His blog discusses the recent funding cuts affecting NHS speech and language therapy services. Despite initial assurances that the NHS would be largely exempt from funding cuts, speech and language therapy has been one of the first NHS services to be affected. Councils around the country have announced cuts to Sure Start centres (with attached speech and language therapists), and many will be closing their doors for good. Many health authorities are not renewing therapist’s contracts and are not recruiting, meaning that most services are understaffed and overworked. These cuts are subsequently impacting upon the quality of service that patients receive.

Mr Lawrence writes about his own experiences with NHS speech and language therapy, saying that they have been reduced – purely because of service provision. He states that while in hospital, he received hourly speech and language input each day. Once in the community, he received one hour of speech and language therapy per week. He also notes that his community rehabilitation team have informed him that he will not continue to receive their input after a year. He states that, “It wasn’t due to any lack of potential for improvement on my part. It was time limited by cost consideration.” Ultimately the person-centred service Mr Lawrence should be receiving is become more service-centred due to budget cuts.

If you feel that you, a relative or friend may benefit from speech and language therapy, ITS could be of help. Contact us here: https://integratedtreatmentservices.co.uk/contact-us/enquiry/