What we offer
We are a team of speech and language therapists (also known as SLTs or SALT) who specialise in assessing and providing intervention for those with swallowing and (or) communication difficulties.
The Speech and Swallowing team is commissioned to provide a service for the following patient groups (with a swallowing or communication need):
- neurological
- frailty
- respiratory
- end of life
Supporting residents with swallowing difficulties is a shared responsibility. Learning from incident reviews, safety work and feedback from care homes has shown that many swallowing concerns can be managed safely and effectively within the care setting when staff have the right skills, confidence and access to good resources.
For care homes we provide specialist assessment for residents who continue to show signs of oropharyngeal dysphagia which could not be managed safely and effectively by the care setting. This might include continued:
- frequent coughing despite best practice being applied
- recurrent chest infections with no alternative cause (for example, known respiratory condition)
- choking incidents
- People keen for rehabilitation.
Please see the information on our website as some of the difficulties your residents are experiencing may be managed with small changes.
If you are concerned about a resident’s eating and drinking, first check whether they are already known to our service and whether previous recommendations have been provided. Make sure these are being followed.
Please discuss concerns with other staff to confirm whether the same difficulties have been observed, and where possible speak with the resident and their family about what they are experiencing.
The Speech and Swallowing team receive a very high number of referrals for people with dysphagia. It is important that the referrals we do receive are appropriate for our service to ensure that those who will benefit from our input are seen as soon as possible.
