Speech and Language Associate Practitioner

Job Overview

This is a fixed term/secondment vacancy until 31/07/2027 to cover maternity leave.

If you are a Hywel Dda University Health Board employee and are applying for this post as a secondment, agreement for the secondment is needed from your current manager prior to application.

We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic, flexible and motivated individual to join the Speech and Language Therapy Service in Ceredigion as a Speech and Language Therapy Associate Practitioner (Speech and Language Therapy Assistant) for a fixed term until end of July 2027.

You will be working within a friendly and established team of Speech and Language Therapists and Speech and Language Therapy Assistants. This role is to support the Flying Start and Families First programme in Ceredigion. This will involve working within a multi agency model linking with a wide range of professionals including families, pre-school staff and other Health Board colleagues.

The post-holder will be expected to work across a variety of settings including client homes, Cylchoedd Meithrin/nurseries, non-maintained settings, schools and clinics.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will work with the early years to support pre-school children to develop their Speech, Language and Communication skills. There will be opportunities to support Speech and Language Therapists in training and upskilling families, pre school settings and other professionals. You will also be supported to embed this training within the settings. There are opportunities to develop your skills at the universal, targeted and specialist level and you will work under the guidance and support of a Speech and Language Therapist.

There will be opportunities to engage in creative development of training resources and clinic based resources and therefore knowledge of IT systems would be advantageous.

Relevant experience of working with children aged 0-5 is essential. It would be highly desirable to demonstrate experience of working with children with Additional Learning Needs.

Personal qualities required are excellent time, organisational and interpersonal skills, creativity, confidence to support others and empathy towards children and families in varying circumstances. Experience of providing reflective and constructive feedback to Speech and Language Therapists regarding clinical and non-clinical observations would also be beneficial.

The ability to speak Welsh is essential for this post

Working for our organisation

Hywel Dda University Health Board plans and provides NHS healthcare services for people living in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, and bordering counties.

We have over 13,000 staff and together we provide primary, community, in-hospital, mental health and learning disabilities services.

We work in partnership with the three local authorities, as well as public, private and third sector colleagues, including our valued team of volunteers.

Our services are provided in:

• Four main hospitals: Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth; Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen; Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli; and Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest
• Five community hospitals: Amman Valley and Llandovery hospitals in Carmarthenshire; Tregaron Hospital in Ceredigion; and Tenby and South Pembrokeshire hospitals in Pembrokeshire
• Two integrated care centres: Aberaeron and Cardigan in Ceredigion, and several other community settings
• 47 general practices (six of which are health board managed practices); dental practices (including four orthodontic); 99 community pharmacies; 43 general ophthalmic practices; and 8 ophthalmic domiciliary providers
• Numerous mental health and learning disabilities services
  
  

Hywel Dda University Health Board operates a bilingual policy. All applicants are invited to apply in Welsh, any application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application made in English.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR APPLICANTS: Applications for our roles are carefully reviewed and shortlisted based on specific criteria, which varies from job to job. Using a generic application to apply for multiple roles or relying on automated AI application services, such as Lazy Apply or AI Apply, may not provide the necessary information, leading to your application being overlooked. To ensure your application is given full consideration, we recommend submitting a tailored application that directly addresses the criteria listed in the Person Specification section of the advert.

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If you are successfully appointed, by completing the application form you authorise the UHB to obtain any previous NHS service details including all electronically held sickness information, via the Inter Authority Transfer process on the national Electronic Staff Record (ESR).

To work in the UK, all candidates who are not UK or Republic of Ireland (RoI) nationals require sponsorship to obtain either a Health and Care visa or Skilled Worker visa , unless you have permission to work via another route. Non UK / RoI candidates wishing to apply should self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship by visiting Work in the UK . If you are eligible for the Health and Care visa, application costs are lower and you do not need to pay the annual Immigration Health Surcharge.