Published on 23 August 2023
A pioneering specialist speech and language therapy service funded by Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance for has been shortlisted for a prestigious award.
The Liverpool Head and Neck Centre Speech and Language Therapy Cancer Team are finalists in the NHS England Chief Allied Health Professions Officer Awards 2023, for its innovative care for people whose speech or swallowing has been affected by cancer.
The team developed a unique service with input from The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust and Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with patients involved in designing how it is run and how care is provided.
Head and neck cancer –including cancer affecting the mouth, throat and tongue – is three times more common in parts of Cheshire and Merseyside than elsewhere in England.
Surgery, radiotherapy and other head and neck cancer treatments can affect people’s ability to speak or swallow – for example, patients may need to have a feeding tube inserted if they have difficulty eating. Specialist speech and language therapy plays an important role in helping them manage the effects and improve their ability to speak or swallow.
The Liverpool service – which has received funding from the Cancer Alliance, Macmillan Cancer Support and Health Education England – has now been shortlisted for the AHP Innovation and Improvement in Integrated Care Systems category of the NHS England Chief Allied Health Professions Officer Awards 2023 because of the benefits that have resulted from delivering a joined-up service across different hospitals.
By creating a single specialist cancer speech and language therapy team with staff from The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust and Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, they have been able to make sure that patients are cared for by the right experts at the right time wherever they are being treated.
Important decisions such as whether someone is well enough for their feeding tube to be removed can now be made more quickly because the teams work as one. This joined-up working also means that patients can be fast-tracked to the right clinical team in either hospital without needing to be referred by their GP. Another benefit is that patients do not have to keep repeating their symptoms to staff at different hospitals because team members now have all the same information wherever they are.
Professor Terry Jones, Director of Liverpool Head and Neck Centre, said: “Gold standard, innovative speech and language therapy can make a huge difference to people recovering from treatment for head and neck cancer and the Liverpool team are experts in their field. They have worked incredibly hard to design a service that delivers the best for their patients and I am thrilled that they have been shortlisted for this award.”