KH Fibre-Optic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES)
Supporting our Speech and Language Therapy Team
The Speech and Language Therapy team is very excited to have been able to acquire a Fibre-Optic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) with charitable funds. FEES is an instrumental assessment that provides an accurate and in-depth assessment for patients with swallowing difficulties. It also helps therapists to detect whether food and/ or drink is going down the wrong way.
A flexible scope with a tiny camera is inserted through one nostril to visualise structures in the throat. It also looks at how patients are managing to swallow their own saliva. Unlike video fluoroscopy (a moving x-ray of swallowing), it is portable and does not involve radiation, so has the advantage that it can be repeated frequently. It is quick and cost effective and can be used on patients who are bedbound or too unwell to attend radiology, making it particularly useful for stroke patients or those in intensive care.
The use of FEES in the acute setting has been shown to improve patient outcomes, with a reduction in chest infections. It also reduces dependence on alternative feeding, mortality and length of stay, while improving quality of life.
As FEES is a new service being introduced at the hospital, the therapists are undergoing training and they hope to able to begin to introduce a FEES service to patients during the summer.
