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Speech pathology services in a small rural town

Posted By School principal

"Speech pathology services in a small rural town"

About: Geraldton Population Health Unit

(as other),

Our school has been supported by speech therapists from WA Country Health Services who visit once per term to assess students, set a program and provide advice to teachers, and a therapy assistant who visits weekly to help students and their families move through the set program.

Sadly due to lack of staff, this program has been paused.

At our tiny school we have a student with ASD, one diagnosed with DLD, and 8 others who have language or articulation difficulties and would benefit from intervention. 

Being 2.5 hours from the nearest city means that it is very difficult for parents to access services, and the waiting lists for public services in the city are over a year long. We will greatly miss the service that has been provided in the past by WACHS, and it will impact the progress of a quarter of our students.

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Responses

Response from Qasim Rehman, Regional Public Health Manager, Midwest, WA Country Health Service 2 months ago
We are preparing to make a change
Qasim Rehman
Regional Public Health Manager, Midwest,
WA Country Health Service

Submitted on 25/07/2024 at 7:21 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 26/07/2024 at 8:50 AM

picture of Qasim Rehman

Dear School principal,

Thank you for making time to voice your concerns about this very important issue. At present, our Population Health team at WACHS Midwest have a significant deficit in speech therapy services. Unfortunately, this problem is not unique to the Midwest; there is a nationwide shortage of allied health professionals, and it is impacting on the services that we can offer to our clients across the Midwest.

Recent attempts to recruit speech therapists have been unsuccessful. We are actively looking at creative methods of employing speech therapists and aim to grow our service once again. We hope to be providing services to your school and many more in the near future. Please do not hesitate to contact Kelly Egerton-Green, Acting Coordinator Allied Health on 9956 8143 or alliedhealthpophcoordinator.wachs-midwest@health.wa.gov.au if you would like to discuss further.

Kind Regards,

Qasim Rehman

Acting Director Population Health

WA Country Health Service – Midwest

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