Speech and Language Therapy Services
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Item How do speech and language therapy contribute to public health?(Institute of Health and Social Care Management, 2022-07-01) Eddison, Nicola; Williams, JoannaWe should all have the same opportunities to lead a healthy life, no matter who we are or where we live. However, wider determinants such as housing, the environment, access to fresh food, education and income all influence our health. As such, health inequalities exist and have a significant impact on the health of large groups of people.Item Exploration of implementation, financial and technical considerations within allied health professional (AHP) telehealth consultation guidance: a scoping review including UK AHP professional bodies’ guidance.(BMJ Publishing Group, 2021-12-27) Eddison, NicolaObjectives The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a shift to remote consultations, but telehealth consultation guidelines are lacking or inconsistent. Therefore, a scoping review was performed to chart the information in the articles exploring telehealth for the UK Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) and compare them with the UK AHP professional bodies’ guidelines. Design Scoping review following Aksey and O’ Malley methodological framework. Data Sources CINHAL and MEDLINE were searched from inception to March 2021 using terms related to “telehealth”, “guidelines” and “AHPs”. Additionally, the UK AHP professional bodies were contacted requesting their guidelines. Study selection: Articles exploring telehealth for patient consultations, written in English and published in peer-reviewed journal or guidelines available from UK AHP professional bodies/their websites, were considered eligible for review. Data extraction: One reviewer extracted data concerning three overarching domains: implementation, financial and technological considerations. Results 2,632 articles were identified through database searches with twenty-one articles eligible for review. Eight guidelines were obtained from the UK AHP professional bodies with a total of twenty-nine included articles/guidelines. Most articles were published in the last two years, there was variety in telehealth terminology, and most were developed for occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists. Information was lacking about the assessment of telehealth use and effectiveness, barriers and limitations, the logistical management, the family’s and caregiver’s roles, and the costs. There was lack of clarity on the AHPs’ registration requirements, costs and coverage, and legal aspects. Conclusion This study identified gaps in current guidelines, which showed similarities as well as discrepancies with the guidance for non-AHP healthcare professionals and revealed that the existing guidelines do not adequately support AHPs delivering telehealth. Future research and collaborative work across AHP groups and the world’s leading health institutions are suggested to establish common guidelines which will improve AHP telehealth services.Item Parent training improves language development in children with, or at risk of, language impairment.(BMJ Publishing Group Ltd., 2021-06-01) Harvey, Kate ChristinaThis paper supports the use of a parent-delivered model by giving evidence of its efficacy. Much of the work done by children’s therapy teams is lacking robust evidence; therefore, this paper is refreshing and encouraging. As paediatricians, this evidence may help us to reassure parents who are sceptical about the changes from a therapist-delivered to a parent-delivered model (with the often associated reduction in session numbers), although of course this paper did not directly address the question of new vs old. The paper also does not give any guidance about the optimal duration and frequency of parent training sessions. In the included studies, there was a large variation in the intervention length and dose (hours/week), with no significant difference in outcomes based on these variables. Further studies in this area would guide practice and rationalise the commissioning of services.