Speech and Language Therapy
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Our team of speech and language therapists (SALT) provide assessment, advice and care for patients who have problems with speech, language, communication or swallowing.
- Base: Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University Hospital Lewisham
- Service Category: 3
- Address: Various sites,
About the service
We provide specialist Speech and Language Therapy services for adults at University Hospital Lewisham (UHL) and Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).
Our teams assess, manage and treat disorders of speech, language, communication and swallowing, supporting patients on inpatient wards, accredited stroke services and specialist clinics.
- Stroke, neurological conditions and dementia
- Critical, acute, medical and respiratory care
- Communication, speech and language difficulties
- Voice disorders
- Swallowing disorders/dysphagia
- Associated difficulties linked to trauma and orthopaedics, gastroenterology, oncology and adult mental illness
Who we can see
Our service is for inpatients and outpatients aged 16 years or older, except for children living with voice disorders.
How to get a referral
You can be referred by your GP, or by a member of staff at hospital, such as Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) consultant.
How we can help
Videofluoroscopy clinics
We offer weekly videofluoroscopy clinics at both hospitals.
A videofluoroscopy (VFS) exam allows us to take a detailed look at the way you swallow liquids and foods. It helps us identify issues so that we can advise you on how to improve your swallowing function.
Voice disorders
At University Hospital Lewisham, we also jointly run the Voice Clinic; a multi-disciplinary clinic for the management of voice disorders.
Other services
Outpatient voice therapy
We provide voice assessment and therapy services for adults with voice disorders. This includes functional voice disorders, voice rehabilitation after surgery, professional voice users with voice problems.
The voice services can offer treatment nasoendoscopy for patients who would benefit from the procedure. We also provide voice therapy for children with voice disorders from the age of five years.
Educational voice groups are offered to new patients before enlisting into one to one therapy.
Information sheets about voice and its disorders are available in the department.
We jointly run multidisciplinary voice clinics together with ENT. The ENT admin team are responsible for booking voice clinic appointments.
Inpatient services
Stroke services
University Hospital Lewisham has two dedicated stroke wards: Beech ward and Maple ward. These form one large stroke unit with an integrated multidisciplinary stroke team.
The stroke unit has a designated speech and language therapy team, which works with patients to identify and manage any communication or swallowing difficulties patients may have after a stroke.
Our service aims to enable people with communication difficulties to communicate to the best of their ability through assessment, treatment and providing advice and support, either one to one or in a group environment. We work directly with patients, and can advise others, like family members or carers, on how they can adapt their communication to make information and conversation more accessible to patients.
We also provide specialist assessment of swallowing. We may recommend modified diets or strategies to help patients to eat and drink as safely and as effectively as possible.
We work closely with other members of the multidisciplinary stroke team, including occupational therapists, physiotherapists, neuropsychologist, nursing and medical teams, to provide holistic and patient-centred care.
Acute Services
Our staff care for adult inpatients in acute wards as well as people in A&E who present with swallowing, communication, voice difficulties or a combination of these.
We provide specialist assessment, diagnosis, management and treatment for patients on critical care including tracheostomy management, adult acute medicine and surgery wards and care of the elderly wards. We also provide advice, training and education to colleagues, carers and families.
We work closely with other members of the acute multi-disciplinary team as well as patients and their families to provide collaborative patient-centred care. Referrals are made electronically by staff via icare and we aim to see patients within 48 hours or less for urgent referrals.
We also offer videofluroscopy and fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing service for inpatients.
Locations
University Hospital Lewisham
2nd Floor, Pink Zone, University Hospital Lewisham
Phone: 020 8333 3004
Email: lg.speechappointments@nhs.net
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
First Floor, Inpatient Therapy Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Phone: 020 8836 4975 or 020 8836 5048