Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine - St Vincent's ...

St.Vincent’s Healthcare Group
Speech and Language
Therapy Department
Allied Health Professional and Support Services
Departmental Statistics
No. of Inpatients 1,964
No. of Outpatients 1,339
No. of New Referrals 962
No. of Videofluoroscopies 152
No. of Digital Stroboscopes 53
No. of Group Attendances 186
Total 3,694
• The Speech and Language Therapy Department made a
number of presentations to their Dietetic colleagues on
Swallowing and Communication problems in patients
presenting with Tracheostomy Tubes.
Following on from our stroke service audit the Speech and
Language Therapy Department initiated a joint project with the
Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy Departments on
effective team outcome measures, in particular the Functional
Independent Measure / Functional Assessment Measure
(FIM/FAM).We plan to continue this project in 2004.
Staffing
The year 2003 began well for the Speech and Language
Therapy Department with the successful filling of our two
vacant posts.Susan Starr and Susan McElwee took up these
positions.We also secured a link post at senior grade with St.
Michael’s Hospital.This service commenced in March 2003.
Initially this service was confined to an inpatient caseload but
since September 2003 this has expanded to include an
outpatient service. Patients from St.Michael’s Hospital are also
able to avail of our specialised clinics – videofluoroscopy and
joint voice clinic.
Input to the Neurology Service
Training and Development
Throughout 2003,the department was involved in a number of
presentations.
We also continued our in-service training programme, which
was particularly useful given the number of new staff.
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In addition,Deirdre Kidney, Senior Speech and Language
Therapist joined our department in September 2003.Deirdre
worked in Beaumont Hospital where she completed extensive
research in the area of Motor Neuron Disease with the
Neurology team there.
Service Development
ENT Service
Due to the recent developments in the ENT Department at St.
Vincent’s University Hospital,there are now three ENT
consultants.We allocated one of our senior posts to work fully
with this team;Susan McElwee holds this position.
As part of the accreditation process and to act as a baseline for
the future development of our ENT service, we completed an
extensive audit of the Speech and Language Therapy input to
the ENT Department in 2003 including clinical outcome
measures.
In 2003,our ENT caseload fell into six patient groups:
(1) Head and Neck Cancer Patients
a) Patient care continued from 2002.
b) New referrals from 2003.
(2) Patients post Surgery for Laryngeal Stenosis.
(3) Patients post Surgery for Laryngeal Trauma.
(4) Patients post Laryngo-Tracheal Separation.
(5) Patients referred with Tracheostomy Tubes.
(6) Voice Outpatient Caseload including patients seen
at our Joint Voice/Digital Stroboscopy Clinics.
Link post with St.Michael’s Hospital
Our link post with St.Michael’s Hospital is working well and
ensures equity of care for patients in the St.Vincent’s Hospital
Healthcare Group.
Our service to the Neurology team has also increased. Deirdre
Kidney, Senior Speech and Language Therapist is now working
as part of this team.Deirdre is now able to participate in ward
rounds,journal clubs etc.
Links with St.Vincent’s Private Hospital
We have established close links with Dr. Margaret Walshe,
Senior Speech and Language Therapist,who provides Speech
and Language Therapy cover for St.Vincent’s Private Hospital.In
July 2003 an agreement was reached between the two services
that patients from St.Vincent’s Private could avail of our
specialised clinics.
Videofluroscopy Service
The Speech and Language Therapy Department and Dr.
Dermot Malone, Consultant Radiologist, runs this specialised
clinic jointly. It continues to be the only videofluoroscopy service
in the East Coast Area Health Board.Referrals are accepted
from St.Michael’s Hospital,St.Vincent’s Private Hospital,St.
Colmcille’s Hospital,Loughlinstown,National Rehabilitation
Hospital and Royal Hospital Donnybrook.
From our continued auditing of this service it is apparent that
the significant increase in patient numbers is due to our
increased staffing and hence input to the ENT and Neurology
Services and our new service to St.Michael’s Hospital.
St.Michael’s Hospital
No. of new referrals from St.Michael’s Hospital
March 2003 – December 2003 220
Audit of Speech and Language Therapy Service to
Stroke Team - 2003
One of the performance indicators we examined as part of this
audit included time between referral and initial Speech and
Language Therapy Assessment.The results were
Breakdown of Service
The input provided by the Speech and Language Therapy
Department to St.Vincent’s University Hospital Stroke Service
includes:
Joint initiatives with other multidisciplinary team members
The Speech and Language Therapy Department continued to
work closely with the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics to
complete a number of patient driven initiatives including:
• Joint patient care plans
• Patient information booklet on ‘ Swallowing and Nutrition’
Significant Courses / Conferences
Various members of the department attended a number of
different courses throughout the year.
•Special Interest Group in Adult Acquired Communication
Disorders – two study days
Royal Hospital Donnybrook – June 2003 / November 2003.
•COPD and Dysphagia. - AMNCH,Oct 2003
•Irish Gerontological Society Conference. - AMNCH, Sept 03
•The 11th British Academic Conference in Otolaryngology
and ENT Expo.
International Convention Centre, Birmingham.3rd July 2003.
Plans for 2004
•To have our full complement of six Speech and Language
Therapy Posts filled.
•To set up a multidisciplinary working group on the care of
patients with tracheostomy tubes.
•To continue on research work in the area of dysphagia.
•To publish our booklet on communication problems post
stroke "It’s all about change".This is a joint project with two
colleagues in the National Rehabilitation Hospital.
•To encourage members of the department to enter higher
level degree programmes
•To upgrade two of our senior posts as clinical specialist
posts.
•To continue our involvement in student education – Speech
and Language Therapy, Medicine, Nursing,etc.
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