Job Description

Due to new funding, we are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for a Band 4 Support Practitioner to join our growing service in the area of urgent community response. The post will be working in the community and based in our multi-disciplinary community treatment team in Havering. After a successful pilot of speech therapy and dietetic support to this team last winter, the service was successful in gaining fixed-term funding to support a speech therapist, dietitian and assistant practitioner until the end of March 2026. The role will involve supporting the qualified clinicians as they use quality improvement methodology to understand the current service and horizon-scan for new opportunities to keep vulnerable people out of hospital wherever possible.



We are interested in recruiting an individual who is able to provide a thorough, evidence-based and holistic approach to patient care. The successful candidate will be responsible for supporting the work of the speech and language therapist and dietitian working in the community support team. You will be expected to screen new referrals, provide intervention under the guidance of the qualified clinicians, and support the clinicians with administrative tasks. The role will involve collaboration with members of the community treatment team, as well as with external teams, particularly primary care teams, our local virtual frailty ward and the frailty unit at the new St George's Health and Wellbeing Centre in Hornchurch.



Clinical support will be provided by the Band 7 Speech & Language Therapist and Dietitian, as well as by the Clinical Leads for Speech Therapy, Dietetics and the Community Treatment Team. CPD is actively supported through regular clinical supervision, appraisals, quality improvement 'huddles' and excellent training opportunities. For further information on some of our work, please follow the speech therapy twitter @NELFTAdultSLT .



Our Values 2025 - 2030



Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.

They are:

We are kind.



We are respectful.



We work together with our communities.



These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.



High Cost Area Supplement - Outer London



This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of 4,313 to a maximum of 5,436 p.a. pro rata for part time).



Detailed and Main responsibilities



Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application.



We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role, can be discussed at the interview stage. We are willing to consider internal applicants looking to join us on secondment.



References



Please ensure that the references are from your most recent employer and one of these must be your direct Line Manager or Supervisor. You must provide professional email addresses for all referees as we will contact them as soon as an offer has been made. Please note we do not request references prior to interviews. Additionally, ensure that any gaps in your employment history are clearly indicated. All applications made through NHS Jobs account will be processed by TRAC System. Please note that some emails may go to your spam/junk mailbox so make sure you check this regularly.