Speech and Language Therapist takes health fight to Parliament
Manchester Metropolitan University aca d e - mic Dr Janice Murray has told Parliament that support for people with speech difficulties is wholly unacceptable. Dr Murray, a leading expert in speech and lan-
guage therapy, urged the Minister for Children and Families to act now to establish fair and equal funding and assessment arrangements for thou- sands of people who need communication aids and equipment. Speaking on behalf of users of all ages, profes-
sionals, family members, third sector organisa- tions, researchers and suppliers, Janice, who is chair of the charity Communication Matters, said: “In this country, if you can’t walk, you get a wheel- chair provided; but if you can’t talk, you don’t automatically get anything. You have to constant- ly fight for funding.” She cited the case of a 21-year-old Physics under -
graduate who had been supported by a specialist communication centre from the age of four, but whose family now claim: “it is as though she does not exist for adult health services, which seem to be geared to acute phases of acquired disabilities.” Dr Murray was invited by Lord Rennard to
address the House of Lords reception co-hosted by the British Healthcare Trades Association and Communication Matters, and attended by Peers,
the Minister for Children and Families the Rt Hon Sarah Teather MP, and author Martin Pistorius, who communicates via a machine like Professor Stephen Hawking. She spoke of how communication aids make a
huge difference to the lives of any children and adults with little or no speech, and recalled the frustrations of one speech and language therapist with the current arrangements: “There is no indi- cation from the commissioners of our service, regarding how much money is available, and how long our clients are likely to wait. “Sometimes the turnover is quick, for example,
within a month, and at other times it can be up to 18 months. I have to tell families that I have no idea if their funding will be granted or when.” Added Janice: “As a consequence of such differ-
ences in provision across the country, Communi - cation Matters has campaigned for many years, expressing our frustration at the lack of awareness in the wider community and the lack of invest- ment by commissioners and decision makers to support people with AAC (augmentative and alter- native communication) needs. It is not acceptable for anybody’s right to a
voice to become a political football between health and education commissioners. We no longer want to have to listen to stories of families
having to pay the entire cost of communication aids, or speech therapists having to choose which one of three children on their caseload can have a communication aid.” She added that the recent combination of a
review of speech, language and communication needs by John Bercow MP and the appointment of a Communication Champion to develop a propos- al for a service delivery model, made it the perfect time for the Government to act.
Timing “Our ‘ask’ now is that this model is adopted
and implemented at local and national level. Timing is everything and with the changing face of commissioning, now is the time to get this right. We have a duty to ensure that anyone who needs AAC has access to local and specialist services and equipment. They must be enabled to make the val- ued contribution they can.” Professor Vince Ramprogus, Dean of the Faculty
of Health Psychology and Social Care said: “This is excellent profile for healthcare and particularly for speech and language therapy. Janice should be congratulated for her passionate role in this national campaign and for her research and other work with Communication Matters. Her high pro- file nationally and internationally is most welcome.”
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