SALT

[mummyh2016]

I know I've probably put this in completely the wrong place but I just wondered if anyone is able to access any sort of speech and language therapy at the moment?
DD was referred 12 months ago, she finally managed to see someone in early March and was given targets. Obviously lockdown then happened, we had a letter in April saying everything has been put on hold and they'd be in touch. I've heard nothing since. I honestly thought I'd have been called by now just to see how she is getting on. DD hit the targets given months ago, yet I have no idea what we should be working to now? I know there are bigger issues with the NHS at the moment and compared to those who are having to wait for cancer treatment but I just feel really let down. Just wondered if this is standard across all areas.

Why don't you call them and ask?

Do you know who the healthcare provider is? My experience is that some community clinics are completely running as normal. But I guess some are still struggling. I’d feel let down too. You shouldn’t feel your emotions aren’t valid just because others situations may me harder etc.

Yes it seems as though it is 😢 my son has been waiting for a long time too. He completed all the group therapy sessions and has been waiting for individual therapy since before lockdown. I did call them to see what was happening and apparently the services are much reduced. They were prioritising children starting school (which he is) but we are nowhere near the top of the list.

The therapist did put together a plan for us to work on together and posted it to me so it might be worth giving them a call to see if they could do something similar for you. Unfortunately my son refuses to cooperate with it but that's a different issue!

I wouldn't even know who to call, I asked for the referral through the HV team, would you just call them?

Who does the HV work for? What NHS trust?

Midlands Partnership I believe.

My dd is having Nhs speech therapy over teams.

@seven201 this is what I thought would happen with us! They've already seen DD and checked for anything that is physically causing the delay (there isn't) so I can't see why they can't do it over Skype or zoom or something.

Where I am they make you do group sessions first. It took about a year from first appt to getting the one to one therapy. Started early August for us, but I don't when my trust started doing it.

My DS has been having virtual therapy over microsoft teams. They aren't doing face to face treatment yet.
Is there a phone number on your initial letter you can ring?

We had a group session last December then our first one to one in March.
I can't find the letter anywhere so I think it's been thrown away. I'll give the HV a call on Monday and see if they can arrange someone from SALT to call me.

Those of you that are getting appointments over team would you mind telling me what trust you're under?

We're in the south east

Our trust has just started face to face for children who they have tried doing them remotely unsuccessfully first

Give your SLT team a call. I'm an SLT in Scotland and we usually ask parents to call when they're ready for next steps.
A lot of our work has been put on hold but we're doing a mix of virtual appointments, homework programmes, training schools and nurseries virtually and such. Can only do face to face appointments for children considered 'high risk' i.e. eating, drinking and swallowing etc.
It's like learning to do the job again from scratch!