Cancellation Policy

Discharge of clients from the care of Sophie Bourne follows the guidelines set by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy.  Further information can be found at:
https://www.rcslt.org/members/delivering-quality-services/care-pathways/discharge/

 

Discharge will be at the discretion of the designated Speech and Language Therapist (SALT) after full consultation and agreement with the client/carer and/or where appropriate, consultation with other professionals involved.

 

Discharge may be initiated by the:

1. SALT

2. Client

3. Carer (if applicable)

 

SALT-initiated discharge may be for a number of reasons including:

• Aims of intervention have been achieved

• The client has reached a point where they are able to self manage their condition

• The individual will be transferring to specialist care or moving to a geographical location not covered by the therapist

• Individual non-compliance

• Intervention is not indicated at the present time

• The client has failed to attend appointments (see below)

• An agreed piece of work (e.g. assessment) has been completed

• Did not attend (DNA) will be appropriately investigated, with due consideration of risk factors (and, in the case of children, with due respect to safeguarding implications) prior to a decision to discharge.

Therapy may cease in the case of non-payment of fees at the discretion of the therapist.  In this case the client will be discharged and a standard discharge report produced (see discharge report section).

 

Preparation for discharge 

This will include:

• Agreeing a point of closure with the client/carer/school etc and supporting them through the process of ending therapy or through their transition to other services.

• Ensuring that the individual/carers feel confident that they have received all relevant care they require from the service and empowering them to manage any needs that no longer require ongoing intervention.

• Evaluating the degree to which the aims and goals have been met.

 

Suspension of Therapy Prior to Discharge

Where applicable, a temporary suspension of therapy may be agreed to allow the client/carer to consolidate skills, investigate alternative sources of support or simply consider whether they wish to continue with therapy.  The therapist will contact the client/carer by email after a specified period of time to check on progress.   If the client/carer does not respond to this email within 6 weeks then it will be assumed that no further input is required and the client will be discharged.

 

Discharge report

Discharge will always be documented, but the manner of this will be at the discretion of the therapist.  Discharge may be recorded in the clinical notes for clients on school caseloads.  Alternatively a discharge report may be issued and copied to relevant others.  Unless otherwise agreed, a report will be issued within 3 weeks of the point of discharge/transition.
No extra charge is made for a standard discharge report, which will be a brief (1 page) document containing the following information:

• Summary of intervention (including reference to reports produced during the episode of care)

• Reason(s) for discharge

• Guidance on re-referral

• Recommendations for other services taking over intervention/ providing support (if applicable)

• Information on further support agencies and services (if applicable)

 

Where a more detailed report is requested by the client/carer/commissioning body, the reasons for this will be discussed and a fee agreed before the report is produced.
Following discharge, client records will be managed in accordance with Bright Stars Speech and Language Therapy’s data security policy.

We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually. 

This policy was created on 30/10/2025

Signed: 

Sophie Bourne
Speech and Language Therapist