Last week the Children’s Speech and Language team were delighted to host a visit from Steve Jamieson, the CEO of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, and Karen Willis, Director of Finance and Resources at the RCSLT.
Steve shared his vision of how the RCSLT will support the Speech and Language Therapy profession, by promoting the amazing work that SLTs do every day to support children with speech, language, communication needs (SLCN) and feeding needs and their families.
Steve thoroughly enjoyed his visit and complimented the team on their passion and enthusiasm for the work they do.
The team took Steve on a journey through the service to showcase the wide variety of work they do. This started with the team’s public health promotion through the Stoke Speaks Out website and Facebook page, where key messages are delivered, such as the ‘gone by one’ message for dummy use and the importance of face to face interactions and conversations to develop children’s communication skills.
Steve praised the team's passion and enthusiasm for the work they do
The SLTs shared the wide range of training they deliver to upskill the children’s workforce in supporting children with SLCN, as well as the North Staffs Risk Matrix, an innovative prioritisation tool developed in house, which is now being used across the country by a range of Allied Health Professionals.
The SLT Assistant Practitioners gave Steve a taste of the activities they deliver in the SMILE and Language Groups, from crazy foam to bubbles, all aimed at developing children’s attention, interaction and language skills.
The SLT admin team shared the invaluable work they deliver in supporting the clinical staff to keep the service running smoothly, through their robust administrative processes.
Team members also shared the wide range of clinical services delivered by the core service, from supporting children with Developmental Language Disorder, to feeding and swallowing needs, providing children with communication aids and working with interpreters to assess children in their first language, to supporting SLCN in young people with social, emotional and mental health needs. The SLTs showcased their flexible approach to meeting children’s needs in the right place at the right time, whether that be in local clinics or Family Hubs, in mainstream or special schools, or in their home.
The SLT team were joined by MPFT leaders: Kathryn Bellshaw, AHP Professional Lead, Childrens & Families; Lyse Edwards, Head of Operations, Childrens & Families; Liz Elliott, Clinical & Care Director, Childrens & Families; Liz Lockett, Chief Nurse & Director of Quality & Leadership and Rachel Mckeown, Director of AHP's. All were proud to be in attendance to support the team and show off their innovative work.
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