Highly specialist speech & language therapist - Early Years Team

Job Overview

Would you like to be part of a friendly and supportive SLT team?

Do you want to develop your leadership skills?

0.6 WTE Band 7 role

We are looking for a passionate speech and language therapist to work in the Hillingdon Early Years team supporting children and young people who have a speech, language or communication need.

You will be part of a supportive band 7 team - and take a lead in developing projects and supervising more junior staff.

Have a look on our Hillingdon Talks, Moves and Plays website to find out about our wider service.

Main duties of the job

• To provide a highly specialist assessment and intervention service for children 0-19 with Speech Language and or communication needs.
• To be part of the ADOS assessment process
• To provide a highly specialist assessment and intervention service to children 0-19 who have swallowing, eating and drinking difficulties.
• To support in the development of training packages to early years settings, staff / parents / other professionals, in order for them to identify concerns regarding the child /young persons needs and implement therapy advice effectively.
• To support the service to achieve Key Performance Indicators, maintaining Target Activity Levels and demonstrating impact re quality and outcomes.
• To lead on quality governance, audits and projects for the team/service
• To be responsible for the performance management of identified team members
• To support the team leader in the leading and development of the team
• To be responsible with team leader support for service improvement initiatives.

Working for our organisation

We can offer you

• A buddy who will meet with you every week at first to help you settle in and who you can ask lots of questions
• Regular supervision meetings with the team leader every 6 weeks, alongside annual appraisal and informal support
• Termly peer supervision meetings where you can discuss difficult cases, read articles together and share your experiences
• Regular meetings with the other band 7 SLTs to ensure that the workload is being shared and support given
• A busy but manageable caseload
• Opportunities to develop your clinical and leadership skills and knowledge through termly study afternoons, shadowing more experienced therapists/ leaders, membership of a CEN, training courses - clinical and leadership

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

• To assess, develop and implement highly specialist Speech and Language Therapy intervention
• To provide appropriate highly specialist intervention / assessment and evaluate outcomes.
• To demonstrate highly developed auditory and perceptual skills in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of children 0-19.
• To facilitate relevant professionals/parents to carry out speech and language therapy programmes/strategies/advice
• To monitor the effectiveness of speech and language therapy programmes/strategies/advice being delivered by other relevant professionals/parents and adjust as necessary
• To make a differential diagnosis, including complex cases, on the basis of evidence from assessment.
• To develop clear packages of care based on best practice and differential diagnosis and to use highly specialist clinical knowledge to inform case management.
• To demonstrate clinical effectiveness by use of evidence based practice and outcome measures.
• To keep up to date with new techniques and developments for the promotion and maintenance of good practice in own highly specialist clinical area.
• To demonstrate the ability to reflect on practice with peers and supervisors and identify own strengths and development needs.
• To manage caseload independently and to prioritise workload using highly specialist
• To recognise potential breakdown and conflict when it occurs and seek to resolve using highly developed negotiation skills, seeking further support from team leader if necessary
• To ensure that children / young people, their families and schools / nurseries are involved in the planning and implementation of their care
• To maintain sensitivity to the emotional needs of children & their families, especially when imparting potentially distressing information regarding the nature of the child’s difficulties and its implications.
• To attend case conferences & core group meetings for children / young people on the caseload, where appropriate
• To submit safeguarding reports to case conferences ad reviews
• To record all concerns and discussions/supervision regarding safeguarding issues in Systmone clinical notes
• To attend safeguarding supervision for all children / young people with a Child Protection Plan at least every 12 weeks
• To provide safeguarding supervision (when trained) for team members on a rotational basis.
• To work independently and to access clinical supervision sessions on a regular basis & actively contribute to own appraisal on an annual basis.
• To collate evidence of professional development related to the RCSLT CPD log
• To demonstrate highly developed negotiation skills across a range of issues and to negotiate with others around case management in highly complex cases.
• To deal with complaints sensitively avoiding escalation where possible, and to inform the team leader in a timely fashion.
• To communicate highly complex information from assessments and ongoing therapy to children / young people, families and other professionals.
• To write outcome focused reports, and programmes/target sheets reflecting highly specialist knowledge which meet the needs of the child / young person
• To support the development of, and adhere to, service plans and policies giving constructive feedback as appropriate.
• To advise team leader on issues of service shortfall or pressure.
• To assume delegated leadership responsibilities and tasks as requested by TL.
• To work within infection control and health and safety guidelines.
• To report all incidents in a timely fashion and access learning following incident investigation outcomes & complaints. Attend training to complete incident investigations.
• To support other team members in the reporting of incidents in a timely fashion
• To work within legal frameworks including: SEND reforms e.g Statutory EHCP assessments, London safeguarding procedures and policies.
• To attend, contribute to and present at Team and Departmental meetings.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree qualification or equivalent (minimum of 2:2 or equivalent)
• Further training courses relevant to the post
• Attendance at special interest group/ clinical excellence group
• Health and Care Professions Council licence to practice.
• Registered member of relevant organisation eg Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and other relevant bodies
• Successful completion of highly specialist/expert short courses including ASD, Education practice

Desirable criteria

• First class honours degree or equivalent
• Successful completion of highly specialist advanced post graduate study at MSc or equivalent

Experience

Essential criteria

• Extensive experience of working in a mainstream/special school as a therapist
• Training and experience of working with children with eating and swallowing difficulties
• Experience of working within multidisciplinary /multi-agency team. Detailed knowledge of multi-disciplinary team approaches
• Experience of managing/supervising more junior staff and students and participating in appraisal
• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Experience of assessing children using the ADOS assessment too
• Experience of working with other agencies
• Management experience, undertaking delegated departmental duties at Band 6 level or above

Desirable criteria

• Experience of leading audits
• Participate in research / evaluation of practice Knowledge of basic qualitative & quantitative research approaches and of the key elements of writing a research protocol.
• Leadership of and /or [participation in a special interest group across disciplines

Skills and Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Ability to prioritise and manage time effectively
• Ability to mentor and support junior therapists and students promoting clinical excellence in self and others
• Ability to clearly communicate assessment findings giving verbal and written reports that deliver complex information to carers, young people and other health professionals
• Knowledge of advanced approaches to support clients & carers with challenging behaviour , mental health needs or in high levels of distress
• Demonstrate knowledge of standards of practice and guidelines e.g. HCPC Professional Conduct Guidelines
• Demonstrate an awareness of current legislation and act in accordance e.g. Child protection
• Implementation of national initiatives and legislation relating to Health and Social Care in relation to children with developmental concerns and disabilitie
• Ability to be actively involve in development and implementation of clinical policies and procedures.
• Evidence of knowledge of conditions likely to be encountered in Community Paediatrics and their impact on a child’s functional abilities, independence and development e.g. Cerebral Palsy, Developmental Co-ordination Disorders, ADHD, Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Severe Learning Disabilities and Developmental Delay.
• Working knowledge and understanding of a highly specialist range of assessment tools and procedures to evaluate the strengths and needs of young people (birth -19) who present with a wide range of needs (as relevant to professional discipline)

Other

Essential criteria

• Be proficient in data management and information governance and comfortable with learning new clinical record keeping systems
• Demonstrate ability to analyse performance data and high quality performance reports
• Be computer literate with working knowledge and ability to use appropriate computer software