At a glance

Telea is a software that links speech and language therapists and their patients to enable therapists to provide self directed, structured speech therapy exercises. Our mission is simple: to make speech therapy accessible, effective, and personalised for everyone, everywhere.

‍

‍

Challenge

The challenges that the SALT Team in Derby faced were:

• Significant delays between assessment and intervention.
• Staffing shortages.
• Inability to provide an optimal level of therapy dosage as perbest practices impacting on patient outcomes.

‍

Solution

The Telea team collaborated with the NHS SALT Team to complete a pilot for 6 months to provide evidence and inform a business case. The app was given to all patients who were happy to download it, regardless of their neurological condition.

‍

Results

The Telea team collaborated with the NHS SALT Team to complete a pilot for 6 months to provide evidence and inform a business case. The app was given to all patients who were happy to download it, regardless of their neurological condition.

• Referral to Treatment Time reduced from an average of 24 weeks to 21 weeks. The longest wait reduced by 6 weeks (from 30 weeks to 24 weeks).

• 90% reduction in waiting time for intervention. In June 2023 there was a 6 week wait for therapeutic intervention and with Telea, therapy could be offered immediately.

• Increased capacity to offer face to face therapy to those who need it and can't access an app.

• Online (app based therapy) reduced the need for face to face input, saving 6 therapy slots per week, an average of 14-17.5 hours of clinical time.

• Clients who took part in the trial are now less dependent on SALT, fostering self-management strategies for the longer term.

• Increased therapeutic effectiveness by ensuring consistency of practice with monitoring and feedback.

• Shorter episodes of care and more timely discharge.

‍

‍