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I am running the London Marathon this year!

I am a Paediatric Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, and I am running to raise awareness of the Children's Hospital Trust Fund the charity dedicated to our paediatric service. We are raising money under the GULP appeal for our Digital Swallowing Work Station! 

The Digital Swallowing Workstataion will enable the SLT to assess and diagnose dysphagia at an earlier stage, and by having a clear understanding of the child's eating and drinking difficulties this will support clinical care and management. 

This wil be the first swallowing station available in the children's hospital in the UK so it's really exciting!

How is the Digital Swallowing Workstation going to help?

This technology is at the forefront of pharyngo-oesophageal physiology, highly appropriate to our hospital which provides a strong Multi-Disciplinary Paediatric Feeding Service. 

The Digital Swallowing Work Station allows an objective swallow assessment without exposing the child to anaesthetic, sedation or radiation.  The workstation can be directly connected to X-Ray equipment for high resolution recording of videofluoroscopy swallow study.  In addition, the fibre-optic endoscopic evaluation of swallow (FEES) can provide us with further information.

It delivers high quality, clinically useful information including swallow transit time, aspiration risk, handling of different consistencies and vocal cord function.   It allows assessment of the child in a non-threatening environment, with the parent present, which is more conducive to eating and drinking.  Also the child avoids invasive procedures and the need for multiple consultations across different specialties.

This technology will also complement current clinical and research activity within the hospital, spanning Paediatric Gastroenterology, Speech Therapy, ENT and Neonatology.

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