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Job summary

Main area
Speech and language
Grade
Band 7
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Participation in weekend rota)
Job ref
197-UT6927
Employer
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Town
London
Salary
£46,148 - £52,809 per annum plus HCAS
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
10/07/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust logo

Band 7 Speech and Language Therapist - Acute and Critical Care

Band 7

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.

Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.

We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.

To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over  staying comfortable; Listening  over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone. You can read more about our visions and values here

Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.

LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.

We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Job overview

We are delighted to share a rare and exciting opportunity to join our friendly, well-established team as a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist working on the acute wards and critical care at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The postholder will share responsibility for leading a team of band 5 and 6 SLTs and a band 4 assistant, and will have access to CPD, supervision, peer support and internal and external training opportunities to develop and enhance their leadership skills.

The successful candidate will carry a caseload of patients across acute wards, including critical care patients with and without tracheostomies, and those receiving invasive and non-invasive ventilation. Leadership of  videofluoroscopy clinics for in- and outpatients, and delivery of the inpatient FEES service, provide ample opportunity to consolidate specialist skills in instrumental assessment of dysphagia.

We welcome contact from interested candidates who would like to discuss this post.

Main duties of the job

·   To provide a highly specialist SLT service to patients on the acute wards including critical care at Queen Elizabeth Hospital

·       To provide cross-cover and support to critical care as required.

·    To work with other members of the multidisciplinary team to develop services and standards of patient care.

·       To provide training and support to SLT colleagues or to colleagues from other professions.

·   To assist the Head of Speech and Language Therapy with service evaluation.

Working for our organisation

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

  1. Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
  2. Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
  3. Improving the experience of staff with disability
  4. Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
  5. Making equalities mainstream

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Result Areas & Performance:
•    To use highly specialist skills to assess, differentially diagnose and manage complex patients with acquired swallowing and communication disorders on the acute wards and critical care at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
•    To support in the assessment, differential diagnosis and management of patients with tracheostomy who have swallowing and communication impairments, and to provide specialist input to these patients where weaning from the tracheostomy is problematic.
•    To work independently to fulfil the core responsibilities identified below.
•    To ensure effective joint working with the Multi-Disciplinary Teams in the management and discharge planning of these patients.
•    To provide training and/or support to other professionals concerning swallowing or communication problems.
•    To contribute to the development of clinical guidelines which are based upon sound evidence.
•    To undertake audit and outcome projects with the supervision of the Head of SLT.
•    To comment on and adhere to service and team plans and policies.

Please see attached job description for further details.

Person specification

Qualifications & Training

Essential criteria
  • Recognised degree in Speech and Language Therapy
  • Evidence of successful completion of specialist courses at a Masters degree equivalent (or an MSc if available in clinical specialism)
  • Health & Care Professions Council – Licence to Practice
  • Fully registered member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
Desirable criteria
  • Membership of relevant Clinical Excellence Network

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Significant specialist experience of working with adults with acquired neurological disorders, particularly Stroke, post registration
  • Experience of performing and interpreting Videofluoroscopies (GGC Level 3)
  • Experience of supervising junior SLTs, assistants and students
  • Experience of rehabilitation and acute work with adults in therapeutic settings
Desirable criteria
  • Experience of performing and interpreting FEES

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria
  • Knowledge of the evidence base for effective treatment for adults with communication and swallowing disorders
  • In-depth knowledge of tracheostomy assessment and management
  • Well established knowledge of a broad range of relevant assessment tools
  • Well established knowledge of a range of appropriate therapeutic interventions
  • In-depth knowledge of national policies and procedures (relevant to the client group)
  • Basic IT Skills
  • In-depth knowledge of the principles of clinical governance/audit
  • Understanding of the roles of other professionals
  • Knowledge of standards of record keeping

Personal Qualities and Skills

Essential criteria
  • Excellent interpersonal skills – including observation, listening and empathy skills
  • Highly developed negotiation and problem-solving skills
  • Good presentation skills, both written and verbal
  • Excellent organisational skills
  • Ability to be a good team member & assume leadership responsibilities

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Trust IDCapital Nurse, LondonVeteran AwareApprenticeships logoTimewise helps businesses to attract and develop the best talent through flexible working.No smoking policyLondon Living Wage is a voluntary commitment made by employers, who can become accredited with the Living Wage FoundationAge positiveDisability confident leaderArmed Forces Covenant (Silver Award)We offer Wagestream - A financial wellbeing benefit which lets you access your pay as you earn it.NHS Rainbow badgePrince's Trust - Proud to support the Prince's trust - Youth can do itStep into healthHappy to Talk Flexible WorkingArmed Forces Covenant

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

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Helen Sampson
Job title
Cross-Site SLT Lead
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
020 8333 3004
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