Responding to calls for cuts in your service and team

It is important to bear in mind those financial difficulties and budget cuts are being felt system-wide in the NHS.

It is not just SLT services that are under pressure though few speech and language services have suffered redundancies during this period. Nonetheless, many SLT services have been asked to freeze posts for the time being and cut some services.

You should focus on helping your PCT achieve financial balance.

Through assessing your service objectively you may be able to find economies without seriously affecting the scope and quality of service you offer.

If funding has to be cut then you should use the options appraisal and risk assessment to identify which parts of your service you should stop providing.

Risk assessments will draw attention to and illustrate the impact that cutting staff and/or budgets will have on your clients and patients; what will happen if your service is cut back. It may also help you to draw on independent evidence of the risks of not providing SLT. We have provided here some references and information here that you may find useful.

The risks of not providing speech and language therapy (56kb .pdf)

This can be a very persuasive and informative tool that can help you communicate the value of SLT services to commissioners and others.

Cuts to your team may not necessitate cuts to your services. You may be able to use your human resources differently to achieve similar results.

One way of doing this is to look at the mix of skills and experience in your team and, for example, use support workers. You might also look at the input - or the potential for input - from NHS staff from outside your team.

Skills mix

Another idea is to train people who work with your client group but are not employed in the NHS. This means that an organisation other than the NHS is supporting treatment and carrying much of the cost of providing care.