Specialist Stroke Rehabilitation Team
Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership
Who are we?
We are Speech and Language Therapists working as part of small multi-disciplinary teams based within the Stroke Services pathway. The Speech and Language Therapists in the Stroke rehabilitation Unit work as part of a bigger team of medical professionals including Doctors, Nursing staff, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Dietitians, Neuropsychologists and Pharmacists as part of an in-patient service at Woodend Hospital.
Our Speech and Language Therapists are also part of the Supported Discharge Team, a team of allied health professionals who provide intensive rehabilitation post stroke, within your own home for approximately 6 weeks after you have been discharged from hospital. We work together as a team towards the goals that are set with our patients to achieve their best potential and help them become as independent as possible. This will be different from person to person.
Who do we work with?
We work with people who experience a variety of communication and / or swallowing difficulties as a result of a stroke.
Communication difficulties may include:
- word finding difficulties
- difficulty forming sentences
- difficulty understanding spoken or written information
- difficulties with speaking clearly because of weakness of their tongue and lips.
Swallowing Difficulties may include:
- coordinating chewing, biting and swallowing and may choke on food and fluids
- difficulties around memory, awareness and concentration and the different thought processes needed to link information and work out problems.
What do we do?
We will meet you for assessment of your needs to find out how best to help you. Assessment may include reading, writing, having a conversation, checking the safety of your swallow, helping you use other means of communication for instance via written words or picture resources on for example your tablet or iPad. You may decide you do not need speech and language therapy and that is fine too. We may decide together that you will benefit from more therapy and then a referral can be made to the appropriate service.
For more information: www.chss.org.uk www.stroke4carers.org/
