Job summary
- Main area
- Learning Disability
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- 28.5 hours per week (Part-time to meet the needs of the service)
- Job ref
- 354-LD-20293-A
- Employer
- Sussex Partnership NHS FoundationTrust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- County Hall North
- Town
- Horsham
- Salary
- £38,682 - £46,580 pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 30/10/2025 08:00
Employer heading

Speech and Language Therapist
NHS AfC: Band 6
Come and join us
We're looking for people who share our values (compassion, accountability and optimism) to help us provide high quality care to the patients, carers, families and local communities we serve. We specialise in providing NHS mental health and learning disability services.
So what can we offer you in return?
We're an organisation which puts people first. We'll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. We'll help you learn, acquire new skills and gain further experience to support your career development. And we'll provide the opportunity for you to bring your fresh ideas to work about how we can do things differently and continue improving.
You will also be joining a health and care system committed to working together to do the best we can for the communities we serve. Above all, at Sussex Partnership you'll have the chance to make a difference to the lives of the patients, carers and families across our communities.
As a Trust we are committed in making a difference. Your development is important to us, so don't forget to ask us during interview what opportunities we can offer. We can offer fully funded lifelong learning opportunities such as an apprenticeship from GCSE to Masters level.
If you like the sound of that, then come and join our team.
Job overview
Do you want to advocate for people with a learning disability to communicate and live well?
As a Speech and Language Therapist in the Community Learning Disability Team, you will use your clinical expertise and experience to support people with the most complex needs to live well with their learning disability. You will provide specialist communication and dysphagia assessments and interventions for people referred to the service as well as being an integral member of a very friendly and supportive team of SaLTs and wider multi-disciplinary team. You will have the autonomy to manage your own diary, and opportunities for hybrid working. This post is for 28.5 hours per week.
Please contact either the Team Leader or the Principal Speech and Language Therapist if you would like to discuss the role further.
Main duties of the job
Contributing to the management of a team caseload of individuals with complex needs, you will assess, plan, implement and evaluate interventions, which will be delivered in a variety of community settings. The team encourages multi-disciplinary working wherever possible and you will convene, facilitate, and contribute to meetings to develop a holistic understanding of the person and their needs.
- To manage a caseload of adults with learning disabilities who have complex communication difficulties and dysphagia / eating / drinking / swallowing difficulties.
- To promote and enable service user and carer involvement and choice in intervention options.
- To understand a clients’ learning capacity and to approach gaining informed consent in ways which demonstrate good practice and conform to Trust consent policies. To ensure that consent is approached within the legal framework for clients who may be deemed to lack capacity to consent to treatment.
- To undertake team Lead Practitioner role. This involves coordinating the care provided by the multidisciplinary team, organising and chairing meetings and updating clinical plans.
- To undertake comprehensive assessment of clients referred using investigative and analytic skills, to formulate an individualised management and treatment programme.
- To evaluate effectiveness of interventions using agreed outcome measures.
Please refer to the Job Description for more detail.
Working for our organisation
As a mental health trust Sussex Partnership places a huge focus on the wellbeing of our staff, as well as ensuring our reward packages reflect the immensely important work they do.
You can expect:
- Excellent supervision programmes.
- Flexible working opportunities
- Access to a host of discount schemes (including gyms, shopping, restaurants and cars)
- Generous holiday entitlement
- Excellent NHS Pension Scheme
- The trust also offers a wide range of training specifically targeted towards AHPs and promotes ongoing learning.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
This is a specialist Speech & Language Therapy post in the Community Team for People with a Learning Disability suited to a Speech & Language Therapist with a minimum of 2 years postgraduate Speech & Language Therapy experience. The Speech & Language Therapist will be based within the West Sussex CTPLD, in the Northern Team (office base in Horsham) and will hold responsibility for managing a caseload in Northern West Sussex.
The clinical role will be to provide Speech & Language Therapy assessment, diagnosis and intervention to clients referred to the service using established models of Speech & Language Therapy ensuring practice is evidence based. The postholder will work as a core member of the CTPLD.
Please refer to the Job Description for more detail.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Recognised Speech & Language Therapy Degree or Masters qualification or equivalent
- Health Professions Council – licence to practice
- Registered member of Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists
- Evidence of completion of specialist short courses related to learning disabilities
- Post-basic qualification in dysphagia
Experience/Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Post graduate experience as a Speech & Language Therapist working in learning disabilities
- Experience of training other professionals
- Knowledge of assessment tools relevant to the client group
- Knowledge of a range of appropriate therapeutic interventions (relevant to client group).
- Knowledge of the principles of clinical governance/audit.
- Knowledge of record keeping standards
- Ability to adapt written and verbal communication to suit the needs of people with communication and learning disabilities. This may include Makaton signing, symbols and pictures etc
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
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Anne Walker
- Job title
- Principal Speech and Language Therapist
- Email address
- [email protected]
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