East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Speech & Language Therapist - Community Stroke

The closing date is 03 November 2025

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Community Stroke Services for a Speech & Language Therapist to join our team.

This role is suitable for both newly qualified therapists and for those who are looking to gain specialist experience working with Stroke.

The Community Stroke service provides Early Supported Discharge as well as support for people who have a new therapeutic need some time after their stroke. This is in line with the integrated model for stroke services providing a needs-based service.

The role will join our multidisciplinary team which consists of Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists as well as an experienced team of Associate and Assistant practitioners.

This role offers a great opportunity to work with adults with acquired communication and swallowing issues.

Main duties of the job

You will be working in a range of settings including patient's own homes, nursing and residential homes and with inpatients at our Community Hospitals.

You will be very well supported with regular peer and personal supervision. Wider support is also available from the Clinical lead and other senior staff and peers.

You will be encouraged to participate in our in-service training to further develop your knowledge. For new qualified staff, you would be supported through probation and to achieve your newly qualified practitioner competencies.

If you have not yet completed your dysphagia competencies we can look to support this.

About us

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.

Find out about living and working here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A

Details

Date posted

17 October 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 5

Salary

£31,049 to £37,796 a year per annum pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

432-HR798-25

Job locations

The Crescent

Colchester

CO4 9YQ


Job description

Job responsibilities

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.

Job description

Job responsibilities

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree qualification or equivalent
  • Eligible for registered membership of RCSLT
  • Ability to travel to different places of work/driving licence.
  • HCPC membership

Desirable

  • Registered Member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (R.C.S.L.T.)

Skills

Essential

  • Ability to use Word, PowerPoint, e-mail, Excel and Access (or similar spreadsheet or database packages

Experience

Essential

  • Experience of working in various clinical settings.
  • Portfolio of CPD evidence relevant to post.
  • Assessment of communication impairments by various means, including a range of standardised assessments
  • Differential diagnosis of patients with multiple aetiologies
  • Liaising with other agencies/other staff groups
  • Experience working as a member of a multidisciplinary team
  • Recognition of requirement for and means of accessing guidance/support

Desirable

  • Bedside assessment of dysphagia
  • Involvement in audit/clinical governance within SLT

Knowledge

Essential

  • Knowledge of approaches to assessment and interventions for people post stroke
  • Knowledge of evidence based practice in relation to the client group.
  • Knowledge of normal and abnormal swallowing
  • Knowledge of environmental impact on communication and behaviours
  • Assessment/knowledge of alternative/ augmentative communication systems

Desirable

  • Awareness of change in NHS and current legislation
Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Recognised Speech and Language Therapy Degree qualification or equivalent
  • Eligible for registered membership of RCSLT
  • Ability to travel to different places of work/driving licence.
  • HCPC membership

Desirable

  • Registered Member of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (R.C.S.L.T.)

Skills

Essential

  • Ability to use Word, PowerPoint, e-mail, Excel and Access (or similar spreadsheet or database packages

Experience

Essential

  • Experience of working in various clinical settings.
  • Portfolio of CPD evidence relevant to post.
  • Assessment of communication impairments by various means, including a range of standardised assessments
  • Differential diagnosis of patients with multiple aetiologies
  • Liaising with other agencies/other staff groups
  • Experience working as a member of a multidisciplinary team
  • Recognition of requirement for and means of accessing guidance/support

Desirable

  • Bedside assessment of dysphagia
  • Involvement in audit/clinical governance within SLT

Knowledge

Essential

  • Knowledge of approaches to assessment and interventions for people post stroke
  • Knowledge of evidence based practice in relation to the client group.
  • Knowledge of normal and abnormal swallowing
  • Knowledge of environmental impact on communication and behaviours
  • Assessment/knowledge of alternative/ augmentative communication systems

Desirable

  • Awareness of change in NHS and current legislation

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Additional information

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Address

The Crescent

Colchester

CO4 9YQ


Employer's website

https://www.esneft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Address

The Crescent

Colchester

CO4 9YQ


Employer's website

https://www.esneft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Service Lead

Jo Flaherty

johanna.flaherty@esneft.nhs.uk

07766901527

Details

Date posted

17 October 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 5

Salary

£31,049 to £37,796 a year per annum pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

432-HR798-25

Job locations

The Crescent

Colchester

CO4 9YQ


Supporting documents

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