Job overview

We are looking for an experienced, motivated and innovative Speech and Language Therapist to join our Children's Integrated Therapies Service in a newly created Early Years complex needs communication role. 

The Children's Therapy Services identify, assess, support and manage the health needs of children and young people aged 0-18 years, working closely with children and their families in health settings and family homes and with education colleagues in early years and school settings.

The successful post holder will be part of a large and supportive team comprising Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, therapy assistants and a well-resourced admin team.

We are part of Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust working in the London Royal Borough of Greenwich, serving children, young people and their families.

We have an organisational commitment for CPD to enhance clinician’s skills within areas of clinical interest. The service has excellent internal supervision and support structures and provides a friendly environment to develop clinical skills, with opportunities to contribute towards service development projects.

Main duties of the job

The role will primarily, but not exclusively, involve managing a caseload of children aged 0-4 year who have complex communication needs. You will be supporting these children with their communication development and, when qualified, their eating, drinking and swallowing skills. You will be working across the Early Years Communication team and the Dysphagia and Complex Needs Team with support and supervision from senior therapists.

You will take the lead, with support from senior SLTs, in developing evidence based assessment and intervention pathways for children with complex communication and health needs.

You will work across the Royal Borough of Greenwich supporting pre-school children with complex needs and their families in the community. Knowledge of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is important. Dysphagia competencies would be ideal but are not essential to apply.

Working for our organisation

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.

We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families.  This is strengthened by our new values:

• We’re Kind
• We’re Fair
• We Listen
• We Care