New Emergency Department pilot launched to reduce King’s Mill Hospital stays

The four-week trial, which is taking place throughout August, sees the Trust providing a dedicated Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) to cover the busy Emergency Department, Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) and Emergency Assessment Units (EAU) at King’s Mill Hospital.

Therapists work with a range of healthcare professionals and patients’ families to provide treatment, support and care for those who have difficulties with communication or eating, drinking and swallowing.

They assist with the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of swallowing and communication problems and are instrumental in helping to reduce life-threatening swallowing problems in the early days after a stroke.

Providing a speech and language therapist in the Trust’s frontline service areas is helping to ensure safer and more efficient care by reducing length of hospital stay associated with poor nutrition and hydration, providing earlier intervention for stroke patients, supporting communication between staff and patients, and providing a quicker response for swallowing assessments.

Robyn Goddard, a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist taking part in the trial, said: “My presence massively eases workload for other colleagues as it helps them to feel more supported when experiencing a patient in need of Speech and Language Therapy services.

“The therapists have specialist skills with helping patients who struggle with communication to get their point across, and our intervention can reduce frustration in those patients who are unable to communicate, which can be quite a scary experience. So many colleagues have commented that it is good to have me here.”

Richard Clarkson, Emergency Department Lead Nurse and Head of Service at Sherwood Forest Hospitals, has seen the positive outcomes of the trial first-hand.

He said: “It’s been great to have the therapists on the ground to identify those patients in need of the service.

“Since having Robyn around, patients are being treated on the day of their admission and discharged to recover at home which is often the best place for them, especially in the case of vulnerable and elderly patients.”