Dysphagia, which is difficulty chewing and/or swallowing food and drinks, has serious implications for a person’s health and wellbeing. Having dysphagia increases the likelihood of chest infections, malnutrition, dehydration, choking incidents and hospitalisations. Patients with dysphagia may be unable to swallow their medicines safely.
The programme has been updated to align with Level 2 of the Eating, Drinking and Swallowing Competency Framework. It is now easy for learners to compete the Essentials sessions as a specific training course with an assessment and certificate to evidence their learning.
The updated sessions are now called:
- Essentials - Health and Care Staff
- Essentials – Cooks
- Managers
- Balancing Risk and End of Life Care
- Training Resources and Recipes
- Dysphagia and Medicines
Care home staff, including managers, nurses, care workers, catering staff and the wider NHS team, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, speech and language therapists, dietitians, and others working with patients with dysphagia will find this resource helpful.