LPCF Consultations

Speech and Language Therapy Survey

Following last year’s public engagement on temporary changes to Speech and Language Therapy (SLT), Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust is launching a Lincolnshire county-wide pilot to improve access to speech and language therapy for pre-school children (aged 0-4 years old), who are assessed as having a mild to moderate need for intervention.

The pilot will run from Monday 1st September 2025 to Monday 31st August 2026.

Under this pilot, all pre-school children with speech, language and communication needs will be able to access support from the service.

Pre-school children will not need to be referred or added to waiting lists but instead, professionals will sign-post families to timetabled drop-in sessions at one of ten family hubs across Lincolnshire.

Virtual drop-ins will also be available for nurseries, pre-school settings and families who can’t attend in person.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey and share your thoughts on the pilot changes.
This engagement survey is open to all the public, service users, and professional stakeholders.

The pilot aims to:

Reduce waiting times and provide earlier opportunities for SLT support for pre-school children.
Improve parent/carer and settings experience of the service.
Improve collaborative working with early years professionals.
Provide local accessible services for families.
Current service:

At the moment, only children with high level SLCN (speech, language and communication needs) can access the SLT service for assessment and can wait up to 50 weeks for an assessment, and another 52 weeks for therapy. Families often say these delays are frustrating and make the service feel out of reach. Children with low to moderate level of SCLN are currently not accepted by the service and are offered advice and signposting to universal services.

Proposed future pilot:

To improve this, a new pilot will run from 1st September 2025 to 31st August 2026. Under this pilot, all pre-school children with SLCN will be able to access support from the service. Pre-school children will not need to be referred or added to waiting lists but instead, professionals will sign-post families to timetabled drop-in sessions at one of ten family hubs across Lincolnshire. Virtual drop-ins will also be available for nurseries, pre-school settings and families who can’t attend in person.

When a child attends, a care log will be created in their medical record allowing for same-day assessment and support. Parents, professionals and carers will receive tailored advice and activities to help their child’s speech and communication at home. Children with high level SLCN will be invited to group sessions as appropriate for further support. This builds on the current SLT Family Hub model, which has already shown good results.

Ends 30th November 2025