Bulletin magazine: health inequalities and speech and language therapy

We understand the vital role communication plays in people’s lives, but factors such as gender, class, housing, and ethnicity can hinder access to this basic right. SLTs might notice that their caseloads don’t fully represent the local population’s needs. This can be a cue to think about health inequalities. The Bulletin Summer issue reflects on the challenges people face when accessing our services and how SLTs can help achieve fairer health outcomes for all.

Our cover feature provides an insight into working with people experiencing homelessness and addressing the health inequalities contributing to homelessness. When working with vulnerable people, the main priority is building connections and gaining trust. Only then can we address their communication and swallowing needs. Speech and language therapy isn’t just about clinical assessment and diagnosis. It’s about showing care. How do we show this person we care? How can we offer the right help?

Other articles feature practical tips and valuable resources to help address disparities in healthcare. This includes our health inequalities self-audit tool and our new downloadable infographics based on NHS England’s ‘Core20PLUS5’ initiative. You can also read about one SLT team’s success in enhancing their services to reduce health inequalities.

Explore our other features including improving powered AAC provision, assessing multilingual children for DLD, tips for keeping up with clinical guidance, and much more.

Members can read more in your copy of Bulletin or access it via the digital version on our website.