Neonatal Speech and Language Therapist

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Speech and Language Therapist to join our team on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit as North Bristol Trust on a part-time, fixed term basis. This opportunity has arisen due to a secondment, and the appointed candidate will work alongside an established specialist neonatal speech and language therapist, although will often be the only speech and language therapist on the unit.

We would prefer for the appointed candidate to work with us on a Tuesday, as this would support the multi-disciplinary ward round and would be well supported by the established team, however please contact us to discuss if required.

The successful candidates will be joining an established team of Allied Health Professionals (AHP). Our AHPs arehighly valued and essential part of theNICUmultidisciplinary team(MDT) at North Bristol NHS Trust.

Able to work independently and flexibly, the successful applicant will work alongside other AHPs, nurses and medical staff to deliver high quality care to babies and their families.

Southmead NICU is a Level 3 unit providing a centre of excellence for babies requiring medical treatment from 22 weeks gestation. Our unit has 34 cots, comprising of 8 ITU ,8 HDU and 18 SC, with an additional 8 cots on our Transitional Care Ward. If you are enthusiastic, forward-thinking and hard working with a passion to provide high quality care to babies and their families we would welcome your application.

• To provide a highly specialist assessment of feeding and swallowing difficulties to babies admitted to NNU and adviceregardingthe patient achieving the safest possible method of oral feeding and minimising the risk of aspiration.
• To work alongside other members of the multidisciplinary team togive highly specialist guidance, advice and education on feeding and communication issues for babies on NNU
• To work in conjunction with the clinicalteamin planning, co-ordinating and evaluating the speech and language therapy service within the NNU
• Toprovide highly specialist input into policies,procedure sand protocolsregardingthe management of patients on the SLT caseload.
• To work with the multi-disciplinary team on quality improvement and audit projects

For further information, please review the attached job description & person specification.

North Bristol NHS Trust employs over 12,000 staff providing healthcare to the residents of Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset from our award-winning hospital building  are the regional Major Trauma Centre, and an internationally recognised centre of excellence in a range of services and major specialities. Our vision is that by enabling our teams to be the best that they can be, we will provide exceptional healthcare, personally delivered.

North Bristol NHS Trust values all people as individuals. We aim to be an anti-discriminatory organisation and are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We welcome applicants from all underrepresented groups.

For more detailed information about the role, please review the attached job description & person specification.

• Recognised degree in speech and language therapy
• Registration with HCPC
• Registered member of RCSLT
• Post-graduate training in paediatric dysphagia
• Active member of relevant clinical excellence networks
• Evidence of significant post graduate CPD - to include paediatric dysphagia and neonatal dysphagia

• Knowledge and experience of working with babies and infants with complex feeding and communication difficulties as a result of their neuro-disability/ prematurity
• Recent experience of working with babies and infants with complex medical and physical needs that affect feeding and swallowing
• Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary therapy team
• Experience of planning and implementing individualised therapy programmes
• Knowledge and experience of working with children/babies born prematurely
• Experience of working within neonatal unit
• Experience of working within an acute hospital setting