“I am a teacher and my voice is one of my main tools that I have and I was losing it mid-sentence.”
“It has been transformative for me, it has changed my life.” The words of Co Down woman Carmel Hennessy who is thankful following her assessment, treatment and care at the Ulster Hospital’s Speech and Language Therapy-Led ENT Parallel Clinic.
The clinic treats both routine and urgent patients with voice and upper airway conditions and is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland.
Carmel, from Bangor, started to lose her voice completely last year as she explained: “I am a teacher and my voice is one of my main tools that I have and I was losing it mid-sentence. I ended up going to my GP about the problem and was referred to ENT at the Ulster Hospital.
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“It took around eight weeks to get the appointment. I was really impressed by that. I had a really thorough examination in the SLT Led ENT Parallel clinic and after that, I started speech therapy,” said Carmel.
The clinic was set up in 2019 as a waiting list initiative and so far has reduced patients waiting for treatment by up to seven years. Since it started, 96% of the patients do not need to see the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) clinical team.
Carmel described the care she has received at the clinic as, “transformative”: “When I first started with Speech and Language Therapist, Laura Connolly, I was clearing my throat all the time, I was coughing all the time. Laura has given me all these different exercises to do, all these different tools in terms of breathing, how to rest, how to control my voice better.
“It has been life-changing for me. I’ve been encouraged by the clinic team to relax my shoulders more, take a breath before I speak and use different daily massage techniques.”
Carmel added: “I thought there was something really wrong with me. I remember at that first clinic the team were able to reassure me and since then, all the things that I have been shown have really helped me. It has been an unbelievably positive experience.”
South Eastern Trust Speech and Language Therapist Laura Connolly, who has treated Carmel, added: “The Parallel Clinic model has been streamlined, so that patients are referred into ENT, but they are meeting a Speech and Language Therapist for an assessment.
“Previously, patients were facing an extremely lengthy wait to see an ENT Doctor but with this model, they are seen up to seven years sooner and can start treatment from that initial assessment.
“We do the full assessment on the day, we talk the patient through diagnosis and we can start treatment. It really is a whole transformational pathway. A lot of our patients rely on their voices for their work. By seeing them sooner, the team are preventing these conditions from becoming chronic conditions.
“We work together with the patient to implement strategies that patients can use in their workplace to really give them the healthiest voice going forward.”
Speech and Language Therapist and Clinical and Service Lead Carolyn Greer highlighted the benefits of the clinic for patients: “The patient is receiving a faster, more efficient service. Instead of two waiting lists previously, the patient is now sitting on one. The clinic is run by Advanced Practitioner Speech and Language Therapists with clinical expertise and knowledge in voice and upper airway conditions, so the patient is seeing the right person at the right time.
“96% of patients that come through the SLT led clinic do not need to see the ENT doctor which means that we can completely manage them as well as give time back to the ENT doctor. 80% of patients do not need any further Speech and Language Therapy.
“This model of care is best practice, maximising the skills of Advanced Practitioner Speech and Language Therapists and ENT doctors and producing high quality, safe and effective healthcare.”
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