OET Listening Parte C: Speech and Language Therapy Career

My guest today is Gary Prinslet, who's a speech and language therapist.

First of all, Gary, I think there's a bit of uncertainty out there about what the work of an SLT actually involves, and it can vary.

So tell us exactly what you do.

I'm a speech and language therapist working with adults in an acute hospital.

I carry out communication and swallowing assessments,

recommend safe consistencies for people with conditions like dysphagia,

and I make referrals on for people who need ongoing help once they're discharged.

A lot of people don't realise that we assess a range of things as well as language.

But esophageal assessments actually account for the vast majority of patients on an acute caseload.

How did you get into this type of work?

My mum had a stroke when she was in her 20s,

so I grew up with someone who had a communication disorder.

She was really inspirational because she was working as a dentist before the stroke.

But had to retrain to use her left hand when she was left with right-sided weakness.

My son's learning disabled too

and our struggle to get a speech therapist was the final push I needed to look into training as one myself.

It wasn't the career path I'd originally planned for myself.

So what type of training did you have?

It's a degree level job, so I went back to university as a mature student.

I could have done a two-year MSc because I'd already got a degree,

but I chose the three-year BSc so that I could still have a life.

The two-year Masters is very full on.

In the UK, the best way to get a job afterwards is to sign up to NHS jobs

and apply for everything.

It's been a lean few years for SLT jobs in the UK, but it's quite cyclical, so...

I expect the situation to improve.

There are some private jobs going too, which can be good as long as there's mentoring in place.

Describe a typical day in your job.

I get in at 8:30 and we go through what we call the list,

which is our daily caseload and when they need to be seen.

As well as current patients, there are new referrals every day, so they get divvied up.

Then I spend a few minutes plotting my route through the day,

prioritising who I need to see and when they're going to be free to see me.

Then I go on to the wards and do my assessments and reviews.

I stop for the ward's protected lunchtime between 11:30 and 1:00,

catch up with my admin, then see more patients in the afternoon.

I'm still doing my dysphagia training, so I have to report back to my supervisor quite regularly.

And what skills do you need for this type of work?

I think you need to be a good communicator and listener

and being observant helps.

But above all, in a hospital setting, there's no room for lone wolves.

We work with other therapists like physios and occupational therapists, for example,

as well as nurses and doctors.

And we have to work together to find ways to fit all the pieces together.

So that the outcome for the patient and their family is the best possible.

But you do get bad outcomes in an acute hospital because your patients are sick

and sometimes they don't make it despite the best efforts of everyone involved in their care.

So you've got to be prepared to take that too.

What advice would you give someone wanting to break into this career?

If you want to pursue a career as a speech therapist, you need to get some experience under your belt.

Some therapists will let prospective students shadow them for a day or two,

though hospital departments generally won't allow that unless you have a firm offer of a place at university.

But there are opportunities to volunteer with support groups and charities,

so that's probably your best route.

The local stroke support group took me in and were really welcoming.

It's also a useful way to see if it's the right fit for you before you invest too much time in it.