Are you looking for the opportunity to grow and develop your skills within the field of Head and Neck Cancer (H&N) within a dynamic Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT), providing a service across the cancer pathway, including pre-treatment, on treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care.
We are looking for someone to join our friendly, enthusiastic and motivated team. The post holder will work within the H&N SLT team and be supported to hold responsibility for the oncology pathway as well as having the opportunity to work with patients who have had surgery.
The H&N service covers both surgical and oncological pathways with a seamless service provided from diagnosis to the completion of treatment. We are highly respected by the wider H&N team and provide a truly multi-disciplinary approach to H&N cancer management with routine joint AHP and CNS clinics.
You will be a qualified and HCPC registered Speech & Language Therapist with knowledge and experience of dysphagia assessments and treatments. We would welcome a discussion with anyone with general adult experience who has a passion for this patient group and wishes to specialise.
Every day is different! The successful candidate will have the opportunity to independently manage a caseload of patients with swallowing / speech / voice disorders secondary to H&N cancer. You will create and implement individualised treatment programmes, ensuring that these are monitored and modified as required. You will be working alongside a supportive team of experienced SLT colleagues and will attend the H&N MDT and Consultant Led Clinics.
The H&N SLT team sits within the wider Adult SLT service, which provides an acute and community service. You will be part of an innovative and supportive team of colleagues. The team are proactive in service development initiatives. The service offers regular clinical and line management supervision. We have a strong CPD ethos, access to training is available and career development is encouraged through your regular personal development reviews.
What can we offer you?
A supportive and stimulating work environment in a service which is committed to making a difference for people who have H&N Cancer.
A strong emphasis on CPD with access to specialist clinical support, team away days, sharing good practice and effective team working.
We value our staff and advocate career progression internally. We encourage therapists to contribute to service development and welcome and valve new ideas and experiences.
We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people’s homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.
Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:
72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust’s priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.
This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.
- To effectively examine and assess patients, identify their problems / needs and ensure that patients’ medical, cognitive, psychological, social, environmental, and cultural factors are considered including those with diverse or complex presentations / multi pathologies.
- To provide specialist differential diagnosis, clinical advice, and therapy to patients with communication / swallowing difficulties as a result of Head and Neck Cancer; this includes analysis of facts and a comparison of a range of options for appropriate intervention, implementing specialist programmes where appropriate.
- To be able to relate findings of assessment to presenting disease / pathology / impairment.
- To interpret assessment findings using specialist clinical reasoning skills in order to competently plan and carry out therapy programmes.
The Trust is required to work in line with the Government’s UK Visa and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information about sponsorship for certain roles, please visit - https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas
