Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Dorothy House is a Wiltshire based hospice providing compassionate care and support for people in our community with a life-limiting illness. Our focus is on quality of life, helping patients to live well and die well. We create individual care journeys, which start at diagnosis and continue with bereavement support for family, carers and children.

Our Hospice at Home service provides palliative care in the later stages of someone's life. Our experienced healthcare assistants support patients and their families in their own home, regardless of whether the patient lives alone or with others.

SPECIALIST SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPIST - FIXED TERM
| Band 7 £43,742 - £50,056 per annum, pro rata

We are looking for a specialist Speech and Language Therapist on a fixed term basis to undertake a comprehensive review of the hospices current service provision in relation to people experiencing swallow and communication difficulties. Following review, the post holder will make recommendations and provide support to implement sustainable policy and practice change for the future beyond the lifetime of the role. This improvement plan will include:

• Training and education package for registered and unregistered clinical staff
• Development of Speech and Language policy(s), to include safe swallowing and the use of thickener and texture modification, communication and choking
• To develop a SOP for safe swallowing on the inpatient unit
• To develop training package for catering staff on preparing food to IDDSI standards and how to improve appearance/palatability (moulds etc.)
• Development of guidance and tools to support and aid effective communication
• To develop a framework and guidance around risk feeding for use in community and on In Patient Unit
• To work closely with the dietitian, catering team and therapy lead on areas of joint working and shared service developments
  
  

See our full detailed Job Description on our website for more information.

HOURS OF WORK

This is a part time position. You will be contracted to work 15 hours, 2 days a week between Monday to Friday.

This role is a Fixed Term contract for 6 months.

ABOUT YOU

Essential requirements:

• Speech and Language Therapy professional qualification
• Registration with the HCPC
• Experience of leading clinical practice, service development or project work including audits
• Experience of representing Speech and Language Therapy within a service and Organisation
• Experience of developing and delivering training programmes
• Ability to work autonomously
• Understanding of national guidelines, standards relevant to swallow, and communication

Desirable requirements:

• Relevant post qualification clinical experience working with people who have end of life care needs
  
  

ABOUT THE BENEFITS

Dorothy House is an incredible place to work, these are just a few of our benefits that we offer to our staff:

• Generous holiday allowance for all roles, increasing with length of service
• Fantastic refer a friend scheme
• Excellent industry leading training and development programmes with many career development opportunities
• Pension with Life Assurance
• Travel and parking - We offer 45p per mile for work travel. There is unlimited free parking in Winsley.
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Counselling and Mindful Employer Charter - providing our staff with information, advice and support for those experiencing stress, anxiety, depression or any other mental health conditions.
• Simply Health - Providing insurance against certain everyday healthcare costs such as dental and optical treatments.
  
  

If this sounds like your ideal job, then we'd love to see your application.

Please note that our vacancies can close at any time once sufficient applications have been received. We therefore encourage early submission of your application.

NEXT STEPS

Interviews will be conducted at the beginning of April.