Job summary
- Main area
- Speech Therapy
- Grade
- Band 8b
- Contract
- Fixed term: 12 months (Maternity cover)
- Hours
- 35 hours per week (Part Time or Flexible working hours may be considered)
- Job ref
- 180-E-253173
- Employer
- Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Addenbrookes Hospital-Division E
- Town
- Cambridge
- Salary
- £64,455 - £74,896 p.a. pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 18/11/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Lead Speech and Language Therapist
Band 8b
Job overview
Lead Specialist Speech and Language Therpist (Cleft.NET.East)
This is a key post in the multidisciplinary Cleft.Net.East Cleft Lip and Palate Team and its Managed Clinical Network (MCN). The post holder provides leadership of and is responsible for the development and co-ordination of the SLT service for children, adolescents and adults living within the MCN, and as such the post holder has an important role in contributing to the Regional Service; a service which serves as a national resource.
Main duties of the job
The post holder is responsible for the provision of a clinical service to a very high level of expertise in the assessment, diagnosis and management of communication disorders related to Cleft Lip and Palate/Velopharyngeal Dysfunction within this Regional Service. The post holder is responsible for the line management and staff appraisal of junior staff members. The post holder acts as advisor to speech-language therapists and other professionals on SLT matters related to the clinical speciality. The post holder provides a second or additional opinion service following conflicting evaluation externally. The post holder is responsible for providing teaching and training to professional staff. The post holder is required to initiate, lead and contribute to research, development, improvement, audit and teaching activities.
Working for our organisation
Our Trust
Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust comprises Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge. With over 13,000 staff and over 1100 beds the priorities of the Trust focus on a quality service which is all about people – patients, staff and partners. Recognised as providing ‘outstanding’ care to our patients and rated ‘Good’ overall by the Care Quality Commissioner, is testament to the skill and dedication of the people who work here. CUH’s values – Together - Safe, Kind, Excellent – are at the heart of patient care, defining the way all staff work and behave. The Trust provides accessible high-quality healthcare for the local people of Cambridge, together with specialist services, dealing with rare or complex conditions for a regional, national and international population.
CUH is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community - a place where we can all be ourselves. We value our differences and fully advocate and support an inclusive working environment where every individual can fulfil their potential. We want to ensure our people are truly representative of all the communities that we serve. We welcome applications for all positions in the organisation irrespective of people’s age, disability, ethnicity, race, nationality, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity status or social economic background.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Applicant Information Pack (combined Job Description and Person Specification) for key duties and responsibilities.
This vacancy will close at midnight on…
Interviews are due to be held on…
Benefits to you
At Cambridge University Hospitals, we want to do all we can to support good working days. We offer development opportunities and a wide range of benefits, including on-site leisure facilities, shopping concourse and day nurseries. Our good work programme currently includes providing reduced cost Stagecoach bus travel to and from Cambridge University Hospital site. Park and Ride bus journeys between Babraham Road and Trumpington sites are free, as is the route to and from Cambridge train station and our hospitals. We also subsidise the cost of parking on site for eligible staff.
On CUH campus, hot food is available 24/7 and at a reduced cost for colleagues. Recently we launched the first of our staff pod break spaces. Located in the Deakin Centre, we have a purpose-created colleague-only café, with free tea and coffee, a break space and private outside area for colleagues to rest, refuel and recharge. Just one of the ways we are working hard to support good working days at CUH.
CUH is committed to assisting employees in achieving a good work-life balance irrespective of role or personal circumstances. Flexible arrangements may include, but are not limited to, part-time working, job-share, term-time working and flexible start and finish times.
Please note if you would like to discuss the required hours of this role further, you should approach the contact given. In some cases, alternative working hours will be considered.
We welcome applications from the Armed Forces.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Recognised Speech and language Therapy Degree
- Health Professions Council licence to practise
- Registered member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
- Relevant Masters level qualification or equivalent (e.g. specialist courses in cleft lip and palate, velopharyngeal dysfunction, evidence based medicine, research design, leadership)
Desirable criteria
- Registration for or completion of relevant PhD or Professional Doctorate Or completion of many advanced specialist courses for relevant speciality, equivalent to Masters Degree (MA/MSc/MPhil) or working towards a master’s degree
- Short courses in management training and leadership skills e.g. appraisal, recruitment, supervision, student training
- Supervised training in line managing a clinical service
- Postgraduate Degree training in research methods/advanced practice
- Cleft Audit Protocol for Speech – Augmented (CAPS-A) trained
- International Phonetics Association Qualification (if not UK trained)
- Willingness to potentially undertake further training/CPD as relevant to requirements of the role
Experience
Essential criteria
- Extensive post qualification clinical experience working with cleft related speech sound disorders and velopharyngeal dysfunction
- Experience of working in a specialist cleft centre
- Evidence of leadership/Line management experience
- Teaching at postgraduate level
- Regional reputation in field of clinical specialism
- Well-developed portfolio and evidence of CPD in specialist area, leadership, research with identifiable outcomes
- Evidence of conference presentations at regional, National and/or International forum
- Evidence of competent use of technical equipment video camera, electropalatography, nasometry
- SLT leadership in interpretation of videofluoroscopy and nasendoscopy
- Clinical leadership in MDT working and complex clinics
- Collaborative case management Unidisciplinary and Multidisciplinary
- Analysing and Reporting speech outcomes
- Evidence of experience in supervising other professionals
- Evidence of experience in other workforce management and leadership activities e.g. induction training, annual appraisal, recruitment
- Experience of leading service development or improvement projects involving others
Desirable criteria
- Leading role in relevant specialist interest groups or specialist bodies
- Contribution to specialist area in national policy and practice development
- Authorship in peer reviewed publication
- Experience of lead authorship and project delivery
- Leading/participating in projects other than audit
- Evidence of an understanding of wider evidence related to speech sound disorders.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Expert knowledge of a broad range of assessment tools relevant to the specialist field e.g. case history methods, perceptual and instrumental speech analysis tools, assessment procedures and techniques, speech and language screening assessments, behavioural and psychological assessment methods
- Extensive theoretical knowledge relating to cleft speech, and relevant hearing, structural, surgical, psychological and dental knowledge
- Expert knowledge of a broad range of therapy methods and tools relevant to specialist area including, motor/articulation based, phonological and biofeedback
- Knowledge of National procedures (relevant to the specialist client group), including clinical governance
- Sound knowledge of research design and methodology, with particular reference to own specialist field
- Knowledge of leadership approaches
- Knowledge of own learning needs
- Knowledge of national and Trust level strategic aims relevant to specialism and SLT
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of NHS and national organisations and processes involved planning, funding and delivering research projects
- Sound knowledge of wider issues in speech sound disorder and potential relevance/applications to cleft related speech sound disorder
Skills
Essential criteria
- Formal Presentation Skills Training
- Time Management Training
- Excellent interpersonal skills, including listening, sustained concentration and empathy with patients and relatives who themselves may have a range of complex communication impairments and other needs
- Able to manage the emotional consequences of working with patients with a range of communication disorders/feeding anomalies
- Highly developed negotiation, reflective, analytic, problem-solving and influencing skills as an equal at consultant level across the multidisciplinary team and other agencies
- Excellent verbal and written presentation skills
- Highly developed self-organisational skills, including prioritisation of the workload
- Creative and expansive problem solving abilities
- Inspirational collaborative skills that enable local SLTs and other relevant professionals to develop and implement individual therapy programmes or projects to develop knowledge or services
- Expert auditory skills, including phonetic transcription and perceptual speech analysis
- Trans-disciplinary team-working and team leadership
- Sound knowledge of IT skills, including use of Microsoft Office Software
- Ability to adapt communication style as appropriate to individuals or situations
Desirable criteria
- Trained in nasendoscopic evaluation of velopharyngeal function
- Skills in use of biofeedback methods e.g. Ultrasound, EPG training
- Competence with Videotherapy
Additional Requirements
Essential criteria
- The ability to understand and behave at all times, towards patients, visitors and colleagues according to the Trust values of Safe, Kind, Excellent.
- Accountability – Takes responsibility for own actions and promotes good team working
- Openness – Shares information and good practice appropriately
- Mutual respect – Treats others with courtesy and respect at all times
- Personal – Capable of sustained concentration for long interviews with often distressed/anxious clients and families
- Personal – Must have developed strategies for containing personal, team and organisational stress, and abilities to support others with this
- Personal – Ability to tolerate flexible and mobile working conditions
- Personal – Capable of working with a wide audience for teaching/training, and of engaging simultaneous skills (of e.g. assessment and demonstration)
- Personal – Demonstrable leadership skills
- Personal – Ability to travel independently around the network
Employer certification / accreditation badges
.png "NHS Rainbow badge")
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Hannah Chandler / Caroline Hattee
- Job title
- Lead Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01223 596272
List jobs with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Allied Health Professions or all sectors