Speech and language therapy
As part of your treatment and recovery you may be referred to a speech and language therapist. They are part of the Allied Health Professions at Sussex Partnership.
Communication difficulties may affect a person's mental wellbeing, their relationships and ability to express ideas, needs and feelings.
A speech and language therapist will look at all aspects of a person's communication skills: language, speech, voice and non-verbal messages as well as their emotional state and environment which will affect all of these things.
Speech and language therapists assess the speech, language and communication of children, adolescents and adults with communication difficulties. In addition, the management of dysphagia (eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties) is an important component of speech and language therapy practice.
All our speech and language therapists work as part of a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) across most services at Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust. All referrals go directly to the multi-disciplinary team and speech and language therapists get allocated on referral.
Allied Health Professions (AHPs) at Sussex Partnership are a diverse group of clinicians who have a central role in the services we provide. They are highly specialised and trained to provide treatments for people of all ages in different settings - home, community and hospital. They work to improve health and wellbeing, enabling people to be as independent as possible and to live full, active and healthy lives.
AHPs are the third largest workforce in England. There are over 400 allied health professionals at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, working across seven of the 14 AHP professions, which include:
- Art therapists
- Dietitians
- Occupational therapists
- Paramedics
- Physiotherapists
- Speech and language therapists