Senior Specialist Speech and Language Therapist Go back East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust (Cambridge)
The closing date is 08 July 2026 Join our passionate, forward-thinking, supportive team and take a leading role in shaping high-quality community paediatric SLT services. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced clinician ready to step into a senior position with real influence and autonomy.
You'll co ordinate and line manage the North Cambridge locality for the community paediatric SLT service, managing your own diverse caseload of pre school and school age children with a wide range of speech, language and communication needs.
Your expertise will guide colleagues through second opinions, collaborative problem solving and shared clinical decision making. You will attend senior leadership service meetings, and chair your own locality meetings. This role is perfect for someone who thrives on clinical challenge, values collaborative working and wants to make a visible impact on children, families and the wider service. If you're ready to lead, inspire and shape the future of community paediatric therapy in Cambridgeshire, we'd love to hear from you.
A typical day involves:
- Assessing and providing specialist intervention for children
- Supporting colleagues to manage their caseloads and time
- Providing clinical supervision
- Attending senior leadership meetings
The ability to work as part of the team and to have a flexible approach to work is essential.
Interviews: 22 July 2026
Should we receive a high number of applications, we reserve the right to close this vacancy at any point after 1 July
Main duties of the job The post holder will have delegated responsibility for locality co-ordination and clinical management of the community paediatric service in a defined geographic locality. They will independently manage a community caseload in the locality. The client group is children who have a range of difficulties in understanding and/or using speech and language. S/he will provide supervision and guidance to other SLT colleagues. The locality co ordinator's role will involve setting priorities, initiating developments and carrying out audit in discussion with the Area & Clinical Lead. They will provide training in the area of clinical specialism acting as a resource to the wider multi disciplinary team. They will assume delegated responsibility for appraisal of junior colleagues. They will be a member of the senior staff team.
Job responsibilities
Main Duties and responsibilities - To independently manage a caseload of pre school and school age children who have speech, and language communication difficulties.
- To undertake a range of assessments, both standardised and non standardised, taking account of medical, social and educational factors, which combined with highly specialist theoretical knowledge will lead to differential diagnosis.
- To plan, deliver and evaluate highly specialist intervention following professional guidelines and agreed service standards.
- As part of that process, to plan appropriate long term and short term goals working towards discharge.
- To undertake administrative duties connected with the caseload including maintenance of case notes and provision of written reports, following service standards.
- To ensure that all work is carried out in close collaboration with all those involved in children's care so that the approach to intervention and support is co ordinated and comprehensive.
- To make onward referral as appropriate.
- To identify any variations to service delivery or demands and inform the Area & Clinical Lead of the likely impact on the service.
- To initiate, develop policy, clinical guidelines, clinical governance and service development within the clinical specialism and locality, in discussion with the Area & Clinical Lead; this will involve piloting of new initiates with a view to implementing changes across the whole service.
- To develop care protocols and innovative practice in area of clinical specialism interpreting national and local initiatives.
- To be familiar with local and national standards and to work in line with these.
- To ensure that parents/carers are aware of the standards they should expect from the speech and language therapy service.
Communication - To ensure effective communication of complex condition related information to parents/carers regarding the assessment process, assessment findings and planned intervention, including engagement of parents/carers in intervention.
- To ensure children are involved in goal setting and decision making around their own care as appropriate to their age, developmental level and language skills.
- To ensure parents/carers are involved in decision making around their child's care including discharge from the service.
- To liaise effectively and work in partnership with other professionals (particularly teachers and teaching assistants), including the development of shared goals for intervention.
- To ensure effective communication with and between all speech and language therapists and assistants in the locality in order to ensure the delivery of a good quality service in the locality.
- To write reports on children, in line with service standards, including contributions to statutory assessment.
- To offer advice to others concerning support for individual children.
- To actively contribute to case conferences/ review meetings for children on the caseload.
- To recognise how and when information may be shared within the bounds of confidentiality and the Data Protection Act.
- To attend SLT team meetings, actively contributing as appropriate.
- Contribute to EECs internal communication strategies ensuring effective two-way communication and engagement within the organisation.
- Contribute to EECs external communication strategies working with the Head of Communications to raise awareness and promote the reputation of EECs services.
Training - To initiate the planning and delivery of training for other professionals and/or parents as appropriate.
- To actively participate in and /or organise in-service training and other courses as appropriate to promote professional development.
- To identify training needs in the multi-disciplinary team needed to support the care of children on the caseload.
- To remain compliant with all mandatory training.
People Management - To take delegated responsibility for co ordination and clinical management of the community paediatric service to North Cambridge.
- Responsible for day to day supervision of staff in the North Cambridge locality.
- Maintaining own professional development and requirement to take part in appraisal and KSF process.
- To supervise and clinically support SLT assistants/ teaching assistants/ volunteers as appropriate.
- To act as lead clinician across the service for clinical specialism including representing the SLT service in multi agency working in that area delegated by the Service Lead.
- To supervise and clinically support speech and language therapy colleagues in specialist area.
- To mentor/supervise more junior SLTs providing support, including objective setting and review and contributing to induction.
- To provide clinical placements for SLT students including contributing to the assessment of exam placements.
- To take on delegated responsibility for the recruitment and selection process when required.
- To be an active member of the Senior Staff Team, attending meetings and taking on tasks as necessary.
- To participate in development of policy, clinical guidelines, clinical governance and service development through discussion and involvement in projects as appropriate, including innovative practice, in collaboration with colleagues.
- Responsibility for specific, clearly defined projects as delegated by the Area & Clinical Lead.
- To develop care protocols and innovative practice in area of clinical specialism.
- To be familiar with local and national standards and to work in line with these.
- To ensure that parents/carers are aware of the standards they should expect from the speech and language therapy service.
Clinical and Practice Governance - Observe and maintain strict confidentiality with regards to any patient/family/staff/records and information in line with the requirements of the Data Protection Act.
- Any data that is taken/shared as part of a phone call or transported, faxed or transferred electronically must be undertaken with regard to the Trust Information Governance and Information Security policies.
- The post holder must adhere to the Trust risk assessment and risk management processes.
- The post holder must adhere to infection control policies and procedures.
- It is a condition of your employment that you are currently registered with HCPC and it is your responsibility to maintain your professional registration.
- Undertake mandatory training and any other training relevant to the role as required by East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust.
- The post holder must participate in clinical and other audits as required.
- Provide patients and their families/carers with information on standards they should expect from the team.
- Participate in clinical supervision on a regular basis. . click apply for full job details
