Celebrating Outstanding Practice

A number of people across SJOG services have some difficulties with eating, drinking and swallowing. This can cause a number of challenges for people.

Dysphagia, the medical term for swallowing difficulties, can have serious effects on physical health including complications such as malnutrition, pulmonary aspiration (fluid or food going into the lungs) and the emotional and psychological problems associated with it. If not recognised and managed correctly, dysphagia can be fatal.

We work closely with Speech & Language Therapists to develop plans that help people to eat and drink safely, and colleagues are trained in dysphagia and people’s SALT plans.

We recently had a near miss in one of SJOG’s services where food wasn’t prepared according to the person’s SALT plan. This resulted in the person choking. Thankfully the person recovered.

This is a rare event for SJOG however a belts and braces approach was implemented to ensure we understood how this happened, and helped us improve the safe care and practice to people.

This case study is an example of OUTSTANDING RESPONSE and can be used as a training aid for colleagues:

Read the attached for the full case-study