Congratulations to the Speech and Language Therapy Head and Neck Integrated Team at Aintree University Hospital, who took home two awards at this year’s Royal College of Speech Language Therapists (RCSLT) Awards. The RCSLT Awards are an opportunity to recognise achievements and celebrate those who have supported and championed speech and language therapy and made a difference to the lives of service users.
The team picked up the award for ‘Developing and supporting the profession’ for creating and delivering an innovative model to support Speech and Language Therapists to achieve independent clinical skills and improve patient care.
They then took home a second award for ‘Innovative solutions and new ways of working’ for pioneering an integrated service, and uniting professionals across organisations to align roles and decisions within a single specialist team.
The team has been recognised for developing the UK’s only fully integrated specialist speech and language therapy service for people with head and neck cancer in partnership with Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust.
Specialist speech and language therapy plays a crucial role for people with cancer of the mouth, throat, tongue and other areas of the head and neck – cancers that are three times more common in parts of our region than the national average. With the unique, integrated service, staff work as one team to provide seamless care for patients across different hospital sites and in the community throughout their treatment and recovery.
