Job Description:

Are you an experienced Speech & Language Therapist looking for an opportunity to lead and develop a specialist service while making a real difference to the lives of people with complex needs? Elysium Healthcare is seeking a full time Lead Speech & Language Therapist to provide clinical leadership, expert practice, and service development within a specialist multidisciplinary environment. 

This is an exciting permanent opportunity for an enthusiastic and innovative therapist to lead a high-quality Speech & Language Therapy service, supporting individuals with complex mental health needs, acquired brain injury, autism, deafness, forensic backgrounds, and communication or swallowing difficulties. You will play a key role in shaping and developing services, ensuring patients receive evidence-based assessment, intervention, and support that promotes recovery and independence. 

As Lead Speech & Language Therapist, you will manage a clinical caseload while providing expert assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for individuals with complex communication and dysphagia needs. Working closely with multidisciplinary colleagues, you will deliver specialist interventions, develop personalised therapy programmes, and support patients throughout their care and rehabilitation journey. 

You will lead the Speech & Language Therapy service, developing innovative models of care, maintaining high clinical standards, and ensuring services operate within a robust clinical governance framework. You will also supervise and support Speech & Language Therapists and Therapy Assistants, providing guidance, training, and professional development opportunities to build a skilled and confident team. 

To be successful in this role, you will need: 

• Degree in Speech & Language Pathology (essential) 
• Current HCPC registration (essential) 
• RCSLT Membership (essential) Evidence of Post-graduate study (essential) 
• Masters qualification (desirable) 
• Evidence of Continuing Professional Development 

Skills/Knowledge  

• Excellent personal organisational skills and accomplishment to lifelong learning  
• Leadership and service management skills (essential) 
• Excellent communication skills- verbal and written (essential) 
• Experience of staff management (desirable) 
• Ability to adopt a systematic approach (essential)
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills (essential)
• Wide range of clinical skills (essential) 
• Clinical reasoning skills (essential) 
• Administration skills (desirable)   
•  Presentational and group work skills (desirable).  
• Knowledge of SPSS or similar statistical package, word processing and computer skills (desirable).   
• Training and education skills (essential) 
• Able to work independently and show initiative (essential)  

Knowledge and Experience  

• Expert knowledge in dysphagia and communication disorders (essential) 
• Working within a forensic or psychiatric setting (desirable).  
• Experience of delivering group or individual based interventions (essential).  
• Excellent multi-disciplinary team working skills (essential).  
• Previous experience of conducting research, audit and project working (desirable). 
• Service development and improvement (essential)

Where you will be working 

Location: Bennett’s Lane, Widnes, Warrington, WA8 0GT 

You will be working at the Gateway Recovery Centre, a state-of-the-art facility which provides care for men and women with complex mental health requirements. 

The hospital is split into four distinct areas:

• Male Autism Service for the challenging and complex needs of adults with Autism and Asperger’s syndrome 
• Assessment and rehabilitation for women with complex mental health needs and personality difficulties 
• Specialist inpatient service for older men with complex mental health and physical health needs. 
• Low secure care setting for men with a mental illness with or without personality disorder/mild LD 

You will be working alongside the team with the aim to improve the mental health and wellbeing of service users and to help them develop and maintain healthy relationships with others. Gateway Recovery Centre will work to reduce risk behaviours associated with mental health conditions so that our patients can ultimately live successful and fulfilling lives within the community. 

What You’ll Get  

At Elysium Healthcare, we believe in taking care of the people who care for others, you’ll enjoy a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your wellbeing, growth, and future:  

• Annual base salary of £52,101
• The equivalent of 33 days annual leave (including bank holidays) – plus your birthday off and the option to buy additional annual leave, in our annual selection window.
• Career development and training to help you achieve your professional goals
• Access to our Rewards & Benefits platform Ely-Vate; Your one-stop destination for everyday savings, exclusive benefits, and wellbeing hub!
• Wellbeing support and activities to help you maintain a healthy work-life balance
• Access to Blue Light Card, which provides a range of exclusive offers and discounts
• Life Assurance, for added peace of mind
• Stream – instant access to earned wages when you need it, plus access to save, directly from your wages, alongside financial wellbeing support.
• 24/7 GP service and second medical opinion, to ensure you are the best you can be
• Enhanced Maternity Package, so you can truly enjoy this special time
• Pension contribution, to help secure your future

About your next employer:  

Elysium Health care has over 8,000 employees and a unique approach to the delivery of care. With a network of over 80 services across England and Wales covering Mental Health, Neurological, Learning Disabilities & Autism, Children & Education, there is opportunity for you to grow and move.  

Elysium Healthcare is part of Ramsay Health Care with a global network that extends across 10 countries and employs over 86,000 people globally.  

Elysium Healthcare follows safer recruitment of staff for all appointments and is a Disability Confident employer, committed to inclusive and accessible recruitment. It is a requirement that all staff understand it is each person’s individual responsibility to promote and safeguard the welfare of service users. All candidates will be subject to a DBS disclosure