Child speech and language wait lists steady after covid

Monday 17 April 2023

Waiting lists for paediatric speech and language therapy are now "holding steady" after wait times increased due to the department’s closure during the pandemic.

The Government has confirmed that there are currently 59 children waiting for an initial appointment with the Paediatric Speech and Language Therapy team — all of which have been assessed as being "routine" or "low priority" patients.

The average waiting time for an initial assessment is 52 days, or seven-and-a-half weeks, which is well within the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists’ guidelines of 20 weeks for children assessed as non-urgent. 

Pictured: Children's speech and language therapy can take a number of different forms, including group therapy sessions.

Charlie Bowman, Lead Allied Health Professional Paediatric Therapies, said: “In the last 12 months, the Paediatric Speech and Language team has worked hard to tackle the increase in waiting times that resulted from the department’s closure during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Throughout 2022, a number of measures have been implemented to address the waiting times including employing two fixed-term Speech and Language Therapists on nine-month contracts and members of the team working overtime to see the longest waiters on the list. These measures have come to an end now and the wait list is holding steady."

She added that there are currently no children at a high priority rating waiting to be seen, but confirmed that children who are assessed as high priority would be seen within two weeks.

This is a significant improvement compared to February last year, when it was reported that 166 children were on the waiting list for an initial appointment for speech therapy — with Jersey's average waiting times breaching national guidelines.

Then-Health Minister Richard Renouf said high-priority children were waiting more than 34 weeks for an initial assessment, compared to a target of 13 weeks set by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists’ guidance. 

Pictured: Former Health Minister, Richard Renouf.

Medium-priority children faced a wait of more than 36 weeks, against a 17-week target, while low-priority youngsters waited over 40 weeks with guidance recommending a 20-week wait.

Children's speech and language therapy can take a number of different forms, including group or individual therapy, or a six-week training course teaching parents how to promote language learning opportunities for children with communication difficulties or language delay.

Pre-school children with a severe language disorder may be referred by their therapists to the Pre-School Language Group at Rouge Bouillon School which is a joint between the Education Department and Speech and Language Therapy, with a teacher and a speech and language therapist running sessions jointly.

The service to school-age children is delivered in close collaboration with the Education Department in a variety of local schools.