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NEWS

March 2026

Over the past few weeks, you may have noticed several updates and new features appearing on the ROOT. Here are some of the key changes:

New features added to the dashboard: You can now download the content from several dashboard widgets by exporting to PDF or copying it to your clipboard at the touch of a button.

Compare outcomes with services in your nation in the reports: In addition to comparing outcomes with services across the UK, you can now choose to compare specifically with services within your own nation.

‘Closed episodes’ widget: A new dashboard widget that gives you an at a glance view of the total number of episodes of care closed by you and your colleagues. You can view this by month or by year.

‘Ratings added’ widget: This new feature shows the total number of TOM ratings added across your service, with a breakdown of start, interim and final ratings. As with the closed episodes widget, you can view this by month or by year.

Please continue to look out for further changes over the coming weeks.

Drop-in session: We hold monthly drop-ins over Teams where anyone currently using or interested in ROOT can come along to meet the team and ask any questions they may have. The next drop-in will be held on Thursday 19 March 1-2pm.

About the RCSLT Online Outcome Tool (ROOT)

The ROOT supports speech and language therapists (SLTs) with collecting and collating Therapy Outcome Measures (TOMs) (Enderby and John, 2015; 2019) and generating reports. The reports generated by the ROOT can be used by SLTs to inform clinical decision-making, drive quality improvement and demonstrate the impact of speech and language therapy. More information is provided below, or you can contact root@rcslt.org.

Therapy Outcome Measures for Rehabilitation Professionals

Pamela Enderby and Alexandra John

The Therapy Outcome Measure (TOM) allows professionals from many disciplines working in health, social care and education to describe the relative abilities and difficulties of a patient/client in the four domains of impairment, activity, participation and wellbeing in order to monitor changes over time. TOM has been rigorously tested for reliability and clinical validity. It is quick and simple to use, taking just a few minutes to complete, and is used for treatment planning, clinical management, audit and research. It allows for the aggregations of data so that comparisons can be made for the purposes of internal and external benchmarking.