Job overview

We have the exciting opportunity to appoint a full time, permanent, Band 4 Assistant Practitioner - Speech and Language Therapy post.  

The post will support the Speech and Language Therapy work within the Specialist Children and Young People’s Inpatient Services at both Ferndene, Prudhoe, Northumberland and Lotus ward, Middlesborough.  

We are looking for a motivated and enthusiastic individual who is keen to develop their skills as an Assistant Practitioner and has a particular interest in working with children and young people.

Ferndene is home to 5 distinct clinical areas providing inpatient assessment and treatment for young people with complex mental health, behavioural and emotional needs, including those with a learning disability.  
•    Woodside, a low-secure mental health unit
•    Redburn, a general admission mental health unit
•    Fraser, a complex learning disability and autism unit 
•    Stephenson, a Medium Secure Unit (MSU)
•    The Riding, a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

Lotus ward provides comprehensive assessment and treatment for patients under the age of 18 years with early onset psychosis or complex mental health disorders.

Main duties of the job

You will have enthusiasm, commitment and an interest for working in this area. You will need to have experience working as part of a team and be able to work independently for aspects of the role. You will need to have some knowledge and qualifications related to this area of work.  You will liaise closely with fellow professionals to address communication and eating/drinking difficulties as part of a holistic, patient centred service.  You will contribute to care plans and provide high quality patient centred care. 

Under the support and supervision of the Speech and Language Therapists, you will help children and young people to achieve their therapeutic goals by supporting their language and communication skills.  In practice, you will assist in the delivery of a range of communication interventions with the individual both directly and indirectly.  These interventions may take the form of 1:1 work, group work, resource making and admin tasks.   

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.  You will join a large, dynamic team of Speech and Language Therapy colleagues in established, multi-disciplinary teams who are committed to providing the best quality service to our patients.  

We actively encourage professional development and provide opportunities for all in the speech and language therapy team to contribute to the development of the service.  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.  

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.