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Children’s speech and language therapy service
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About the service
The children’s speech and language therapy service provide support to children and young people aged 0-18 years with communication and/or eating and drinking difficulties (dysphagia) who live in Barnsley or who are registered with a Barnsley GP and who meet our referral criteria.
We offer:
- Telehealth and face to face appointments based on clinical need
- Specialised assessment and therapy
- Training and education
- Prevention/health promotion
For additional information visit their website.
Documents and leaflets
Resources
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- You can find helpful resources and activities here: Toolkit: https://www.southwestyorkshire.nhs.uk/cslt-resources/
- You can find helpful videos here: YouTube: Subscribe to the ‘Barnsley speech and language therapy’
Why would someone choose the service?
- 9 out of 10 parents report that they would recommend our service to their friends and family
- 9 out of 10 reported that our service helped their child
- We offer training to parents, carers and professionals. 10 out of 10 people report that our training was useful, well presented and was a good use of their time
- 10 out 10 people said they would come to more training in the future
Staff you may meet
- Activity co-ordinators are responsible for implementing a range of therapeutic activities. Examples of activities provided include social, recreational, leisure, communication, sensory or educational sessions.
- Administrative staff provide essential support to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. This can be in a variety of different settings, with administrators working as a receptionist in a clinic or a clerk on a ward. They may also be working closely with a consultant as a medical secretary.
- A care navigator provides advice and support to individuals their families or carers during their care. They often make home visits and support hospital discharges. Care navigators can also signpost and refer individuals to the appropriate services or help arrange care based on the individual’s needs.
- Dietitians use the science of food to help people to make good choices about food and lifestyle. Nutrition is an important part of recovery and wellbeing. All service users admitted to a Trust ward have their nutritional state assessed.
- There are more than 60 different specialities that doctors work within the NHS. Each is unique but there are many characteristics which are common. Roles range from working in a hospital to being based in the community as a GP.
- Domestic staff have a vital role in helping to care for patients. They work in one of three key areas; catering, cleaning or laundry services. All of these services play an important part in aiding an individual’s recovery.
- Housekeepers help nurses run hospital wards. They are a member of a ward team and support the delivery of clinical care by ensuring the ward is a clean, safe and attractive place which is conducive to patient care.
- There are many people who work behind the scenes to keep services running and you may meet them in hospital or community settings. They include porters, cleaners, plumbers, electricians, decorators receptionists and secretaries who all work to make sure healthcare settings are kept clean, tidy and safe.
- Nurses who choose to specialise in the mental health branch of nursing work with GPs, psychiatrists, psychologists, and others, to help care for patients. Increasingly, care is given in the community, with mental health nurses visiting patients and their families at home, in residential centres, in prisons or in specialist clinics or units.
- Nursing or healthcare assistants work in hospital or community settings under the guidance of a qualified healthcare professional. They help doctors, nurses and therapists give people the care and treatment they need.
- Occupational therapy is the assessment and treatment of physical and psychiatric conditions using specific, purposeful activity to prevent disability and promote independent function in all aspects of daily life.
- The NHS employs a wide range of clinical staff, it wouldn’t be possible to list them all on this website! All our clinical staff are skilled, dedicated professionals who adhere to high standards of training and work-place practice.
- Physiotherapists help people to improve their range of movement in order to promote health and well being. This can help people to live more independently.
- Porters work within the Trust facilities team moving and delivering post, equipment and medication to locations across the organisation. They also help to move frail and often very ill patients between different departments and wards in safety and comfort.
- Receptionists are the first link for many patients and visitors. They often work on their own or with one or two other receptionists, greeting patients as they arrive and check them in. They might also collect patient notes and ensure that these vital records go to the right healthcare professional. In a clinic, they may make appointments and arrange patient transport.
- Social workers help, support and protect people who are facing difficulties in their lives. They help people to take positive steps to overcome problems and improve their lives. This could involve assessing and reviewing a service user’s situation, building relationships with service users and their families and agreeing what practical support someone needs.
- We have a range of specialist advisors working in our Trust – they give advice on a wide range of different things, depending on what service they work in. So it could be, for example, mental health, stopping smoking, healthy eating or diabetes.
- We have a range of health workers who all have different specialities. This could be in a certain condition, a therapy or the advice they can give you. Our specialists our highly skilled and trained professionals, ready to offer you help and advice whenever you need it.
- Telephonists (also known as switchboard operators) are employed throughout the health service. They may work on a busy switchboard in a hospital or the Trust headquarters. Like receptionists, they are an important first point of contact for patients and their families and are a vital link between a caller and the person who can help.
- Therapy is a broad term and can range from occupational therapists to behavioural therapists. Our therapists are trained in their specialist area and type of therapy to make sure we can offer the very best care.
Why a professional should choose the service
- Professionally managed
- Evidence-based care
- Strong clinical governance
- Strong safeguarding practice
- Excellent service user feedback: 9 out of 10 carers would recommend our service to family and friends
- Meeting desired outcomes: 9 out of 10 carers reported that their child had benefited from our help
Support offered
Assessment:
All children and young people referred to the service will be assessed and offered a package of care to meet their current clinical need. Once the package of care is complete the child or young person will be discharged from the service.
Children can be referred again if further help is needed
Therapy:
The speech and language therapist may see some children directly to carry out therapy activities. However, usually the speech and language therapist will advise parents or school staff on practice they can carry out to help the child. It is important that parents and carers understand that they will need to be able to make a commitment to attend appointments and carry out daily practice.
Training:
Training may be required as part of a child’s package of care. School staff and/or parents/carers will be offered a place on training courses provided by the Service.
Health promotion/prevention
The service is committed to training and educating the children’s workforce to enable them to support speech and language development in early years with the aim of reducing the incidence and impact of speech and language delay.
Outcomes
- Self-management skills – to enable parents/carers school staff effectively support and manage children’s speech, language, communication and eating and drinking difficulties
- Improved engagement with community services – children/young people are more able to engage with learning and socialisation and are able to reach their full potential.
- Improving the knowledge of the child’s workforce around speech and language to reduce the incidence and impact of speech and language delay.
Referrals also accepted from:
Eating and drinking referrals: We accept referrals about eating and drinking (dysphagia) from medical professionals and the senior leadership team at Greenacre School (Greenacre Pupils). Medical professionals includes general practitioners, consultants, dietitians, health visitors, school nurses and speech and language therapists. Speech, language and communication referrals: We operate an open referrals system. This means we will accept a referral from any source as long as there is permission from the parent or carer. However, as we need detailed information, we ask parents to make a referral with the support of a professional who knows their child.
Referral criteria:
Please see our website and use the referral checklist as a guide for referral criteria. The referral form is also available on the website.
Our referral form is available in electronic form on our website. You can return this by post or email using the details on the referral form.