Senior Speech and Language Therapist

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Job overview

The Michael Palin Centre (MPC) for Stammering Children is a national tertiary service and internationally recognised centre of excellence in stammering and cluttering, run by Whittington Health with charity support. Based in refurbished premises in central London, the MPC provides specialist assessment and therapy for children, young people and adults across the UK and internationally, alongside a global training programme and an active research department.

This rare opportunity is for a motivated Band 8a Senior SLT (0.8 WTE) with strong specialist knowledge in stammering and cluttering. We are seeking a clinician who brings expertise, leadership potential, and personal strengths that will enrich the team.

The role combines senior clinical practice, leadership, training delivery and research. The postholder will provide specialist input, second opinions, and supervision within the team and externally, contribute to national and international training, and participate in research, including conference presentations and publications. Ongoing development is supported through supervision and opportunities to pursue specialist interests.

Team working and wellbeing are central to the MPC. The role is primarily clinic-based with some home working depending on service needs. We welcome applications from therapists who stammer.

For further information please contact:

Sarah Delpeche, Head of the Michael Palin Centre
Email sarah.delpeche@nhs.net Telephone 020 3316 8100

Main duties of the job

Please see the Job Description and the Persons Specification for further details about the job role. If you are unable to access the PDF, the details of the job description can also be found in the 'Detailed Job Description and Main responsibilities' section.

Working for our organisation

Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main Duties:

The postholder will have advanced knowledge, experience and skills in the field of stammering and cluttering and will have leadership aspirations to develop the work of the Michael Palin Centre, particularly in areas where the post holder has a special interest or skillset.

Expert Clinical Skills:

• To have an advanced specialist knowledge of current theoretical perspectives and research issues in the nature and treatment of stammering and cluttering in children, young people and adults, including a sound knowledge of the trends and status of evidence-based practice.
• To be an advanced specialist national resource in the clinical management of stammering and cluttering and their interrelated cognitive, affective and behavioural components as well as the implications of co-existing disorders of communication.
• To provide an advanced specialist tertiary consultation and second opinion service including the comprehensive assessment, differential diagnosis, prognosis and clinical management of children who stammer or clutter.
• To provide expert specialist speech and language therapy service with a caseload of children, young people and adults with complex stammering or cluttering requiring advanced specialist clinical and counselling skills.
• To reflect on expert clinical practice both individually and with peers, identifying strengths and needs and providing evidence of sound clinical judgements based on research and current knowledge of evidence-based practice.
• To keep abreast of current evidence base, ensuring that individualised treatment recommendations can be evaluated through standard outcome measures and those based on accepted expert opinion (e.g. RCSLT clinical guidelines)
• To participate at Clinical Excellence Network meetings, serving on committees as appropriate.
• To attend national and international conferences in person or online to liaise with colleagues in stuttering and cluttering.

Training and Research:

• To undertake, contribute and lead on research projects and clinical audits being carried out at the Centre.
• To take responsibility for the preparation and drafting of scholarly papers, scientific and/or conference presentations or workshops, articles, advisory leaflets and information sheets for clients, families, colleagues, and other professionals regarding the tertiary service and management of stammering and cluttering.
• To participate in the delivery and evaluation of the Centre's national and international training/teaching programmes, webinars and workshops for the clinical management of children and young people who stammer or clutter and related communication and psychosocial problems.
• To deliver training programmes and workshops as commissioned by other organisations, e.g. Stuttering Foundation.
• To optimise the use of technology in the delivery of training, introducing new components, income generation models, additional functions e.g. caption translation.

Centre Profile and Leadership:

• To take a leading role in the profile of the Centre through active participation on committees, working parties and Clinical Excellence Networks in specialist areas of stammering and cluttering, nationally and internationally.
• To be an active part of the Senior Leadership Team, including cover in the absence of the Head of Centre and other Senior Leadership staff at the MPC.
• To negotiate with the other MPC Senior SLTs and Head of Centre in the planning and development of the MPC service and all related activity.
• In conjunction with the Head of Centre, the postholder will be responsible for supporting the day to day running of the Centre, supporting the team to carry out their duties providing support as required.
• The postholder will be expected to provide supervisory and/or Line management responsibilities within clinical and administrative team; including completion of appraisals as part of line management to identify staff and service development and training needs.
• To participate in staff selection and interview procedures as appropriate.
• To develop and extend working relationships with SLT colleagues and other key stakeholders, in support of effective clinical practice, maintaining the Centre's relationships and developing further relationships that are supportive of the sustainability of the Centre.
• To ensure all relevant personal policies, administration and safety policies are adhered to for the team.
• To undertake any other reasonable duties as directed by and negotiated with the Head of Centre.
• To demonstrate high level negotiation skills across a range of issues.
• To take leadership responsibility for key aspects of the functioning of the Centre, to be agreed from the following range of responsibilities and duties: leading digitisation projects including managing and developing the website; developing and coordinating international trainee placements and schemes; overseeing the administration of the Centre's intensive group therapy course programme; leading on income generating activity such as developing and overseeing the private therapy service and its systems; leading therapy funding applications and SLA quarterly reports. managing the Centre's tertiary assessment clinic including leadership of the Booking Team; leading workforce efficiency and productivity projects.

Person specification

Education / Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Post registration MSc with research component; or evidence of advanced skills development/qualifications in relevant field; or equivalent level of experience as senior clinical or academic level
• Post graduate training in psychological approaches
• Portfolio of additional training in stammering and cluttering

Desirable criteria

• Registered CESS
• Evidence of leadership courses / training

Skills & Abilities

Essential criteria

• Ability to develop and deliver staff training programmes and conference presentations.
• Ability to keep abreast of national and international developments through active involvement in local, national and international networks.

Desirable criteria

• Skills in research design and methodology including use of standardised frameworks for critical appraisal.

Knowledge & Experience

Essential criteria

• At least 5 years specialist experience in stammering and cluttering
• Extensive, up-to-date specialist knowledge of stammering and cluttering,
• Substantial experience providing clinical supervision to SLTs and/ or others, ensuring safe practice and reflective professional development.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of service and quality improvement initiatives

Personal Qualities

Essential criteria

• Excellent communication skills (active listening, turn taking, reflection, empathy)
• Excellent written communication skills (complex information for range of purposes)
• Ability to empower, support and motivate others
• Flexibility in responding to changing clinical and service needs

SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND ADULTS

To comply with the Trust's Safeguarding Children and Adults policies, procedures and protocols. All individual members of staff (paid or unpaid) have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults This will require you to:

• Ensure you are familiar with and comply with the London Child Protection Procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.

• Ensure you are familiar and comply with the London Multi Agency Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Pan London Procedures.

• Ensure you are familiar and comply with local protocols and systems for information sharing.
• Know the appropriate contact numbers and required reporting lines.
• Participate in required training and supervision.
• Comply with required professional boundaries and codes of conduct

Whittington Health is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Your application form -

1. Provide only business email address for your referees - we are unable to request references from yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail accounts.
2. Make sure you to include all evidence of where you meet the essential requirement on the jobs description as this forms the base of our shortlisting criteria.

Our processes -

1. Closing dates are given as a guide; we are within our right to close adverts early so please ensure you submit your application as soon as possible to avoid delay.
2. If you do not hear from us up to 3 weeks after the closing date of the job unfortunately this means you have not been successfully shortlisted for interview. If your require feedback on your application please contact the appointing manager detailed in the body of the advert.
3. Please check your emails regularly as all correspondence from us will be via trac.systems - occasionally these emails will go into your Junk folder.
4. Employment at Whittington Health is offered subject to successful completion of a 6 month probationary period for all staff with the exception of GMC Registered Doctors.

Other important information -

• Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Before submitting your application and to avoid disappointment please check that you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.
• Applications are welcome from people wishing to job share or work flexible patterns. We are committed to equal opportunities.
• In submitting an application form, you authorise Whittington Health NHS Trust to confirm any previous NHS service details via the Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process should you be appointed to the post.

If you are offered a role with one of the NLPSS partner trusts, as part of pre-employment checks your identity and right to work documentation will be verified remotely (in most circumstances), using a certified identity verification service provider TrustID. You will be asked to capture an image of the relevant documents as well as a "selfie" using your smartphone/tablet (if available) for facial matching. TrustID will also perform a digital address check using Trunarrative and Equifax, which is a soft check and does not leave a footprint on your credit rating. For more information, visit www.trustid.co.uk

Please note that during the recruitment process your Identity Documentation (i.e. passport, driving licence, visa, etc.) will be scanned using a device which recognises UV, Infrared and Machine Readable Zone security features of the documents provided

The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.

We would welcome applications from individuals who are from underrepresented groups in the organisation

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.

Application numbers

This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. Please complete and submit your application in good time to avoid disappointment.
Documents to download

• Band 8a Senior SLT MPC JD (PDF, 424.4KB)
• Band 8a Senior SLT MPC PS (PDF, 256.6KB)
• Whittington Probationary Policy (PDF, 298.0KB)
• Whittington Employment Promise (PDF, 22.4KB)