Clinical Lead - Early Language Support for Every Child - NHS
If you share our passion then apply for this opportunity and help us make our patients’ experience the best it can possibly be.
With a budget of around £365m, three hospitals and 5,500 staff, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital-based services to the population of Hartlepool, Stockton on Tees and parts of East Durham and Sedgefield as well as community, therapeutic and screening to a wider population across Durham and Teesside.
Job overview
Band 7: Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapist: Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC)
Full time: Fixed Term until end of March 2026
*Post may close early if sufficient volume of applications is reached*
We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and highly skilled Speech and Language Therapist, with significant experience.
Hartlepool are currently implementing a project called 'Early Language Support for Every Child' (ELSEC). The ELSEC programme aims to improve early identification and support for children with speech, language and communication needs.
The post holder will join the team delivering the ELSEC programme within Hartlepool, working alongside a Programme Lead Speech and Language Therapist, a Specialist Teacher and Speech and Language Support Workers.
Main duties of the job
As a Speech and Language Therapist working within the programme, you will be passionate about improving health outcomes for children and young people. Working alongside the other professionals in the team, you will be responsible for:
Providing day to day operational management of the Speech and Language Therapy input within the ELSEC programme in Hartlepool.
Providing a specialist speech and language therapy service to children and young people with a diverse range of communication difficulties.
Contributing to wider ELSEC pathfinder activities, e.g. ELSEC learning events.
Working for our organisation
At North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust our main priority is, and always will be, to provide safe and high quality care to our patients every day; the kind of care we would want for ourselves and our loved ones. We want our organisation to be the best place to work with the right staff, in the right roles, at the right time, to ensure we deliver exceptional patient care and experience.
We will support staff through providing an inclusive and supportive workplace with health and well-being initiatives, staff benefits and opportunities for personal and professional development. Staff recognition is very important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Star and Team of the month, colleague recognition - a note of thanks, Managers Awards, Shining Stars and Service Awards.
We support the Making Every Contact Count approach to behaviour change in the promotion of health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.
We recruit for values and "Together we are North Tees & Hartlepool"
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To work collaboratively with the Children’s Therapies Professional Lead, Service Leads, and ELSEC Leads to coordinate services across the ELSEC Programme.
To complete clinical assessments to identify appropriate client management, e.g. inclusion in the ELSEC programme or referral to the specialist service.
To develop and implement specialist care protocols and programmes of care and treatment, to meet the needs of clients in conjunction with their parents, carers, education staff and other members of the appropriate multi-disciplinary team (MDT).
To ensure clients/families are involved in the planning and prioritisation of their care plans wherever possible.
To continually evaluate the effectiveness of care protocols and packages of care, audit and implement changes as appropriate in conjunction with other Leads / line manager.
To plan, implement and evaluate teaching and training to parents, carers, volunteers and professionals as appropriate.
To lead on the development and coordination of service provision within the locality, including pathway development with reference to evidence based practice.
To undertake and lead departmental projects or undertake additional duties relevant to the business of the ELSEC Programme.
To provide day to day management of the assistant practitioner team working within the ELSEC programme including work allocation, reviewing work performance.
To advise the ELSEC Lead on service delivery issues within the locality, including pressures and shortfalls.
To provide specialist education, training and supervision to speech and language therapy assistant practitioners and partners within the ELSEC programme.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- Degree or equivalent qualification in SLT.
- Masters degree or equivalent postgraduate knowledge.
- Registered member of the HCPC
Experience
Essential criteria- Significant experience working as a SLT
- Minimum of 1 year experience of working in children’s SLT services
- Working in partnership with clients/carers and professionals
- Working as part of a MDT
- Experience of planning and coordinating across a clinical or non clinical area of service
- Experience of planning and delivering teaching and training
Skills
Essential criteria- Well developed leadership skills
- Broad knowledge of NHS and Education policies
- Knowledge of clinical guidelines relating to developmental communication difficulties
Skills and Atttributes
Essential criteria- High level problem solving skills
- Flexibility in approach
- High level planning, organisation and evaluation skills
**Please note - Once sufficient applications have been received this vacancy may close early**
Please check your email address on a regular basis as applicants invited to attend an interview will be notified via this method.
As part of our recruitment process, you will be required to undertake pre-employment screening: Disclosure and Barring Scheme (previously Criminal Records Bureau)
Where a post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 it may be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Scheme to check for any previous criminal convictions. Should you require a copy of the Trust's Disclosure and Barring Service Policy, please contact a member of the recruitment team on 01642 624023.
It is the policy of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who are new to the Trust who require DBS clearance for the post they have been offered, are required to pay the cost for their DBS certificate.The method of payment for this is via salary deduction from your first month's pay on commencement with the Trust.
Please note the essential qualifications required for the post outlined within the Person Specification. You are required to hold and provide evidence of the necessary qualifications for the post at interview should you be shortlisted.
For any new employees commencing employment with North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust , you will be subject to satisfactory completion of a 6 month probationary period. Please note that internal applications and individuals that are appointed to fixed term appointments of less than 6 months duration are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or a bank member of staff).
As part of our pre-employment screening process, all applicants are required to provide references covering their last three years employment history. Applicants are requested to ensure e-mail addresses for all referees are included on their application form.Personal references are not acceptable.
If the hours advertised for the post are up to full time (37.5 hours per week), applications are still welcomed from individuals who may be seeking to work less than full-time hours and all requests will be considered in line with the post being appointed to for the successful applicant.
North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust operates a No Smoking Policy.
If you experience any technical difficulties applying for this post please contact a member of our recruitment team on 01642 624023 quoting the vacancy reference.
Equal Opportunities
The details in the Monitoring Information section of your application will be used for monitoring our recruitment process and will not be seen by the interview panel. The information you give will be treated in the strictest confidence. To meet its commitment to promoting equality of opportunity, the Trust’s policy is that individuals will be recruited, trained and promoted according to ability and job requirements only.As such we welcome your application irrespective of your gender, race, disability, colour, ethnic or national origin, and nationality, and marital status, responsibility for dependants, religion, trade union activity and age.
Disability
The Trust gives full and fair consideration to applications for employment received from disabled people. We are a “Positive about Disabled People” employer, and we hold the ‘two ticks’ Disability Symbol, which is a recognition given by Jobcentre Plus to employers who have agreed to meet five commitments regarding the recruitment, employment, retention and career development of disabled people.If you have a disability, which makes it difficult for you to complete our application form, please do not hesitate to contact the recruitment team on 01642 624023.
Armed Forces Covenant
As a supporter of the Armed Forces and an employer of Reservists, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust are proud to be a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant, which is a promise by the nation to ensure that those who serve or who have served in the UK Armed Forces (and their families) are treated fairly.
We recognise that reservists and veterans bring a variety of transferable skills and qualities to our workplace, developed through their military careers. Our commitment to supporting the Armed Forces Community has been recognised through the Armed Forces Covenant as a Silver Employer.
What does this mean?
We proactively demonstrate our forces-friendly credentials within our recruitment and selection processes, by having a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for those indicated as part of the Armed Forces Community. We engage with our local and regional Career Transition Partnership representatives and are a member of Step Into Health.We employ veterans and reservists from differing branches of the Armed Forces and actively promote our positive policies for the Armed Forces Community, including our Special Leave policy. We advocate support for defence people issues, including facilitating easier access to Healthcare Services for our patients within the AF Community.
We have supported employees through Reservist training, through additional leave for their training and ongoing support under our Special Leave policy.