LD Speech and Language Therapy Service

About our service

We are a citywide service dedicated to working with adults with a Learning Disability who have a variety of difficulties with communicating and / or swallowing.

 

A Learning Disability is defined as "a significant reduced ability to understand new or complex information, to learn new skills (impaired intelligence) with a reduced ability to cope independently (impaired social functioning) which started before adulthood" (Department of Health).

 

We are a small clinical team of Speech and Language Therapists, Speech and Language Therapy Assistants and a Dysphagia Nurse.  We also have additional Speech and Language Therapists integrated into the LD Intensive Support Team (IST) MDT and the LD Community Forensic Team (CFT) MDT.

 

We visit service users across Birmingham in suitable environments that are best placed to meet their needs.

 

We assess and provide support and intervention training around communication to facilitate:

• How best to communicate with individuals;
• How to support individuals with communication needs to be involved with decisions about their care and their services;
• How to support families, carers and staff to value and use the best approaches to communicate with individuals;
• Supporting services to create opportunities, relationships and environments that make individuals want to communicate;
• Making sure that individuals are supported to understand and express their needs in relation to their health and wellbeing.

 

Speech and Language Therapy assessment for swallowing difficulties (Dysphagia)

We assess, diagnose and provide support, intervention and training for people who have eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties, possibly using such interventions as:

• Modified food textures,
• Thickened drinks,
• Positioning,
• Utensils,
• Assistance,
• Environment,
• Advice about how medications are prescribed,
• Advice about management of saliva,
• The best posture to make sure swallowing is safer.

 

 

Referrals

Eligibility criteria:

• Aged 19 years and over (or within 6 weeks of their 19th birthday).
• Diagnosed learning disability and needs specialist health support that cannot be met through mainstream services even with the use of reasonable adjustments.
• Registered with a Birmingham GP.
• Moving into the Birmingham area with a Birmingham residential postcode and an identified Birmingham GP, but are unable to register with the GP until they have moved into their property (for example, a service user discharged from hospital or a complex case moving into the area and going through the transfer or handover of care process). Confirmation will be required for service users eligible for s117 that the transferring Learning Disability Service have had a conversation with the local Integrated Care Board (ICB).

 

A referral to the service can be made through a number of means including a patient’s GP, carer, or family member.

 

You can make a referral by calling the Learning Disability’s Single Point of Access:

• Phone: 0121 466 4980
• Email:  BCHNT.ldreferrals@nhs.net.

 

This will require completion of a referral form that needs to be sent through.