11 December 2025
The Office of the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer (CAHPO) at NHS England has commissioned NHS Elect to co-produce a Transformation Toolkit for NHS community speech and language therapy services for children and young people.
The aim of the toolkit is to support regions, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and NHS providers to reduce waiting times and address unwarranted variation in access to speech and language therapy. The programme is due to be completed by April 2026.
To support the work, NHS Elect has established an expert advisory group made up of speech and language therapists with a range of clinical expertise, and a programme board which includes representation from RCSLT and AHP leadership.
A key component of the programme is the establishment of seven regional improvement collaboratives to provide peer support, share learning, support implementation and scale best practices. Within each region, one provider will take part in a tailored 6-month quality improvement project, with support from NHS Elect. The seven sites which have been selected are:
- Cambridgeshire Community Services, East of England
- Mid Cheshire Hospitals Foundation Trust, North West
- Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, Midlands
- Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, South West
- Evelina London (Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust), London
- Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Hospitals Trust, North East and Yorkshire
- Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, South East
The programme also includes national improvement forums, aimed at connecting professionals and partners across each region and nationally, which are open to all speech and language therapists who work with children and young people. You can register to attend the events below.
- Thursday 26 February 2026, 09:30–11:30 – focus on evidence-informed practice
- Wednesday 25 March 2026, 10:00–12:00 – focus on implementation and sustainability
For more information and updates as the work progresses, visit the SaLT Transformation Programme Future NHS workspace.
