Speech and Language Therapist

Are you a Speech and Language Therapist looking to build or further develop your career in a highly specialist environment with complex and rewarding cases? Join Badby Park for 22.5 hours per week as a Speech and Language Therapist, where you'll manage a diverse caseload and deliver high-quality, person-centred care to residents with complex communication, tracheostomy and dysphagia needs.

Whether you are a newly qualified Speech and Language Therapist seeking a supportive environment to start your career, or an experienced clinician looking to further develop your specialist expertise, this is an excellent opportunity to join a dedicated multidisciplinary team. You'll benefit from structured supervision, ongoing professional development and the chance to work with a highly complex neurological caseload, helping individuals achieve the best possible outcomes.

About the Role

In this role, you will take responsibility for your own caseload, with the level of autonomy and support tailored to your experience. You will work closely with the multidisciplinary team to assess, diagnose and treat communication and swallowing difficulties, including tracheostomy communication and dysphagia management, using both formal assessment tools and advanced clinical reasoning to support effective treatment planning.

You will work closely with residents, families and carers, providing clear and compassionate guidance around complex communication, voice and swallowing difficulties. A key part of the role includes supporting tracheostomy care and weaning, as well as coordinating safe swallowing programmes in collaboration with nursing teams, kitchen staff and dietitians to ensure appropriate nutrition and care.

As your experience develops, you will have opportunities to contribute to training, education and service development across the wider team. Experienced clinicians will also support and supervise Speech and Language Therapy Assistants, contribute to annual appraisals and help develop the knowledge and skills of colleagues across the service. (These responsibilities will be supported and phased appropriately for newly qualified therapists.)

Other Responsibilities

• To have personal, professional and legal responsibility for own highly specialist caseload of residents, working as an autonomous practitioner, seeking support when needed.
• To select, use and interpret accurately the appropriate specialist tracheostomy communication and or swallowing assessments for own caseload. Assessment can include formal assessments (i.e. published assessments) and informal assessments e.g. own assessments, accurate perceptual analysis of residents’ speech together with transcription, detailed language analysis.
• To assess and differently diagnose tracheostomy, communication and swallowing difficulties arising from a variety of different complex conditions and to understand how diagnosis affects prognoses and thereby contribute to a medical diagnosis.
• To contribute actively to multidisciplinary teams and provide specialist Speech and Language Therapy input.
• To attend and contribute to relevant clinical and management meetings
• To work closely with residents, carers and families giving appropriate explanations of complex communication, tracheostomy, voice and/or swallowing difficulties.
• Ensure safeguarding of vulnerable adults & children
• To work closely with kitchen staff, nursing staff and dietician regarding residents on swallowing programmes (with and without feeding tubes in situ) to ensure adequate nutritional intake and appropriate consistency of food.
• To demonstrate empathy with residents, carers, families and colleagues ensuring that effective communication is achieved.
• To assess the need for and, teach residents and carers in the safe and effective use of application of low – and high-tech communication aids.
• To teach therapy assistants and carers relevant swallowing or communication programmes for individual residents.
• To lead the therapeutic group activities that relate to communication.
• To persuade, motivate, negotiate and problem solve with residents, colleagues in the department, MDT and other professionals.
• To work with the Psychology team regarding complex capacity issues relating to residents with communication difficulties.
• To document correctly all relevant information, including care plans and care records.
• To refer to and action any therapy programmes from, the Assistive Technology Team working closely with OT.
• To lead on tracheostomy weaning, liaising with and referring to, ENT as appropriate.
• To provide written reports as required.