Whether you're seeking support with articulation, swallowing therapy, voice rehabilitation, or care following throat cancer, this section answers the most commonly asked questions about therapeutic approaches, session structure, self-referral options, and expected outcomes. Each answer draws on our years of specialist experience, providing clear guidance and reassurance at every stage of your speech and language journey.
Frequently Asked Questions
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We offer a home visiting service and see most of our patients in the comfort of their own home. This helps you to relax in order to get the most from your therapy. We can also see people in care homes, on hospital wards, in hospices or in day centres.
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I treat people with a wide range of conditions, including Traumatic Brain Injury, Motor Neurone Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Parkinson’s Plus conditions, Dementia, Primary Progressive Aphasia, Multiple Sclerosis, Stroke, Brain tumour, Myasthenia Gravis and many more.
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This varies from person to person depending on your medical diagnosis and your Speech and Language diagnosis. I will always talk to you about my recommendations for therapy and it will be your choice whether or not to go ahead. We will have ongoing discussions about your progress throughout treatment.
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This depends on whether the session is for assessment or therapy, whether a written report is needed, and the travelling time and distance. I will always inform you of the initial session cost prior to visiting you, and ensure you are aware of ongoing fees.
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I am a registered provider for AXA, Bupa, Aviva and WPA. It may be possible for a different insurer to be used with their prior permission. Please ensure you have obtained an authorisation code in advance for your sessions. Any unauthorised sessions will be billed to you directly.
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I work with a number of Brain Injury Case Managers in the region. Your Case Manager is welcome to contact me for further information and costs.
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I follow NHS and government guidelines around Covid 19 to ensure your safety at all times. I am fully vaccinated and will wear appropriate PPE to visit you. I also complete Lateral Flow Testing at least twice weekly. It may be possible to complete visits outside or with windows open when the weather permits. I can also offer a remote assessment via your chosen video platform, or my own secure one if preferred.
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Whilst face to face sessions are often preferable and at times necessary, I can also offer sessions remotely using Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp, Skype or Google Meet. I also have access to a secure video platform via my Practice Management package if preferred. This may also be a good option if you are not within my area of travel but would still like an appointment.
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We are based in Barton-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire, and most of my clients are within an hour’s drive in all directions.
Travel costs are built into your appointment cost, so if you are further away from me the cost will of course be higher.
We are always willing to consider an appointment further away and appropriate costs will be added for travel.
Appointments are also available via a number of video platforms, and it may be possible to mix face to face and online appointments to keep costs down.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss this further.
What is Speech Therapy?
Speech and Language Therapists are experts in the treatment of people who have speech, language and communication difficulties, and feeding and swallowing difficulties (dysphagia). They are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) following training via a degree or Masters degree programme.
Speech and Language Therapists often work in the NHS, but there are increasing numbers of private, or independent Speech and Language Therapists. Private Speech and Language Therapy can be a good option to consider if you want to be seen quickly and avoid a long waiting list.
As many as 1 in 5 people will experience a communication difficulty during their lives, requiring specialist help from a speech and language therapist. This may be the result of a sudden event such as a stroke or a brain injury. It could also be from another neurological condition, such as Motor Neurone Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis or Huntington’s Disease. Children and adults with Cerebral Palsy also very often have problems with their communication and swallowing, at different times of their lives.
Being able to communicate successfully is a fundamental part of life, impacting on everything that we do – our mental health and wellbeing, our relationships, our work and our play. Speech, language and communication difficulties can have huge impacts on all of these areas.
Speech and Language Therapy will help to assess these difficulties, to work out what is going wrong and find a plan to help to improve it. This may involve direct work on speech (how you physically move your mouth) or language (how you understand what’s being said, or how you find words to express yourself) or it may be through finding alternative ways to communicate via a communication aid.
With some neurological conditions such as Motor Neurone Disease, we can expect that speech and voice will disappear altogether.
Voice and message banking are invaluable in these situations, with recordings of voices being used to make ‘synthetic’ or computerised versions of a voice to be used later in a communication aid.
Our voices are key to our identities, and who we are, and preserving voices in this way can act as a type of insurance policy for later in life. Speech and language therapists can support with all aspects of voice banking and communicative identity.
The ability to swallow is something that we all take for granted and do many times a day without thinking about it – until it goes wrong.
More than 50% of people who have a stroke will have difficulty swallowing – known as dysphagia. Sometimes this can be a long-lasting consequence.
Speech and Language Therapists can provide assessment of swallowing and therapy programmes to improve it. With some neurological conditions, such as Motor Neurone Disease, swallowing will worsen over time.
A Speech and Language Therapist will provide ongoing assessment and review of swallowing and will support people to make difficult decisions about altering their feeding.