Adult Community Team
Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership
Who are we?
We are a small team who work in the community within Aberdeen City. Our team aims to provide a high quality, evidence based service that is responsive to and meets the needs of clients and their carers, who experience speech, language, communication or swallowing difficulties.
We work in partnership with our clients, their families and with other professionals and agencies to reduce the impact of these often isolating difficulties on people’s wellbeing and their ability to participate in daily life. We want to see our clients and their families being included and engaging as much as possible with the people around them.
What to expect when referred
> We will contact the client and, where appropriate, family & carers to discuss the communication or swallowing problem.
> We will assess the client’s communication or swallowing needs over the phone / via a video call / in person.
> Depending on the need we might offer a single appointment and advice or we might offer a block of therapy sessions.
> If therapy is appropriate, we will discuss and agree goals for therapy with the client.
> We might offer individual or group therapy sessions, provide activities / exercises to work on at home, work with family or carers. We might also discuss and trial AAC (Alternative and Augmentative Communication). Low or high tech AAC can be used to support someone’s speech and communication, e.g. picture boards, speech output apps on the iPad and life history communication books.
> We work closely with other professionals.
When to get in touch / make a referral
Communication
Are you or the person you are concerned about experiencing any of the following?
- Changes in understanding what others are saying
- Having difficulty saying what you want to say
- Finding that you know what you want to say but can’t think of the words
- New spelling or reading difficulties
- Slurred or unclear speech
- Changes in how your voice sounds
- Stammering
Swallowing
Are you or the person you are concerned about experiencing any of the following?
- New coughing or choking when eating or drinking
- Difficulties with chewing
- Finding that it takes a long time to swallow / eat a meal
- Drooling
- A wet or gurgly voice
- Problems with taking medication
- Breathlessness after swallowing
- Storing food in the cheeks
- Chest infections or weight loss
How to refer to our team
If you are a professional and would like to refer someone to our service you can contact us on our duty phone number to discuss this or fill in a referral form and send it to us via email or post. Here is a link to our referral form.
If you would like to refer yourself please call our duty phone number or send us an email. We will discuss with you the problems you are experiencing and will decide whether a referral is indicated. You may be sent a self-referral form to complete. If you are having swallowing difficulties it is likely we would need to request that you speak to your GP, or another appropriate healthcare professional to make the referral to our service. This is so we have all the relevant background medical information to help us manage your case effectively. Please note that we routinely seek and share information with your GP, and other relevant professionals where appropriate, to support the SLT assessment and intervention process.
Duty SLT Advice Line: 01224 558377
Email address: gram.citysltadults@nhs.scot
Postal address: Aberdeen Health Village, 50 Frederick Street, Aberdeen, AB24 5HY