RCSLT Online Outcome Tool

Long COVID Rehabilitation – Draft Adapted TOM Scale

There is increasing recognition of the need for better rehabilitation services for patients who have had COVID-19. This has led to the development of a specific Therapy Outcome Measure (TOM) scale for patients with Long COVID.

This scale is still in development, but has been updated January 2023 in response to feedback, including the addition of ratings for 'vocal tract discomfort'. Relevant services are encouraged to use the scale and send any feedback to p.m.enderby@sheffield.ac.uk

As the scale has not been finalised, it is not yet available on the RCSLT Online Outcome Tool (ROOT). However, we have created a spreadsheet, which will help any service to collect their data using this scale (this version now includes 'vocal tract discomfort'). When the scale is finalised and available on ROOT, it may be possible to upload this data, retrospectively.

For more information on RCSLT work on COVID-19, including our May 2021 report on Long COVID, please visit the COVID-19 hub.

If your service is interested in starting to use ROOT, please register your service or get in touch via root@rcslt.org

About 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.