"adult brain surgery patient"

Our son had brain surgery in the RVH in July. He was transferred to the Ulster hospital in August and as of today, in October, is still an in-patient in the Ulster hospital.

His surgery left him unable to speak and with no movement on the RHS of his body. An added complication was that he developed hospital acquired pneumonia one week after surgery. For the next several weeks he was fed through a NG tube as he had lost his swallow.

From the very outset our son's care by the SLT team in the Ulster hospital has been of the highest standard. On the very first day we received a phone call by the team lead who introduced herself and outlined the teams plans for our son's treatment. That early communication has continued to be exemplary throughout the process.

Our son has received SLT five days a week - the only exception being when he is too fatigued. The team led by Alex has involved us in all the different stages of development as our son progressed from being unable to speak and swallow to now being able to form sentences and eat normal food. At all times Alex made herself available to discuss our son's progress and to aid us in assisting and consolidating her work.

As parents the big issues for us were communication with the therapists and gaining an insight into the SLT role and how we could get involved. We cannot speak highly enough of the SLT team as communicators and practitioners.

We anticipate our son will be discharged within the next week and hope that the SLT care he receives at home will be of the same high standards as has been delivered in the Ulster hospital.

Finally, we would like to thank Alex and the SLT team for all they have done for our son.