The RCSLT develops guidance to promote good clinical and professional practice in line with HCPC standards. Guidance is developed by a working group of experts, representing a range of skills and experience in the relevant area, usually consisting of speech and language therapists, experts by experience (service users) and/or other relevant professionals.
Guidance is based on clinical and professional expertise, together with expert opinion overview of the evidence-base at the time of development. Where there is a lack of later-stage research, guidance will be based upon the best evidence available. In some cases, this may be the professional consensus of the working group.
It is not mandatory or a legal requirement for practising speech and language therapists to follow RCSLT guidance. However, our guidance aims to support members in their practice by providing information, resources and examples of best practice.
Speech and language therapists should be aware and take into account the guidance and then exercise their own professional judgement and carry out research of the latest evidence-base when making clinical decisions (e.g. providing a diagnosis). Any guidance published by the RCSLT is not intended to be used as evidence of minimum professional standards in a regulatory or legal setting.
