Samantha Holmes

I qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) in 2009. Upon graduating, I moved to England and commenced my professional career. I have worked in a number of major London hospitals and have specialised in head and neck cancer, particularly laryngectomy and surgical voice restoration (SVR) since 2013.

I have worked across the entire head and neck cancer pathway, from pre-diagnosis to survivorship. I am skilled in counselling, diagnosis and rehabilitation of cancer related impairments of swallowing, speech, airway and voice. I am highly competent in the instrumental assessment of dysphagia and voice disorders, including videofluoroscopy, videolaryngoscopic evaluation and flexible endoscopic evaluation. I also have significant experience of working with altered airway cases including tracheostomy and laryngectomy/extended laryngectomy.

I have experience in managing a busy London head and neck SLT service, where I was the principal head and neck therapist, with a particular focus on pathway development and support of junior staff. I was the first in the UK to establish cough reflex testing in the surgical head and neck caseload and published a service evaluation of this intervention in the Current Opinion in Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Journal (2016).

During my career, I have completed a wide range of post graduate training, including advanced laryngectomy training, advanced communication, altered airway management and MBSiMP certification in videofluoroscopy. I am a level three practitioner in flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing and independently run and analyse complex videofluoroscopy, including post-surgical leak testing of laryngectomy and pharyngo-laryngo-oesophagectomy.

Clinically, I am now based at the Churchill Hospital, part of the Oxford University Hospital Trust, where I am the surgical lead SLT for patients undergoing head and neck cancer treatment. I specialise in laryngectomy and surgical voice restoration, as well as chemoradiotherapy-induced dysphagia and dysarthria. I am also experienced in rehabilitation for cancer-related voice disorders, and sarcoma/proton-beam radiotherapy induced dysphagia. My non-clinical work includes supervision and training of junior staff, coordination of my team’s continuing professional development and student placement coordination.

I accept instructions from both claimant and defendant solicitors and insurers. I have undergone formal training in the medico-legal process and am fully aware of my responsibilities under Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) pertaining to expert witnesses.