- All patients should have their swallow screened following an acute stroke. This should be carried out within 4 hours of admission to hospital and before food/ drink/ oral medication, using a standardised assessment method to identify any difficulty in swallowing safely.
- It is important that the result of swallow screening is clearly documented in the patients’ medical records.
- Swallow screening should be carried out in whichever ward/ area the patient is admitted to and should not be delayed until the patient is admitted to the stroke unit.
- The stroke unit team should be contacted to carry out the swallow screen if no appropriately trained person is available on the ward.
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Page last reviewed: 11 Aug 2022
