Speech and Language Therapy Services for children and young people in Barnsley

Healthwatch Barnsley undertook research on Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) services for children and young people in Barnsley. They received 57 pieces of feedback through their online feedback centre, spoke to 16 people at clinic outreach sessions and gathered views from parents, carers and professionals as part of a review of the service.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Parents and carers praised therapists for being supportive, patient and knowledgeable, and many reported improvements in their children’s communication skills. Professionals were also highly positive about the service, particularly the training provided to schools, which was seen as helping staff identify and support communication needs more effectively. The report noted that waiting times had reduced significantly from 14-18 months in 2010 to around three weeks by 2016. 

A small number of concerns were raised about the way children with complex and long-term communication needs are discharged from the service and supported by schools after discharge. Some parents questioned whether teaching assistants had sufficient training to recognise when children needed to be referred back for specialist support. There were also comments about the importance of strong relationships between families and therapists, and concerns from one parent that some children may be discharged too quickly from specialist support.

Healthwatch Barnsley concluded that families and professionals were generally very satisfied with the service and the support provided. Recommendations included continuing training for school staff, ensuring parents and schools understand how to re-refer children when necessary, adding children’s names to text appointment reminders and considering introductory sessions to help families build rapport with therapists from the start of their involvement with the service.