About this role
Job summary Band 7 Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (Speech Sound Disorders, Voice and Cleft Palate Lead)
Are you passionate about delivering high-quality specialist care and driving innovation in Speech and Language Therapy?
Due to new investment funding, we are excited to offer a new opportunity for a highly motivated Speech and Language Therapist to lead and develop our Speech Sound Disorders, Voice and Cleft pathway.
Working as part of the team, you will provide a service for children and young people presenting with a range of speech, voice and cleft disorders within education settings and community clinics.
Main duties of the job Who can apply?
This role offers flexibility to support SLT clinicians at different stages of their career:
Band 7: An established specialist looking for a fresh challenge and opportunities to innovate and lead. Band 6: A therapist ready to develop specialist expertise and progress their career. Band 5: An exceptional clinician with relevant skills and experience may be considered for appointment to a Band 5-6 development post, with a supported competency framework and development pathway.
This creates an exciting opportunity for ambitious therapists who are passionate about developing expertise in speech sound disorders, voice and cleft while helping to shape the future of the service
About us
NELFT NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health and community services for over 4.9 million people living in the London Boroughs of Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, and across Essex.
We work to ensure our patients, their friends and family, feel confident that their health needs are well met. With an excellent reputation for research and development, our skilled health professionals are at the cutting edge of evidence-based innovation, opening up the possibilities for better ways of working and delivery of care.
Job description Job responsibilities
Main duties of the job
As the successful candidate, you will have the opportunity to:
Lead the strategic development of Speech Sound Disorders, Voice and Cleft services. Shape clinical pathways and influence service delivery across a growing and evolving service. Deliver highly specialist assessment and intervention, supporting children with complex communication needs to reach their full potential. Share your expertise through supervision, mentoring and training of colleagues. Work collaboratively with specialist local and tertiary teams, including Cleft and ENT multidisciplinary services. Contribute to quality improvement, innovation and service transformation initiatives.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust.
Working for Us Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.
The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives, along with staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been recognised in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and hold a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Through our staff networks and training opportunities, we strive to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT.
Our Values 2025 - 2030
Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT. They are:
We are kind. We are respectful. We work together with our communities. These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.
Starting with NELFT
NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers, and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Goodmayes Hospital.
Probationary Period This post will be subject to a probationary period.
High Cost Area Supplement – Outer London (B&D, Goodmayes, Redbridge, Havering and Waltham Forest.) This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,714 to a maximum of £5,941 p.a. pro rata for part time).
Certificates of Sponsorship Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.
Use of AI
We value applications that genuinely reflect each candidate’s own skills, experience and motivations. We therefore strongly discourage the use of AI-generated content in applications.
Applications should be written in your own words and accurately represent your knowledge, skills and experience.
We reserve the right to reject an application where we reasonably believe AI has been used to generate or materially contribute to its content.
Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this when completing your application.
We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Please apply as soon as possible as some posts close early to limit the number of applications.
For an informal chat or to arrange a visit, please contact:
Name: Anya Clarke
Job title: Clinical Lead Children's Speech and Language Therapy
Contact Number: 07590 616 393
Email: [email protected]
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
AHP Registration
Experience Essential
Experience of providing specialist assessment and intervention, supporting children with complex communication needs
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer details Employer name NELFT North East London Foundation Trust
Address The Grove
Chadwell Heath
Essex
RM6 4XH
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.nelft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)