Community Adult Speech and Language Therapy Service - Isle of Wight

About the service

The Adult Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) service provides assessment, intervention, and management of acquired speech, language, communication, voice, eating, drinking, and swallowing difficulties.

The team includes Speech and Language Therapists, Speech and Language Therapy Associate Practitioners, and Administrators who offer support to individuals, their families, and carers. We also work closely with other health care professionals including Doctors, Nurses, Consultants, Occupational Therapists, and Physiotherapists to develop treatment programmes tailored to individual needs.

What we do

We provide services to adults (over the age of 18) who have acquired a speech, language, communication (e.g. aphasia, dysarthria), voice (dysphonia) or eating, drinking, and swallowing difficulty (dysphagia). We work with people who experience difficulties that may be a result of the following conditions:

• Acquired progressive neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease (PD), Motor Neurone Disease (MND), Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and Dementia, including language-led dementia
• Stroke
• Frailty
• Learning disability
• Head & Neck Cancer
• Brain tumour
• Head/brain injury
• Voice disorders

Our involvement may include assessment, intervention, and therapy enabling adults to reach and maintain their best level of communication or eating and drinking, increase their independence, live to their full potential, and provide support to their families and carers. Therapy is tailored to individual needs and goals. It may be offered in one-to-one or group therapy sessions, e.g. Parkinson’s communication group.

Our service currently facilitates a monthly peer support group for stroke survivors who live with aphasia. SLTs are part of multidisciplinary team clinics such as Motor Neuron Disease, Head and Neck Cancer and Voice Clinic. We work closely with the Alternative Communication Centre who provide specialist equipment and assessment for individuals with complex communication needs. We also work closely with our ENT and Respiratory colleagues and offer therapy for persistent cough and Inducible Laryngeal Obstruction (also known in the past as Paradoxical Vocal Fold Movement).

Appointments may be offered at various locations including your own home or a residential or nursing home if you are unable to attend an outpatient clinic. Outpatient clinics are at St Mary’s Hospital, Ryde Health and Wellbeing Centre or East Cowes Medical Centre.

Accessing the service

Please speak to your GP or other health professional if you think you or someone you look after needs to be referred to our service.  All referrals should be made using the Single Point of Access Team (SPOA) – iownt.SPOA@nhs.net.