The Issa family, founders of the international company EG Group, have donated funds to the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust’s official charity, ELHT&Me, allowing them to purchase Fibreoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) equipment.
Mr Issa, father of the company’s CEOs Zuber and Mohsin Issa, had chosen to donate to the Speech and Language Therapy department. This donation is another example of EG Group’s support towards the hospital’s charity.
Fibreoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) is the use of a Fibreoptic Nasendoscopy, which is a very thin camera, that is inserted through the nose into the throat to look at the voice box from above.
FEES is used to assess a patient’s swallow, the structures of the throat, the voice, secretions and sensations. It is also used to help make decisions on whether or not a patient is safe to eat and drink, to facilitate voice assessment and accurate care planning.
The Trust has three therapists who are fully trained in FEES, and they have been introducing the technique in different areas of the hospital, including patients with neck or head cancer, patients who are on the Acute Stroke and Critical Care Units and recently, it has been introduced to both general inpatients and outpatients.
The new equipment will provide clear, video scope images with added features in order to assess and analyse voice in more detail. The equipment will also help to enable staff to produce reports instantly, which also provides them with increased capacity to see more patients and to develop the FEES service further.
Alison McLaughlin, Clinical Lead for Speech and Language Therapy (SLT), said: “We are delighted to accept this piece of equipment and so grateful to the Issa family for their generous donation.
“This FEES equipment will have a huge impact on the speed and quality of the work we do across multiple departments, and the family have also kindly agreed to fund the maintenance of the machine over the next few years, which is amazing!”
