Hello and welcome to Speech Matters Speech Therapy! You might be wondering, what is the difference between private speech therapy and NHS speech therapy?
The biggest difference and often the deciding factor when people are considering which route to take is cost. The NHS is free at the point of use and private speech therapy is not. But, what else is different?
First of all, I would just like to say we deeply love and appreciate the NHS here. It’s a truly amazing thing and we must fight to protect it. We both have or continue to work in the NHS when we’re not working at Speech Matters, but there are some important differences between private speech therapy and NHS speech therapy.
You might have heard that if you seek out private healthcare you will likely be seeing NHS staff, but in a different location, which is often very true! As we’ve said, we both have or continue to work for the NHS. You might approach us for help due to concerns around lack of access to the NHS, eligibility for certain services, long wait times (sometimes years), limited number of therapy sessions (often limited to 6 week blocks) or sporadic support (they only contact you every now and then).
At Speech Matters Speech Therapy we always provide:
- Quick access to a Speech and Language Therapist in a time and place to suit you and your needs (usually from the comfort of your own home)
- We work around your schedule and not ours – we can see you at a time that suits you and even outside of the usual 9am-5pm working pattern, which is beneficial to our busy working clients
- Access to Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapists who know and understand about your condition and treatment
- High quality therapy that targets your on-going difficulties for as long as you need us with no limit on the number of sessions provided
If you are concerned about costs, then please do contact us to discuss this. If you have private health insurance, then do check if speech and language therapy is covered. There might also be grants available in your area, so check https://www.disability-grants.org/ to see if you are eligible for one. If you need help with your communication or swallowing difficulties, then please do get in touch here.
