Speech & Language Therapist Band 5-6 development post

Thank you for your interest for the North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT), it is an exciting time to join us and being part of our journey to improve mental health care across North London and deliver excellent services to our local people. We will achieve this through the North London Way, as we:

• Collaborate at every level by living our Values to create the right conditions for us all to work together.
• Develop our new Trust culture, to help make our new Trust a great place to work and to receive great care.
• Empower our teams to lead the planned improvements in our services, by skilling them and giving them the tools to make the changes.
• Focus on delivering excellence at every level to improve our performance and ensure consistently high-quality care across all our services.
• Ensure that research, Quality Improvement, and technology lead the way and are embedded in our services.
• Take a trauma informed approach to everything we do

We proactively welcome diversity in our workforce and pride ourselves on being an inclusive employer. We aim to recruit from our local communities and provide opportunities to all including apprenticeships, veterans, care leavers and more.

The North London Way to deliver, Better Mental Health, Better Lives, Better Communities.

Our trust website is: https://www.northlondonmentalhealth.nhs.uk/

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen for a Band 5 -6 Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) to join our friendly and supportive team in the North London Forensic Service.

This post will involve working on our medium and low secure inpatient wards in Enfield with an emphasis on working on the secure wards for people with a mild learning disability and mental health disorders. It will also involve some work in community teams alongside another SLT

This is a new post and will require a flexibility of working according to fluctuating and developing needs of the service. It will provide excellent opportunities for professional development.

Main duties of the job

They will offer advice, training and consultation to non-speech and language therapy colleagues.

A willingness to embrace the challenges of working within environments with a diverse and disadvantaged client groups will be required. Strong engagement skills are important, as is the ability to work well with other professionals.

There will be regular professional supervision and support from a qualified speech and language therapist and regular opportunities to meet with colleagues from the SLT team within the wider forensic service.

Working for our organisation

North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) is committed to improving mental health care across North London to deliver excellent services to our local people.

Our Five-Year Strategy:

1. We will provide consistently high-quality care closer to home.
2. With our partners in North London and each borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all
3. We will offer great places to work, providing staff with supportive environment to deliver outstanding care.
4. We will be more effective as an organisation by pioneering research, quality improvement and technology.

• We develop and retain our staff through leadership behaviours and managers programme and many more opportunities.
• We promote flexible working and support staff with a range of health and wellbeing initiatives.
• NHS Discounts, generous annual leave, and NHS pension scheme
• Excellent internal staff network

The Trust reserves the right to require staff to work at such other places or locations as it considers reasonable and necessary on a temporary or permanent basis.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please kindly refer to the job description and person specification by clicking on the JD/PS attachment in the advert.

We welcome applications from newly qualified SLTs (B5s) or experienced SLTs (B6) who wish to establish a specialism in learning disability and forensic mental health. As a B5 SLT you will be supported in your development by the highly specialist SLT and Clinical Lead SLT and eligible to move to B6 pay scale following completion of preceptorship competencies within an agreed timescale.

Person specification

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Recognised degree or equivalent qualification in Speech and Language Therapy.
• Health and Care Professions Council registration.

• Registered member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
• Other post graduate education in areas relevant to the post including learning disabilities, autistic spectrum, mental health
• Post graduate dysphagia training

EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE

• Evidence of work-based learning to demonstrate clinical skills within a range of clinical settings
• Able to carry out assessment, formulate a diagnosis and management plan appropriate to the service user group

• Evidence of training or work-based learning relevant to the role.
• Experience of working in a forensic, learning disability or mental health setting.
• Experience of working with dysphagia

SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Skills in the assessment, intervention and management of communication difficulties relevant to an adult setting.
• Ability to demonstrate clear clinical reasoning based on evidenced based practice

PERSONAL QUALITIES

• Ability to be flexible and be responsive to change.
• Ability to be engaging and approachable and able to work quickly and responsively with both service users and the multidisciplinary team .

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

• Understanding of clinical risk management and the ability to manage this.
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate, to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive material and challenging behaviour.