ABSTRACT
The clinician needs to function as part of many multidisciplinary teams, having a clear understanding of the roles of the other professionals. Registered members of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists publications (RCSLT) who have paid the requisite subscription have professional indemnity insurance that specifically cites dysphagia as an area of work. The nature of dysphagia may mean that the clinician is required to assess or review a client at short notice; therefore clinicians need to be available to discharge their duty of care according to local guidelines. Assistants may undertake elements of swallowing therapy that the clinician feels able to delegate to carers – for example, thermal stimulation. The clinician should be involved in the decision to recommend further investigations of dysphagia, for example videofluoroscopy or fibre-optic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing safety, in order to plan intervention effectively.
