East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Assistant Practitioner for Speech & Language Therapy

The closing date is 30 July 2025

Job summary

We have an exciting opportunity to become an assistant practitioner in our friendly, innovativespeech and language therapy (SLT) service, based in the community team in East Suffolk. This is a varied role and responsibilities will include supporting our speech and language therapists with assessments, delivering therapy plans, leading groups and supporting training for a mixed caseload of people with a range of swallowing and communication difficulties. This could include people who have difficulties communicating after a stroke, or someone who has slurred speech or a quiet voice due to a neurological condition, for example. Our assistants play a vital role in carrying out rehabilitation and therapy exercise plans. The role also involves supporting families and carers.

Community SLT is part of a wider, integrated SLT service in East Suffolk which supports people with communication and swallowing difficulties in their own home, in care homes, in clinic for outpatient appointments, and on the inpatient wards at Ipswich Hospital. You may be asked to work flexibly across these service areas. We are currently enhancing our working with other health workers with our Integrated Neighbourhood Team colleagues.

The service champions innovation and quality improvement, and are committed to developing leadership skills for staff at all levels. We recently won the 'Making Better Use of our Resources' award at the Can Do Health and Care awards.

Main duties of the job

Under the direction of speech and language therapists, to deliver therapy programmes to clients with a variety of acquired communication problems including dysarthria and aphasia as a result of conditions such as stroke or progressive neurological conditions.
To deliver individualised swallowing interventions for individuals who have dysphagia, as directed by the speech & language therapists, including rehabilitation.
To facilitate groups for clients with communication disorders.
To deliver interventions in a variety of settings such as home visits, clinic appointments and care homes.
To support with voice banking and alternative augmentative communication (AAC).
To deal with face to face/telephone contact with clients with a range of communication impairments in a sensitive, professional manner.
To deliver basic communication/safe eating and drinking training and support to family carers and a range of staff groups.
To collect relevant information through liaison with the patients, their carers and colleagues from other agencies.
To write accurate, timely notes for patient records
To develop therapy resources as required by the therapists.

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

Date posted

16 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£27,485 to £30,162 a year per annum pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

432-HR488-25

Job locations

Ipswich

IP4 5PD

Job description

Job responsibilities

We welcome enquiries, including flexible working, and would be happy to arrange a visit to the Department. You can also find out more about the local area, our team and services here: https://esneft.pagetiger.com/speech-and-language-therapies/1

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

oQualified Associate Practitioner/ Nursing Associate diploma level or equivalent qualification e.g. NVQ3 plus short courses or relevant experience up to diploma level
oEvidence of continuing professional development
oAbility to travel to different places of work/driving licence.

Desirable

oCompetencies at level of Assistant Dysphagia Practitioner, or equivalent
oEvidence of attendance at relevant specialist courses: (eg via RCSLT Clinical Excellence Networks)
oAccredited LSVT practitioner
oSystem One super user

Experience

Essential

oExperience of working in acute/community health care settings, or equivalent caring experience
oExperience of liaising with other agencies/other staff groups
oExperience of working with adults with stroke/acquired neurological conditions
oExperience of delivering training to groups
oExperience in using Microsoft Word, Excel, email and electronic patient recording systems

Desirable

oExperience of working with people with acquired communication difficulties
oExperience of working with people with eating/drinking/swallowing difficulties

Knowledge

Essential

oKnowledge of different methods of communication
oKnowledge of range of communication difficulties experienced by people with a variety of medical reasons, such as stroke, and progressive neurological conditions
oKnowledge of swallowing difficulties experienced by adults for a variety of medical reasons, such as stroke and cancer

Desirable

oKnowledge of alternative/ augmentative communication systems (high and low tech)
oUse of outcome measures

Skills

Essential

oExcellent communication/interpersonal skills
oAbility to work on own initiative and within a team

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

oQualified Associate Practitioner/ Nursing Associate diploma level or equivalent qualification e.g. NVQ3 plus short courses or relevant experience up to diploma level
oEvidence of continuing professional development
oAbility to travel to different places of work/driving licence.

Desirable

oCompetencies at level of Assistant Dysphagia Practitioner, or equivalent
oEvidence of attendance at relevant specialist courses: (eg via RCSLT Clinical Excellence Networks)
oAccredited LSVT practitioner
oSystem One super user

Experience

Essential

oExperience of working in acute/community health care settings, or equivalent caring experience
oExperience of liaising with other agencies/other staff groups
oExperience of working with adults with stroke/acquired neurological conditions
oExperience of delivering training to groups
oExperience in using Microsoft Word, Excel, email and electronic patient recording systems

Desirable

oExperience of working with people with acquired communication difficulties
oExperience of working with people with eating/drinking/swallowing difficulties

Knowledge

Essential

oKnowledge of different methods of communication
oKnowledge of range of communication difficulties experienced by people with a variety of medical reasons, such as stroke, and progressive neurological conditions
oKnowledge of swallowing difficulties experienced by adults for a variety of medical reasons, such as stroke and cancer

Desirable

oKnowledge of alternative/ augmentative communication systems (high and low tech)
oUse of outcome measures

Skills

Essential

oExcellent communication/interpersonal skills
oAbility to work on own initiative and within a team

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.

Employer details

Employer name

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Ipswich

IP4 5PD

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

Ipswich

IP4 5PD

Employer's website

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