As National Dysphagia Awareness month comes to an end, it’s important to remember dysphagia hasn’t.

We are all specialists’ dealing with Dysphagia on a daily basis and have to remember for those that don’t, it may not seem important. That’s understandable.

Many will be so focused on treating a primary condition they can miss or dismiss dysphagia, not understanding its consequences on the primary condition.

Those consequences were highlight in the article below written by John Lancaster (Senior Lecturer in Speech Pathology and Therapy, Manchester Metropolitan University).

In summary, we must continue to highlight this condition, with Doctors, Clinicians and Carers who do not deal with it on a daily basis and keep repeating these three key points:

• Dysphagia has a detrimental effect on a person’s physical health. There is a wealth of evidence to suggest it leads to an increased mortality rate.
• It has a worse effect on quality of life, making them feel socially isolated, even amongst family.
• Those are just the human costs. The financial costs are just as big. It can cost an extra $27,633 (approx. £ 18,793) to care for a patient with dypshagia.