Our team
Our speech and language therapy (SALT) team provides support for communication and swallowing difficulties for all of our inpatients - including critical care - and outpatients.
With vast amounts of knowledge and experience, we are committed to providing the highest standards of care. All of our team are members of the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists (RCSLT) and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
Our service runs from Monday to Friday (08:00 - 16:00).
What we do
Speech and language therapists at Royal Papworth Hospital use cutting-edge equipment to provide a specialist service for our patients, from assessment and rehabilitation through to discharge.
This can involve instrumental swallow assessments such as videofluoroscopy and fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES), as well as communication technology such as eye gaze.
We see a wide range of patients following cardiothoracic surgery, tracheostomy placement, transplant, stroke, as well as those with respiratory conditions such as bronchiectasis, and neurological conditions such as motor neurone disease (MND), Ataxia Telangiectasia (AT) and Parkinson’s disease.
We aim to provide consistent, dedicated and patient-centred care of the highest quality, promote independence, provide education and improve patient outcomes and service efficiency.
One example of this person-centred approach to patient care can be seen below, where our SALT team helped a long-stay MND patient to achieve a personal swallowing goal.
Training and development
We are passionate about the importance of training and development to support our staff and improve patient care.
Our speech therapists attend and run study days internally at Royal Papworth Hospital to shine a light on their expertise and also external courses.
Internal study day topics include ultrasound and thoracic surgery.
External courses attended by our SALT team include Tracheostomy CEN, Videofluoroscopy and FEES, Mouthcare Matters, Communication Skills in Palliative Care, Intensive Care Society's State of the Art, and the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery annual conferences.
Students and apprenticeships
We offer placements for speech and language therapy students from the University of Essex and University of East Anglia.