REDBRIDGE Primary Care Trust's chief executive has spoken of his determination to resolve the speech and language therapist crisis in Redbridge.

Tom Easterling's pledge comes following complaints from concerned residents and councillors, anxious that children are suffering due to a lack of staff.

In last week's Guardian, we reported how a petition signed by about 50 people angry at the lack of service was handed into the last full Redbridge Council meeting.

Anxious to reassure parents, chief executive Mr Easterling said: "We understand and share the concern of local parents about the speech and language therapy service in Redbridge.

"Although this has been a difficult time for speech and language therapy, we believe that we have a real opportunity to develop and improve the service, and we look forward to working closely with Redbridge Council to achieve this."

He also confirmed that a new head of services had been appointed who would be producing a recruitment plan for the future.

The trust has also introduced a number of incentives to recruit and retain locum speech and language therapists. These include offering locums help with accommodation costs, offering training and development opportunities and investing in new information technology.

He said: "We are doing everything we can to resolve the local staffing issues whilst working against a background of a national shortage of speech and language therapists."