Adult Community Speech and Language Therapy - SALT

The service is available to patients registered with a Barnsley GP, presenting with speech, language, communication and/or swallowing difficulties and who meet our referral criteria.

We offer

• Telehealth and face to face appointments based on clinical need
• Specialised assessment and therapy

Outcomes

Speech and language therapists working with people with communication difficulties will

  • Assess an individual’s communication and social interaction
  • Provide individualised treatment interventions
  • Promote functional communication
  • Train individuals and their families/carers in ways to facilitate communication
  • Assess mental capacity when required
  • Assess for Alternative and Augmentative Communication

Speech and language therapists working with swallowing difficulties will

  • Play an important role in the diagnosis of dysphagia and may contribute to a medical diagnosis
  • Help people improve their swallow through exercises, techniques and positioning
  • Promote patient safety through modifying the texture of food and fluids, reducing the risk of malnutrition, dehydration and choking
  • Promote quality of life, taking into account individual preferences and beliefs, and helping them adjust to living with swallowing difficulties
  • Work with other healthcare staff to optimise nutrition and hydration
  • Educate and train others in identifying, assessing and managing dysphagia, including families and the wider health and care workforce

Overall Outcome

  • Self-management skills – our aim is to enable service users and/or their carers to effectively support their own speech, language, communication and/or swallowing skills
  • Improving the knowledge of the workforce to reduce the impact of speech, language and communication difficulties and/or swallowing difficulties

Accessing the service

Referral guidelines

Referral Criteria

The service accepts adult patients with the following swallowing related issues:

  • Patient frequently coughing on fluids.

  • Patient has a gurgly wet voice after eating and / or drinking.

  • Patient coughs or chokes on diet despite following the advice within the service’s referral form.  

  • Patient has recurrent chest infections.

  • Patient has significant discomfort when eating or drinking.

  • Speech and Language recommendations have been implemented and the patient needs assessing due to an improvement in swallowing.

 

The service accepts adult patients with the following Communication related issues:

  • Expressive communication difficulty e.g. difficulty finding the right words, using the wrong words, difficulty expressing wants or needs.

  • Receptive communication e.g. difficulty understanding words, sentences, conversations.

  • Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) e.g. using or may require a communication book or technical device to help support their communication.

  • Speech e.g. dysarthria, speech may be slurred or quiet.

  • Cognitive communication disorder e.g. difficulties staying on topic, planning what they want to say, paying attention and/or following complex discussion, losing train of thought when talking.

  • Communication partner training e.g. training to carers / family / friends how to better support someone with changes to their communication.

  • Voice banking.

  • Stammering.

  • Developmental Language Disorder.

Updated:  October 2025

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