Team Lead and Childrens Therapies Manager

To fully engage in the Trust and team strategies including five-year plans and visions.

RESEARCH:

To carry out and co-operate in audit/service-related projects.

To contribute to team outcome measures which are reported back to the Neonatal Operational Delivery Network and maintain SLT specific outcome measure database.

Tomonitorand evaluate clinical effectiveness and evidence-based practice usingappropriate outcomemeasures

Toparticipatein research conducted within the department in discussion with the lead for the service.

To use computer software in developing and operating systems for storage and analysis of data and creation of reports for colleagues in relation to audit activities and clinical research.

TEACHING, TRAINING AND SUPERVISION:

To provide teaching and training to other professional colleagues/staff groups at a local, and national level.

To present on relevant research/practice at events/forums

To supervise junior members of staff and provide line management support within the team.

To provide student education and createan appropriate learningenvironment for placement-based education.

ADMINISTRATIVE/ORGANISATIONAL:

To take part in service/departmental policy implementation and development

To ensure a high standard of documentation including clinical notes, reports and goals and outcome measures aremaintained.

To manage own time effectively within the demands of the service.

To ensuretimelyrecording inpatientsrecords paper and or electronic systems

Work across the Trust to support gaps in service asidentifiedby the Lead for the service, asrequired.

Input data into database including outcome measures

To complete admin tasks on behalf of patients or team members within the service.

GENERAL:

Toobservepersonal duty of care in relation to equipment and resources within the team, such as assessments, resources, technology, equipment.

Tomaintaineffective paper and electronic records and develop information recording systems asappropriate inperforming the duties of the job.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Significant experience in paediatric SLT post qualification
• Experience working with neonates and infants and/or children with complex needs
• Experience of independently managing feeding and swallowing difficulties associated with a neonatal or paediatric caseload
• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team

Desirable

• Experience working in a neonatal or acute setting

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Knowledge of processes and policies relating to work in a neonatal setting e.g. safeguarding, developmental/educational needs, RCSLT guidelines etc.
• Knowledge of assessment tools relevant to neonates in order to assess, diagnose, plan and treat neonates and infants with swallowing difficulties
• Excellent interpersonal skills - including observation, listening and empathy skills
• Ability to recognise own training and supervision needs and use these to further enhance clinical skills
• Ability to interpret and apply evidence based practice in clinical work
• Excellent presentation skills, both written and verbal
• Excellent organisational skills
• Understanding of the roles of other professionals working on the neonatal unit

Desirable

• Knowledge of standards of record keeping
• Competence in computer skills, word processing, data management and analysis
• Able to develop and deliver internal and external training

Other

Essential

• Adherence to RCSLT and HCPC guidelines, codes of ethics and professional conduct

Qualifications/ Education/ Registration

Essential

• Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree or equivalent
• RCSLT Registration
• HCPC Registration
• Post qualification training in paediatric dysphagia
• Experience working at Paediatric Dysphagia Competency Level C

Desirable

• Relevant specialist training courses e.g. FINE, NBO, IBCLC, SOFFI
• Completion of HEE Modules (Introduction to Neonatal Care and Speech Language Therapy modules)
• Membership of relevant clinical excellence networks (CENs) e,g, PDCEN, Neonatal CEN
• Experience working at Paediatric Dysphagia Competency Level D
• Experience working at Neonatal Dysphagia Competency Level C

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Address

University Hospitals of Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Kettering

NN16 8UZ

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://www.kgh.nhs.uk/working-for-us (Opens in a new tab)

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