About us:

Speech & Language Therapists (SLTs) work with a wide variety of people who experience difficulties in communication, voice and swallowing. SLTs take into consideration the medical, physical, psychological and social factors that may contribute to the experience of disability. We work with patients, their families and members of the multidisciplinary team to anticipate and reduce the impact of these difficulties on the person’s everyday life.

SLTs working in Naas General Hospital are registered with the CORU (Regulatory Health and Social Care Professionals) Speech and Language Therapists Registration Board.

The department provides clinical placements for SLT students attending Trinity College Dublin.

The SLT Department in Naas General Hospital collaborate closely with our community SLT colleagues to ensure continuity of SLT care needs when a patient is discharged from hospital.

Speech and Language Therapy Service:

The Speech & Language Therapy Department at Naas General Hospital provides assessment, diagnosis and treatment for adults with speech, language, communication, voice and eating/drinking/swallowing difficulties. These difficulties can occur as a result of:

1. Progressive Neurological Conditions (e.g. Dementia, Parkinson’s Disease, Motor Neuron Disease, Multiple Sclerosis)
2. Brain Injuries (e.g. stroke, traumatic brain injury)
3. Other surgical or medical conditions (e.g. respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal diseases)

Our staff care for patients on all the acute inpatient wards.

Difficulties that may occur are:

1. Dysarthria: Dysarthria is a speech disorder resulting from weakness or incoordination of the muscles used for speech. Speech may sound quiet or nasalised and speech sounds may appear slurred or be slow and laboured.
2. Apraxia of Speech: Apraxia of Speech is a speech disorder resulting from difficulty putting speech sounds together.
3. Aphasia: Aphasia is a disorder of language which can result in difficulties with understanding, speaking, reading and writing. It is caused by brain damage from a stroke, head injury, brain tumour or other neurological condition.
4. Dysphagia: Dysphagia is a difficulty eating, drinking and/or swallowing foods and liquids.

A videofluoroscopy clinic is held on a weekly basis in the radiology department to assess swallowing problems.

We aim to ensure all assessments and treatments provided are evidence based and in line with current best practice. All staff are involved in a programme of continuing professional development and we regularly evaluate and audit our practices and treatment outcomes to ensure a high standard of service provision.

Access to the Service:

In-patients can avail of the service by:

1. Referral from medical, nursing or HSCP (Health and Social Care Professional) staff within the hospital for people who experience difficulties in swallowing, communication, speech, language and voice associated with their medical condition.
2. There is no on-call service or designated out-patient SLT service at this time.

If you have a speech, language, communication, or eating/drinking/swallowing difficulty and require an outpatient service, you may be referred to the local community SLT service which can be accessed through your GP

Useful Links:

• Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists

http://www.iaslt.ie/

• Independent Speech Language Therapists of Ireland

https://isti.ie/

• CORU

http://www.coru.ie/

• Irish Heart Foundation

https://irishheart.ie/

• HSE Service Kildare West Wicklow

https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/1/lho/kildare-west-wicklow/