06/10/2026
Sometimes, the environment is part of the assessment.
For one person, being assessed at his care home meant we could use culturally specific foods that were familiar and meaningful to him, in the environment where he actually ate them. There was no need for him to travel to a hospital or clinic, and FEES gave us information that complemented what we had already learned from VFSS.
Sometimes, the most useful outcome is reassurance.
For another person experiencing swallowing difficulties in the context of Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), FEES allowed us to demonstrate reassuring swallowing function, provide practical strategies to help manage his symptoms and, importantly, give him greater confidence around eating.
Hearing afterwards that he was “eating lots” — just in time for Christmas — felt like a pretty meaningful outcome.
And sometimes, FEES becomes part of the rehabilitation journey.
We have also used repeat FEES as an outcome measure following dysphagia rehabilitation.
In one case, reassessment helped us demonstrate that the physiological impairment we had targeted had responded successfully to treatment.
These experiences have reinforced something important for us:
FEES isn’t the intervention and it isn’t the outcome. It is a tool that can help us answer a clinical question.
Sometimes that question is: What is happening?
Sometimes: Why is it happening?
Sometimes: Has our treatment worked?
And sometimes: Can we give this person the information and confidence they need to get back to eating?
So, what next?
There is still plenty for us to learn, both clinically and practically, as the service develops.
But perhaps our biggest reflection from our first year of community FEES is this: The value of having FEES isn’t in doing more FEES. It’s in being able to ask better clinical questions — and knowing when FEES is the right tool to help answer them.
