IJLCD - Speech and language therapists and the Ear, Nose and Throat pathway

RCSLT - Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists

Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) services have a two week window in which they must see people presenting with symptoms which might indicate cancer. The pressure on these services has grown hugely since the pandemic and now we need novel approaches to help reduce the backlog and improve the experience for patients.
In this episode of our series on papers from the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders we chat with Louise Occomore-Kent, speech and language therapist (SLT), about ways in which SLTs might support with increased pressure on Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) pathway services.
Louise, and fellow researchers, Ellie Hatch and Madeline Cruice, explored SLTs’ views of extending their role to work with patients referred on the ENT two week wait pathway, to speed up diagnosis for those who are found to have cancer and to provide a pathway for the majority who do not have cancer, but still have issues which need to be addressed.
The paper is:
Scoping opinion: Speech and language therapists’ views on extending their role to the urgent ear, nose and throat pathway.
Louise C. Occomore-Kent,Ellie Hatch,Madeline Cruice
First published: 26 July 2021

Access the paper here:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1460-6984.12650
NOTES:

For RCSLT members, access this paper by navigating to the IJLCD website from our A-Z journals list here. Also, if you would like further information on the research terms used in the podcast, or many other aspects of research design, please navigate to the ‘Sage Research Methods’ collection from the Research Methods page of the RCSLT website’.
The interview is conducted by Jacques Strauss, freelance producer, on behalf of The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.