We are a team of speech and language therapists (SLTs) and support workers who:
- Assess and work with adults in hospital with swallowing and/or communication difficulties.
- Assess and work with adult outpatients with swallowing difficulties
- Lead the hospital videofluoroscopy (VF) service
- Provide an outpatient voice clinic
- Provide a small specialist paediatric inpatient service
We are based in the neo-natal unit and children’s ward (Outwood).
On the neonatal unit we:
- Support starting oral feeds with pre-term or unwell newborns
- Assess and manage difficulties with oral feeding
- Work alongside families and colleagues in the multidisciplinary team
- Support the development of early communication skills
On Outwood ward we:
- Assess and manage problems with eating and drinking
- Support communication skills
- Provide paper-based communication systems where needed
- Liaise with community colleagues to support children who already have SLT at home or school
If your child or baby still needs SLT after leaving hospital, we will refer on to the community SLT team.
We care for patients with communication and swallowing difficulties across East Surrey Hospital.
You may have communication or swallowing difficulties for many reasons, such as:
- Stroke
- Neurological conditions
- Respiratory conditions
- Post-surgery
- During or after cancer treatment
- The effects of ageing
- Learning disabilities
If you need ongoing help when you go home, we will refer you to your community SLT team.
We have specialists in the team who help patients with tracheostomy management.
We see outpatients who are having difficulties swallowing or communication.
You can only be referred to this service by a consultant working at SASH.
We run this service with the radiology team and assess adults with swallowing difficulties using moving x-rays.