Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen within Adult Secure Care for a full time, permanent, band 5 Speech and Language Therapist.  

We are looking for a dedicated, enthusiastic individual who is keen to develop their skills and knowledge in this area.  We welcome applications from speech and language therapists who are already qualified and those who will qualify this academic year.  

You will work into the Adult Secure Care Services as part of an MDT offering a service at the Sycamore Unit, Northgate Park, Morpeth, as well as helping adults move out of hospital to live in the community.  
The secure care service is a regional and national service offering care and treatment to adults with diagnoses of learning disabilities, mental health conditions and personality disorders who are offenders and are cared for within conditions of medium and low security.

In 2023, the new Sycamore Unit opened at Northgate Park, replacing accommodation which dated back to the 1960's and beyond. This state-of-the-art integrated adult medium secure facility has six wards for male patients with a range of forensic mental health needs, including patients with complex personality disorders and / or learning disabilities. Sycamore Unit offers outdoor space, landscaped courtyards, indoor and outdoor sports areas, open-plan lounge and dining areas, chill out rooms, activity rooms, treatment rooms, an education suite, and gym.

Main duties of the job

You will have some knowledge and experience of working with adults who have complex needs and ideally some experience of working in a secure inpatient setting.  

You will need to be confident in providing high quality, evidence-based assessments and interventions and have an understanding and experience of working with people with a range of complex issues from a variety of settings and environments.  

Under the support and supervision of specialist and advanced speech and language therapists, you will work to support service users to achieve their therapeutic goals by supporting their language and communication skills.  You will provide a range of communication interventions with service users both directly and indirectly.  

There will be a requirement to share knowledge and skills specific to speech and language therapy to other members of the team including stakeholders.  You will liaise closely with fellow professionals to address communication and eating/drinking difficulties as part of a holistic, service user centred service.  You will contribute to care plans and provide high quality service user centred care.

You will receive regular support, training and opportunities to develop your skills and knowledge.  We actively encourage professional development and provide opportunities for all in the speech and language therapy teams to contribute to the development of the Speech and Language Therapy service. 

Working for our organisation

The speech and language therapy service in Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust is continuing to develop and grow to meet the needs of our patients and local communities.  We are looking for dedicated and passionate individuals with different levels of qualifications and clinical knowledge and experience to join our team.  

We will provide you with a comprehensive induction period and you will have access to ongoing clinical supervision and appraisal with development reviews that will provide you with support and the specialist skills required to meet the holistic needs of the patients in your care.  The post holder will be expected to actively engage in the Trusts supervision and continuing professional development process.

We aim to attract and retain a diverse, talented and committed workforce, who are caring and compassionate, and therefore able to meet the demands of the modern NHS now and in the future. In return, we can offer a dynamic working environment in which to build a career.