Speech & language therapists rising to the challenge

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‘I never thought I’d see the day that I would have a shift in ITC,’ says Alex McNeill, a paediatric speech and language therapist. ‘Today I felt so privileged to be able to use our SLT skills to support basic communication and provide reassurance to an ICU patient who had just woken up after three weeks of sedation. ‘

Countdown host Nick Hewer, president of The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists teamed up with Nightingale London SLT lead Jackie McRae on Good Morning Britain recently to highlight the work of SLTs in supporting Covid-19 patients. Jackie explained the need for careful mouth care for intubated patients, and, with tubes sitting on the tongue, airway and voice box, to help patients with eating, drinking and talking when tubes are removed. Nick described how SLTs give people their voices back after emerging from ITU often disoriented and confused.

RCSLT Wales is praising SLTs for how they are supporting patients with Covid-19 in so many different ways. Lisa Chess, SLT lead at Llandarcy Field Hospital, Swansea Bay, shortlisted in our 2020 Advancing Healthcare awards and a Wales AHA award winner, is a great cheer leader for the amazing work SLT are doing there.  As Alison Clarke put it: ‘Its amazing what SLT can turn their hands to.’

From Cork University Hospital, Aideen O’Riordan, deputy SLT manager, has written a brilliant piece reflecting on her past few weeks in ITU. She says that an essential part of her role has been to ensure that all patients are entitled to oral hygiene via a suction toothbrush rather than small pink sponge swabs. ‘I’m not sure how this ever be normal – its more comfortable for the patient to have their month cleaned with a toothbrush.’ She gives specifics of the teamwork that’s going on, for example, with pharmacy to ensure the right consistency of oral medication; with physios to minimise the risk of aspiration from oral secretions and oral intake; with dietitians to determine the best regime of nutrition and hydration.

SLT Dora Guyatt asks if any other ward-based therapists are finding their brains scrambled by dysphagia assessments with all the complexities of PPE, finding antichlor, decontaminating visors and so on. ‘We made ourselves a flow chart guide that we can keep in our pockets.’

Rosalind Kyle in Belfast tells us about SLT staff leading a signing choir for staff and patients which ‘is great for emotional wellbeing during these times.’  Leeds Community Healthcare Trust are offering a Giving voice session every Wednesday evening where people can ‘Sing along in the comfort and safety of their own home.’

So much important work by SLTs from all over the UK. Let’s see some nominations to our ESTEEM recognition scheme.

 

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