Speech & Language Therapist - Cleft Lip & Palate and NICU

Transformationunitgm; Salisbury; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 55,000; Part time

Job summary

A reputable healthcare provider in Salisbury is seeking a part-time Speech & Language Therapist to work within the Cleft Lip and Palate service. This role involves assessing and treating patients with cleft-related issues, working in a multidisciplinary team, and require a degree in Speech & Language Therapy along with relevant experience. The position offers a salary ranging from £47,810 to £54,710 pro rata and promotes career development within a supportive environment.

Benefits

27 days holiday plus bank holidays

Generous pension scheme

Access to NHS discounts

Flexible working considerations

Qualifications

• Registered with HCPC and eligible to work in the UK immediately.
• Involved in Cleft networks and NICU networks.
• Experience of instrumental and computer-based assessments.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist assessments and diagnosis to children in clinics.
• Work with infants on feeding and swallowing difficulties.
• Liaise with community services regarding patient care.

Skills

Cleft assessment

Communication skills

Feeding and swallowing treatment

Education

Degree in Speech & Language Therapy

Post grad training in Cleft

Registered with HCPC

Job description

Main area Speech & Language Therapy for Cleft Lip and Palate Grade Band 7 Contract Permanent Hours Part time - 30 hours per week (Over at least 4 days per week) Job ref 269-SFT9415

Employer Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust Town Salisbury Salary £47,810 - £54,710 per annum pro rata if part time Salary period Yearly Closing 18/01/2026 23:59

Speech & Language Therapist - Cleft Lip & Palate and NICU

Band 7

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity to work on a part-time basisas a highly specialist SaLT in one of the UK's designated Regional Cleft Centres, providing multidisciplinary care to children with cleft lip and palate / velopharyngeal dysfunction, from birth to adulthood. This post includes working with infants with feeding and swallowing disorders on NICU as part of the MDT management of these neonates. Support and development is available for both the Cleft and NICU speciality areas of this post.

The post holder will be based in the SaLT department at Salisbury District Hospital, with the other SaLT teams, and so will benefit from being part of a larger team for supervision and support, clinical governance, in-service training and professional development.

We are looking for someone with experience in this specialty and particularly welcome those with postgraduate training in cleft. However the responsibilities and salary of this post could be temporarily adapted to suit an experienced Band 6 candidate who wishes to develop skills toward Band 7 skills and responsibilities.

Main duties of the job

This post is part of the Spires Regional cleft lip and palate service and covers a wide geographical area in the south half of the cleft network region.

The post holder will have responsibility for providing specialist assessments, diagnosis and treatment to children and their parents/carers in out-patient and MDT clinics, including use of instrumental assessments in the palatal investigation clinics. The post holder will also provide input, liaison and support to community SaLTs and settings across the south of the Spires region.

The Spires Cleft Centre is a twin-site centre based at both Salisbury and Oxford. There are strong links between the two sites with regular SaLT and MDT team meetings and development activities. There is an emphasis on joint working, service development, audit and research. There are varied opportunities for involvement in national initiatives and multi-centre projects. The cleft team is well supported by SaLT colleagues and the regional Lead SaLT.

Please see attached Job description and person specification for full details of roles and responsibilities.

Working for our organisation

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust (SFT) is an innovative hospital with a proud heritage and over 250 years of experience behind us. Here we’re driven to deliver an outstanding experience for everyone and have been well regarded for the quality of care and treatment we continue to provide for our patients and also our staff.

We are an acute Trust, rated “Good” by the CQC, with a track record of high performance providing regional and super regional specialist services such as: Burns, Plastics & Reconstructive Surgery, Wessex Regional Genetics Laboratory, Wessex Rehabilitation, Spires Cleft Centre and the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre. We have about 470 beds and employ over 4000 staff.

We support flexible working and will consider requests taking into account the needs of the service. We think working here is pretty rewarding. You can access a range of NHS discounts, receive a minimum of 35 days paid holiday (pro rata), and we offer a generous pension scheme. On-site benefits include car parking (fee applies), leisure centre, day nursery and holiday play scheme.

Salisbury is an attractive place to live and work and really gives you the best of everything. With easy access to London and local airports, the city of Southampton is only a short train or car journey away or if you prefer the sea, Bournemouth is also accessible. Don’t just take our word for it, why not explore what Salisbury has to offer by visiting www.experiencesalisbury.co.uk

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached Job description and person specification for full details of roles and responsibilities.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Degree in Speech & Language Therapy
• Post grad training & qualifications in Cleft
• High standard of spoken & written English
• Registered with HCPC
• Eligible to work in UK immediately
• Member of RCSLT
• Involved in Cleft networks
• Involved in NICU networks

Experience

• Substantial clinical practice at specialist level in Cleft
• Experience of instrumental and computer based assessments and treatments in Cleft
• Experience of working in MDT and NHS settings
• Experience of paediatric feeding & swallowing difficulties

Knowledge & Skills

• Cleft assessment, diagnosis and treatment
• National guidelines
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Feeding and swallowing assessment/treatment in infants
• Several years working as an autonomous SaLT in paediatrics
• Knowledge of strategic direction of organisations

We offer excellent benefits that help make SDH a great place to work. Take a look at our Employee Value Proposition (EVP) for more detailed information https://www.salisbury.nhs.uk/media/2lfatov2/employee-value-proposition-document-v12-final.pdf

These include but aren't limited to:-

• Holiday starting at 27 days plus Bank Holidays rising to 29 days after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years for Agenda for Change staff
• Holiday entitlement for Medical and Dental staff starts at 27 days for Junior/Senior Clinical Fellows, Specialty Doctors and rises to 32 days after 5 years. Consultant entitlement starts at 32 days and rises to 34 days after 7 years
• An additional day's leave to celebrate your birthday (after 12 months & non contractual) pro rata
• Access to a career average revalued earnings pension scheme
• Life assurance if a member of the pension scheme
• An extensive Health and Wellbeing offer to help you deal with life's challenges
• Exclusive deals and discounts websites saving you money on everyday purchases, treats for the family, eating out and utility bills for home
• Cycle to work scheme
• Uniform provided (where required)
• On site Day Nursery and Holiday Play scheme
• On site health and fitness club
• On site car parking (fee's and restrictions apply)
• Opportunities to get on - take advantage of our ongoing learning opportunities and training, to help you achieve the job and career you want.

Please note - Due to recent changes in UK immigration and visa rules applicants who do not currently have the right to work in the UK may not be considered. Candidates requiring sponsorship (or will need sponsorship at the end of a current visa eg those with graduate visa's) should review the eligibility criteria on the gov.uk website before applying

Please be advised that this vacancy may close earlier than stated if we receive a large number of applications. We will not accept any applications or queries via agencies, under any circumstances.

We continue to encourage and support our staff to participate in the seasonal respiratory vaccination programme in order to protect themselves, colleagues and their patients.

GETTING TO WORK

We offer parking on site at Salisbury District Hospital, a daily charge applies. We encourage our staff to utilise other green methods of getting to work such as cycling or walking where possible, and our Trust is well connected through the bus services to the city centre and other areas.

OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUALITY

We are committed to making Salisbury an inclusive and welcoming place for every single staff member, regardless of who they are and where they come from. Equality sits at the heart of everything we do, and we ensure that all employees have equal opportunity to develop, to apply for promotions and to work flexibly.

The Trust actively promotes a work environment free from harassment and discrimination and provides training for staff to ensure this happens. We also closely monitor recruitment activity, training, development and employment practices to ensure equality of practice with regard to race, colour, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, disability, martial status and age.

OTHER INFORMATION

If this job requires you to have DBS check to enable you to properly fulfil the requirements of the job, on appointment, you will be required to replay the cost of obtaining a DBS check and this amount will be reclaimed in instalments from your salary. Many staff use the DBS update service at a cost of £16 per annum but you need to sign up for this via their website.

Please read the job description and person specification carefully and ensure that your application reflects the knowledge, skills and experience required.

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Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Charlotte Mustoe, Cleft Speech & Language Therapist. 01722 345571