Personal Profile
She sees adults with communication difficulties where speech and language problems presenting are due to acquired neurological conditions e.g. stroke, brain tumour or progressive neurological conditions e.g. Parkinson’s Disease, Motor Neurone Disease.
Her specialist interest and area of expertise is with neurological swallowing problems in adults. Clare Park works closely with the ENT consultants at the Chiltern Hospital to objectively assess swallowing difficulties presenting using fibreoptic endoscopic examination of swallowing (FEES). FEES is a test which allows swallowing to be assessed using a camera called an endoscope. ENT consultants and Clare Park hold joint appointments to assess, advise and provide ongoing support/therapy for swallowing problems to optimise function referring to gastroenterology and /or dietetics as appropriate.
She also specialises in voice problems working with adults and children (age 5 and over) following an ENT consultation and referral from ENT for voice therapy for a particular diagnosis e.g. vocal cord nodules, muscular tension disorder, globus. A short period of voice therapy with Clare Park can often return a voice to its normal quality.
Finally, Clare Park works in close partnership with our ENT consultants in relation to persistent chronic cough disorders frequently solving issues where there has been no definitive medical diagnosis to explain the cause of a chronic cough. She also works collaboratively with the Respiratory consultants where deemed appropriate in these cases of chronic persistent cough.
Clare Park practises at The Chiltern Hospital offering both face to face and remote consultations. She works with all the private insurers and charges a reasonable initial consultation fee for those preferring to self-fund.
If you would like to know more, please contact Clare Park directly on 0845 3130995 to leave a message, and she will return your call to discuss options/suitability for assessment/ therapy further relating to any of the clinical diagnoses outlined above.
Education:
BSc Clinical Language Sciences (Leeds 1988)
MSc Dysphagia (Manchester 1993)
Clinical posts:
Neurological Rehabilitation Hospital (Hamilton, Canada 1988-89)
Acquired neurology (Leeds General Infirmary 1989-1991)
Research into swallowing disorders (Withington Hospital, Manchester 1991-1993)
Neuro rehabilitation unit (Singapore 1993-1997)
Community Neuro rehabilitation team (Leeds 1997-1999)
Voice and swallowing (Leeds 1999 -2007)
Spinal Injuries Centre and ITU (Stoke Mandeville 2008- 2016)
Setting up a swallowing service (Cambodia 2017- 2018)
Neuro rehabilitation unit (Reading 2018- 2020)
Cromwell Hospital London - Clinical Lead (June 2020 - present)
Teaching:
Undergraduate Training in Swallowing (Leeds 1999-2003)
Teaching swallowing to medics, nurses and physiotherapists (Cambodia 2016-2018)
Courses:
Attendance has been ongoing at relevant courses throughout the period listed above including swallowing, tracheostomy , counselling, voice, speech, language and cognition
