Analysis of new NHS waiting list data reveal inequalities in waiting times for people of different ethnicities, deprivation levels and parts of the country. From @news.sky.com news.sky.com/story/patien...

Patients in deprived areas wait longer for NHS treatment, new figures reveal

Analysis of new NHS waiting list data reveal inequalities in waiting times for people of different ethnicities, deprivation levels and parts of the country.

news.sky.com

The government doesn’t know how many speech and language therapists are working in council services ahead of the rollout of its new experts at hand service, a minister has admitted schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-in-the-d...

DfE in the dark over speech and language therapist supply

Schools minister admits they don't have data on how many of the critical workers are on hand

schoolsweek.co.uk

The latest data from NHS England shows that 66,303 children and young people were waiting for a first Speech and Language Therapy appointment in England in May 2026. Children and families deserve timely access to the Speech and Language Therapy services they need.

Delighted to be at the beautiful Birmingham Botanical Gardens this morning to spread the word about WAIT-UP SLT, as well as learn about the range of projects being carried out by Nursing and Midwifery colleagues at @mybcu.bsky.social (including my brilliant supervisor Kerry Gaskin)

NEW POST: SEND reforms and the forgotten children at risk of exclusion. Justina Asafu-Adjaye, says any honest assessment of SEND reform must begin with the system as it exists now, not the one being imagined in policy language. www.specialneedsjungle.com/send-reforms...

😊 Also fantastic to see two speech and language therapists who have supported the RCSLT's policy and influencing work over many years receiving honours in The King's Birthday Honours. 🏅 Elaine Kelman MBE 🏅 Janet Cooper BEM 🎉 Congrats to them! 🧵 2/ www.gov.uk/government/p...

The King's Birthday Honours List 2026

The King's Birthday Honours mark the extraordinary contributions and service of people across the UK.

gov.uk

😊 Fantastic to see that Mikey was awarded an MBE in The King's Birthday Honours. 🎉Huge congratulations from all of us at the RCSLT, Mikey. 🙏🏻🙏🏾🙏🏿 Thanks for all you do, including in support of our policy and influencing work. 🧵 1/

Mikey’s Wish Foundation@mikeys-wish.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We are incredibly proud to announce that our founder, Mikey Akers, has been awarded an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to Special Educational Needs.

Have you experienced waiting for children's speech and language therapy services in England in the last 4 years? Parents and caregivers are invited to complete a short anonymous survey: app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/bcu/waitup...

Great new blog from @thekingsfund.bsky.social highlighting the importance of attending to the experience of waiting, alongside the length of the wait.

The King's Fund@thekingsfund.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Bringing down waiting lists is important – but how people experience the wait matters too. New findings suggest that uncertainty and poor communication remain a reality for many patients waiting for NHS care. Our new blog explores what needs to change. 👉 https://bit.ly/3QaSYLS

Despite national efforts to reduce waiting times, many children and families continue to wait for speech and language therapy support. This latest infographic explores the scale of waiting for children's speech and language therapy in England.

Change is coming for NHS community health services in England. The Medium Term Planning framework and associated guidance sets the following targets for the end of 2028-29: - 80% of community health service waits to be less than 18 weeks - Waits over 1 year to have been eliminated

📢 New #WaitUpSLT blog post: What does the NHS Medium Term Planning Framework mean for SLT? In this post, I look at: ✓ What the framework is ✓ What it says about community services ✓ What it might mean for children and families / SLT services 🔗 waitupslt.blogspot.com/2026/05/what...

What does the NHS Medium Term planning framework mean for community services - and for SLT?

Introduction In March 2026, NHS England published new guidance on waiting times for community health services ( https://www.england.nhs.uk/p...

waitupslt.blogspot.com

Children's speech and language therapy waiting lists in England continue to grow. In March 2026: • 67,337 children and young people were waiting for speech and language therapy • 17,345 had been waiting between 18 and 52 weeks • 1,196 had been waiting over two years

Children's speech and language therapy waiting lists in England continue to grow. In March 2026: • 67,337 children and young people were waiting for speech and language therapy • 17,345 had been waiting between 18 and 52 weeks • 1,196 had been waiting over two years

Time is running out. The #SEND consultation closes at 11.59pm tomorrow (Monday 18th). Please take the time to respond if you can. The more of us who respond, the harder we are to ignore. #SaveSENDLegalRights #NotInOurName #StrongerTogether www.facebook.com/share/v/1CxC...

📰 RCSLT responds to the UK Govt's plan to make schools more inclusive by design. ✅ We welcome the ambition. ❌ Physical spaces alone are not enough. 🚨 Schools need access to more speech and language therapists, working across the whole school. 🔽 See our full response below.

"Children across the country are waiting far too long for the community care they desperately need. For the families affected, it can feel like life is on hold while they're stuck waiting for support." Read the article: mag.nationalhealthexecutive.com/issue-106-q4/p…

National Health Executive • Issue 106 Q4

mag.nationalhealthexecutive.com

New blog post: Meet the WAIT-UP SLT team: Doctoral Supervisors waitupslt.blogspot.com/2026/01/meet...

Meet the WAIT-UP SLT team: Doctoral Supervisors

An essential dimension of doctoral study is the involvement and input of supervisors. This blog post discusses the nature and purpose of doc...

waitupslt.blogspot.com

Thousands of children facing 'catastrophic' waits for NHS community care: "Tiya Currie's six-year-old son, Arun...had difficulties with his speech since he was just a toddler. But when Tiya...tried to get help she faced "waiting list after waiting list", she said." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Children's early development at risk with year-long NHS waits

A quarter of the 300,000 children waiting for community NHS care have spent more than a year waiting.

bbc.co.uk

New #WaitUpSLT blog post: Waiting Lists Are Falling - But Not for Children Who Need Speech and Language Therapy waitupslt.blogspot.com/2026/01/wait...

Waiting Lists Are Falling - But Not for Children Who Need Speech and Language Therapy

Today the Government has been celebrating significant reduction in waiting lists, with ' waiting lists in 20 areas falling three times faste...

waitupslt.blogspot.com

On 7 Jan 2026 @andrewlewinmp.bsky.social tabled a written Q asking DHSC what steps are being taken to reduce waiting. @karinsmythmp.bsky.social acknowleged "how important it is to patients and clinicians that they receive and deliver treatment faster" but no mention of svs beyond elective care.

"If we want to fix admin, we need to ask admin staff as well as patients what the solutions might be." From Julia Cream at The Kings Fund www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-...

Who Picks Up The Phone? Different Approaches To NHS Admin | The King's Fund

Improving NHS admin isn’t easy – but some solutions are surprisingly simple. Julia Cream looks at two real life examples of admin done differently.

kingsfund.org.uk

As I close down for the holiday period, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has engaged with #WaitUpSLT since we launched in the Summer. I'm really grateful to everyone who has supported the project so far and look forward to seeing how it develops in 2026!

Will you help shape the future of the SEND system? The Government wants to hear from parents, specialists and educators like you to help fix the SEND crisis. Together, we can press SEND on a future where every voice is heard. Fill out the survey today: https://bit.ly/4plnZt7

💥 BREAKING NEWS: RCSLT responds to 'Our Children, Our Future: Tackling Child Poverty'. ✅ We welcome the Child Poverty Strategy. 🚨 As the Govt implements it, it is essential that services and support are accessible. ➡️ See our response in full: www.rcslt.org/wp-content/u...

Peter Just@peterdjust.bsky.social · 8mo ago

🚨 With the #ChildPovertyStrategy due today, a reminder of the coalition of 40+ organisations that the RCSLT brought together last year to highlight how speech, language, and communication skills can help to tackle child poverty: www.rcslt.org/news/new-sta...

If you are considering signing up for a research project to share your lived experience, go for it! I joined several & they have given me amazing experiences including speaking at the RCSLT conference & NAPLIC + meeting incredible people raising awareness & improving the lives of people with #DLD.

This morning we hit 2,000 views on the #WaitUpSLT blog! Many thanks as always for the interest and engagement and if you haven't already seen it, you can find it here: waitupslt.blogspot.com?m=1

Tomorrow we'll be hosting the first meeting of our parent and caregivers' advisory group. Here's a reminder of how expert voices will shape #WaitUpSLT #research ⤵️ waitupslt.blogspot.com/2025/07/phas...

How expert voices will shape WAIT-UP SLT: A look at our advisory groups

Research should be designed and carried out in partnership with the communities that it seeks to represent.  WAIT-UP SLT therefore adopts a ...

waitupslt.blogspot.com

Thank you @stamma.bsky.social for the opportunity to present about #WaitUpSLT at the Research Arena this morning. Huge thanks to Kirsten Howells for being a superb facilitator and to all the attendees for their thoughtful feedback and questions ⭐

ICYMI: Introducing Waiting and Access in Therapy - Understanding Perspectives in Speech and Language Therapy (WAIT-UP SLT) - Blog post #WaitUpSLT #Research waitupslt.blogspot.com/2025/07/intr...

Introducing WAIT-UP SLT

Waiting and Access In Therapy - Understanding Perspectives in Speech and Language Therapy (WAIT-UP SLT) is a multi-stage research project th...

waitupslt.blogspot.com