Job overview

To work with the multi-disciplinary team at Acorns with children aged 0-5 who have complex communication, learning, physical and medical needs and their families / carers.

 To provide a specialist clinical and advisory Speech and Language Therapy service to children and young people with speech, language, and communication needs attending special schools in Bexley.  This may include children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Learning Disabilities (LD), including those with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD). The postholder will be an integral member of the multidisciplinary team working with class-teachers, learning support assistants, head teacher, therapists, and the child’s family / carers. 

**Important Sponsorship Information for this post: We are unable to offer a certificate of sponsorship for this post.**

Main duties of the job

• To manage a complex communication caseload independently, accessing clinical/managerial supervision on a regular basis and to make a differential diagnosis based on evidence from assessment, seeking advice and referring to other agencies when appropriate

• To be responsible for the planning, and evaluation of evidence-based therapy interventions. To monitor and review the progress of therapy programmes implemented and facilitate modifications of interventions / targets as appropriate.

• To use and promote the use of alternative and augmentative communication (AAC), as appropriate for the child and their environment. This will require joint working with parents/carers/education staff to plan and create an environment which facilitates communication and maximises the child’s potential. 

• To seek up-to-date information on alternative and augmentative means of communication including sign, symbols and power-based systems, and to write reports reflecting specialist knowledge.

• To provide advice / second opinions to others regarding the management of specialist client group.

• To contribute to clinical teams including inter-agency/multi-disciplinary teams by discussing own and others’ input around clients’ needs, ensuring a well-co-ordinated care plan.

• To ensure that parents/carers/children/education staff are involved in the planning and prioritisation of care plans wherever possible.

• To demonstrate skills in dealing with complex issues

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