Rose Speech therapy (RST) is a Speech and Language Therapy service based in West Yorkshire. It assesses and treats older children and adults who are living with either communication or swallowing difficulties.
The business is led by Gill Buckingham and Karen Scrivener-Fearn, SLTs who specialise in neuro-rehab. The team is looking forward to celebrating its 10-year anniversary early next year.
How did RST begin?
We began working together many years ago when we were both Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapists at the same NHS trust.
Karen was working at the acute end of the rehab pathway, treating people in hospital and supporting them through the sudden life changing impact of having a stroke. Gill was leading the community SLT service, helping her patients to rebuild and adjust to their new reality.
It quickly became clear that we shared many key values. We are both driven by the need to ‘get it right’ for our clients and their families.
Our ethos is all about listening and trying to understand our client’s goals, then working together to achieve them.
What began as a partnership and has now grown into a dedicated and supportive team of highly skilled clinicians.
How has the business evolved?
We both believe in the power of collaboration. Our service has grown very organically as we have built professional connections with other therapists who share our values.
Our associates have all brought their own knowledge, expertise and passions with them. Our culture is based around sharing knowledge and ideas so that the newest evidence can be put into practice for the benefit of all.
Achieving the best outcomes for our clients is our core aim. It is important to us that we recognise the skills of others and link in with them. We continue to build close working relationships with skilled clinicians from multiple professions and backgrounds.
What are you most proud of?
Hearing positive feedback from clients and their families is the most rewarding part of our work.
We are particularly proud of our dysphagia (swallowing impairment) clinics. Our team uses the most up to date research and technology to help people get back to enjoying the food and drink they love.
We recognise the importance of quality diagnostic tools and believe that you have to truly understand the nature of a problem to find the right solution. With this in mind you must choose the right ‘tool’ for the job.
At Rose Speech Therapy, we can provide detailed instrumental assessments at our videofluoroscopy (modified barium swallow study) clinic – using moving x-ray images to assesses the swallow physiology.
We also use manometry to assess tongue strength and endurance, tech that provides biofeedback through sEMG (sensory electromyography), NMES (neuromuscular electrical stimulation) and the list goes on. We would happily call ourselves dysphagia nerds.
What’s next for Rose Speech Therapy?
There always seems to be some new development in the world of speech and language therapy. It’s probably what makes us so passionate about this field of work.
Our treatments in the areas of cognitive and social communication skills after brain injury, is continuing to grow. It’s such enjoyable work and a real privilege, helping people develop the skills they need to communicate effectively with others.
It’s all about the skills we use to make friends and stay connected to the people around us. It is professionally satisfying to see how this way of working achieves great outcomes for clients and their families.
