Speech & Language Therapy

What we do

The role of the Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) is to assess and diagnose communication and/or swallowing disorders and to work with patients in the rehabilitation and/or management of presenting disorders as appropriate.

The SLT Department provides a service across a broad range of areas including Medicine for the Elderly, head and neck cancer, general medical and surgical specialities and critical care. A specialist outpatient service is provided for children with cleft lip and/or palate.

We are part of SCOPe Managment Unit.

Contact Details

Reception hours are from 9am – 1pm.  Outside these hours please leave a message on voicemail (which is checked regularly) and we will return your call as soon as possible.

Postal address:
Speech and Language Therapy Department,
St James’s Hospital,
Dublin 8

Clinics

Appointment Instructions

Generally most outpatient appointments are held in the SLT department, unless otherwise notified.

We request that patients give at least 24 hours notice if they need to cancel an appointment. Patients who fail to attend appointments without giving prior notice may not be offered further appointments. If you have missed an appointment, please contact the department as soon as possible.

Referral Procedure

All outpatients referred to the SLT department must be referred by a St James’s Hospital consultant. No referrals are accepted directly from GPs currently. Self referrals are not accepted.

A waiting list applies for outpatients

For children with velopharyngeal dysfunction, there is an open referral service for community Speech and Language Therapists for second opinions. Please contact Louisa Smith, Clinical Specialist Speech and Language Therapist on 01 4162635 for further information as required.

Inpatients presenting with speech, language, voice and/or swallowing difficulties should be referred to the SLT department for assessment via the EPR system.

Referrals for videofluoroscopic examination of swallow / fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallow (FEES) / stroboscopy must be made via the Speech and Language Therapy Department by the patient’s current Speech and Language Therapist.  Only St. James’s Hospital patients are accepted for videofluoroscopy / FEES / stroboscopy.