Somebody alerted me to the following after I posted a research paper on ME/CFS, long Covid and speech and language therapy https://www.s4me.info/threads/cogni...2023-cummings-has-me-cfs-control-group.29477/ -- https://www.rcslt.org/news/new-rcslt-report-on-long-covid-and-speech-and-language-therapy/ New RCSLT report on long COVID and speech and language therapy 13 May 2021 Between 24 February and 10 March 2021, we conducted a survey of RCSLT members to gather their insights into working with people with Long COVID, between February 2020 and March 2021. Our new report, ‘Long COVID and speech and language therapy’, published today, examines the results. The report – Long COVID and speech and language therapy (PDF) – furthers our understanding of the mid- to long-term speech and language therapy needs of people with Long COVID, the impact these difficulties have on people’s lives and the essential role that speech and language therapy plays in supporting them. Key points All speech and language therapy respondents received referrals of people who had Long COVID with ongoing speech and language therapy needs. Concerningly, around a quarter of speech and language therapy respondents reported that the majority of people they had seen had more than one speech and language therapy need, indicating a higher level of complexity. There was significant variation in the number of people referred to speech and language therapy, which could indicate a lack of awareness of speech and language therapy needs after COVID-19, resulting in large numbers of unmet need. Speech and language therapy needs may be secondary to other Long COVID presentations, such as breathlessness, however addressing these needs will become more imperative especially as people try to return to work. The report details the impact of these needs on the person. Key findings included a negative impact on mental health and wellbeing, an impact on the person’s ability to carry out daily tasks and activities and an impact on the ability to return to work. Recommendations for action The RCSLT firmly believes that any person with a communication or swallowing difficulty has a right to access high quality speech and language therapy, when and where they need it. Any person with such needs after COVID-19 must receive timely, individual, person-centred rehabilitation, which will support and maximise their mental health and wellbeing, participation in society, and ability to return to work. To achieve this, the RCSLT recommends in the report that 11 actions must be taken at a national level, system level and workforce level, and to further greater public awareness. Read the report Download the report (PDF) The future As the pandemic continues and the number of individuals with Long COVID grows, the speech and language therapy profession will see increasing numbers of people requiring support in the community for speech and language therapy needs. Action must be taken now to deliver these recommendations so all people requiring speech and language therapy can access high quality therapy, when and where they need it, to have their needs met. If you would like to support our national influencing work, please email info@rcslt.org
Merged thread Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists publishes reports on long Covid and sustained the impact of the pandemic (January 2022) https://www.rcslt.org/news/long-covid-and-sustained-impact-reports/ 26 January 2022 In October 2021, we conducted a survey of RCSLT members to gather their insights in to the long-standing, sustained impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the demands placed upon their speech and language therapy services. We also asked specifically to hear from SLTs receiving referrals for individuals with post-COVID syndrome (long COVID) to update our understanding on the needs and provision of support for these individuals. Our two new reports, published today, examine the results. Sustained impact of COVID-19 The first report – The Sustained Impact of COVID-19 on Speech and Language Therapy Services in the UK – furthers our understanding from our earlier surveys and reports, on what the longer-term impact of the pandemic and system closure has had on speech and language therapy. Key findings: Pressures and demands on services are still exceedingly high, compared with before the start of the pandemic, with some SLTs services reporting that the demand placed upon them is double what it was in ‘before-times’. Eighteen months on from the start of the outbreak and the closure of services, SLTs are still facing varied challenges often meaning that service users are facing longer waiting times. Associated with the increase in demand, and pressure on services, SLTs’ personal wellbeing is also being affected The increase in demand is largely due to addressing the backlog from service closure in the acute stages of the pandemic, combined with later consequences of the redeployment of SLTs and the impact on the independent sector, now facing a heighted degree of referrals Read the sustained impact report (PDF) Post-COVID syndrome The second report – Understanding the need for and provision of speech and language therapy services for individuals with post-COVID syndrome in the UK – provides an updated view on the volume of people requiring speech and language therapy associated with their post-COVID syndrome (or Long COVID), as well as the nature of their needs, and the organisational arrangements in which they receive therapy. Key findings: The majority of SLT services seeing individuals with communication or swallowing needs as part of post-COVID syndrome have not received any additional or dedicated funding for the management of this clinical cohort. Thus, SLTs are trying to ‘absorb’ them into their everyday services and caseloads. Many of these SLTs are concerned that they cannot meet these individuals’ needs in the timeframe expected of their service. This also resonates with the overall picture of UK services, as referred to above. The main speech and language therapy related symptoms seen in individuals with post-COVID syndrome are dysphagia and dysphonia. This is similar to what was reported in our survey last year. The majority of the individuals that are presenting to speech and language therapy services with post-COVID syndrome are of working age. Most SLTs reported that they felt their communication or swallowing needs were impacted the individuals’ mental wellbeing and ability to carry out every day activities. SLTs have experienced numerous barriers and challenges to providing meaningful and quality rehabilitation to those with post-COVID syndrome, including navigating the complex and inconsistent care pathways that currently existing for this population However, SLTs identified that enablers of their care were the SLTs’ unique clinical knowledge and commitment to person-centred care. Read the post-COVID report (PDF) Recommendations for action In both reports, we set out clear recommendations, calling for action from multiple stakeholders to ensure all who need speech and language therapy input can access timely, high quality care, and that our profession is well resourced and supported. What’s next? The profession continues to battle against the long-term consequences of the pandemic. Further COVID variants have had (and may continue to have) an unprecedented effect, the number of individuals presenting with more complex or deteriorated needs continues to grow, and the proportion of the population now experiencing post-COVID syndrome (or long COVID) is enormous. The effects of these will continue to be felt by the profession, and action must now be taken to deliver the recommendations made in these reports, so that all people requiring speech and language therapy can access high quality therapy, when and where they need it, to have their needs met – and that our profession is sustainably resourced and looked after for long term gain. If you would like to support our national influencing work, please email info@rcslt.org.
At least a few specialists are seeing it, but swallowing issues are relatively common, often called globus sensation, another thing dismissed in the functional disorders nonsense. The continuing insistence on having "most common symptoms" is hindering things a lot. It just conflicts too much with the usual diagnostic algorithms. For that I'm sure that many with those issues never reach those specialists. Frankly I'm not sure what they can even do about swallowing issues, a lot of this seems to come from GERD or other GI issues. All those efforts are basically like an orchestra without a conductor, there's just no one coordinating the whole, seeing the big picture. So little ability to adapt to models failing in reality.
Never needed therapy for this. When I have a bad day I slur my speech, when I have a good day I'm perfectly coherent. I need scientists to work on the problems underpinning this disease. Not another group of therapists making money of something they are ill-equipped to treat.
Agreed. Even if our symptoms were managed incredibly well, we'd still be severely debilitated. The majority of our resources should go towards developing treatments, not better ways to manage symptoms.
Swallowing comes under speech and language. My daughter has developed issues swallowing related to textures . Seems to be muscle tiredness as video fluidoscopy was ok.
