Senior Speech and Language Therapist in Care of the Older Person

Position Summary:

There is a permanent full time senior post available in the care of the older person service. The initial designation of this post is to the Day Hospital service in the St Joseph’s hospital campus. The post holder will have responsibility for the management and development of the SLT service for Care of the Older Person in Day Hospital and will work with other senior SLTs in the area to develop SLT services across both the Beaumont Hospital and the St Joseph’s Hospital Campus sites. The post will involve working with people with both communication and swallowing difficulties. The successful candidate will be an integral part of the well-structured, multi-speciality Beaumont Hospital SLT team with excellent support and opportunities for CPD. The care of the older person service currently consists of 5 senior therapists therefore there is excellent support, teamworking and development in the service.

All of the Senior SLTs in the care of the older person service rotate through all aspects of the care of the older person services that have senior SLT roles through the means of long rotations. This allows an opportunity to develop skills in all aspects of the care of the older person pathway. Senior Care of the Older Person roles are based in the ED Frailty Intervention Therapy team (FITT), acute specialist care of the older person wards, Day Hospital, Rehabilitation unit and the Raheny community nursing unit. Please contact to discuss specifics in relation to this role. A panel will be created from which further Senior roles will be filled.

Responsible to

The post holder will be responsible to the Speech and Language Therapist Manager, Beaumont Hospital.

Clinical & Professional Responsibilities

• To organise and in conjunction with other SLTs, provide a comprehensive service to the designated area of the service for people referred from relevant consultants and others. Care of the Older Person services are across ED, acute wards, Rehabilitation Unit, Residential Care unit and Day Hospital.
• Whenever possible to work in partnership with those referred to the service with regard to assessment and management of communication and swallowing difficulties related to their condition and where appropriate their family and significant others.
• To co-ordinate the identification of potential candidates for St. Joseph’s Rehabilitation Unit, Day Hospital, Community Nursing unit in collaboration with other team members and the SLT based in the Units.
• To collaborate and liaise with the other Senior SLTs assigned to Care of the Older Person to ensure a seamless and comprehensive service for patients admitted to Beaumont hospital and those being transferred across services, i.e wards, Rehabilitation Unit, Day Hospital Service or the Residential Care Unit.
• To collaborate and liaise with Primary care and ICPOP HSE SLTs to ensure a comprehensive service for all patients referred to the service.
• To maintain close liaison with all relevant personnel with the objective of providing a quality SLT service that responds to the needs, priorities, concerns and safety of the individual.
• To work with SLT/Rehabilitation Assistants where appropriate and to provide support and supervision as required.
• To develop and maintain expertise in clinical skills and issues relating to communication and swallowing relevant to people who access the Care of the Older Person service and to ensure that professional standards are maintained.
• To develop new initiatives and engage in new services which will be beneficial to patients as appropriate and agreed with the SLT manager
• To be involved in instrumental assessment, e.g. VFSS/FEES clinics. Training will be provided as required.
• In conjunction with other SLTs, to provide a service to other patient groups as agreed with the SLT Manager.
• To maintain the code of conduct as identified by the speech and language therapy registration board at CORU.

Managerial Responsibilities

• In conjunction with other Senior SLTs in the designated area, to be responsible for the day to day operational management of the speech and language therapy service to patients.
• To be responsible for the supervision of SLT staff as assigned by the SLT Manager.
• In consultation with the SLT Manager, other senior SLTs in Care of the Older Person services and other relevant personnel, to participate and be involved in the planning and development of all services for older persons and to ensure that it meets the needs of patients.
• To be involved in Quality Improvement to include involvement in the planning of the overall service incorporating the setting and implementation of short and long term objectives.
• To liaise with statutory, voluntary and other external agencies as appropriate.
• To deputise for the SLT Manager where appropriate and in rotation with other senior SLTs within the department.

Educational Responsibilities

• Where appropriate, to provide general support to other SLT’s in the department with regard to SLT management of older persons.
• To be involved in the practice education of SLT students in conjunction with the Senior SLT Practice Tutor and other SLTs within the department.
• To be actively involved in the education of all staff and other relevant people on ways to promote safe swallowing and on making interactions, documents and environments accessible for people with communication disability.
• To attend in-service training and journal club meetings as appropriate.
• To be involved in research projects as appropriate.
• To maintain continuous professional development.

Administrative and Other Responsibilities

• To maintain patient records within HSE, hospital and departmental standards.
• To co-operate with data collection systems and current administrative procedures.
• To attend staff and other relevant meetings.
• To participate in Personal Development Planning, Professional Supervision, Peer Review and Team Based Performance Management.
• To adhere to health & safety, hygiene, infections control and other hospital guidelines.
• To undertake other duties appropriate to the office as may be required by the Speech & Language Therapist Manager.

Selection Criteria:

Selection criteria outline the qualifications, skills, knowledge and/or experience that the successful candidate would need to demonstrate for successful discharge of the responsibilities of the post.
Applications will be assessed on the basis of how well candidates satisfy these criteria.

Mandatory:

1. Registration with the Speech & Language Therapists registration board with CORU
2. At least 3 years experience of working as an SLT.

Desirable

1. Experience relevant to the clinical area
2. Knowledge of the Irish Healthcare system
3. Membership of the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists
4. Experience in instrumental assessment procedures (Videofluroscopy and FEES)

Informal Enquiries ONLY to:

Name: Anne Healy
Title: Speech & Language Therapy Manager
Email address: annehealy@beaumont.ie
Telephone: (01) 8092514