Our occupational therapists support children and young people who may experience difficulties carrying out and participating in activities of everyday life, for example their self-care, school work or play.
Your care
Our team includes occupational therapists and occupational therapy technical instructors.
We work with children and young people from birth to 18 years of age, assessing your health, education and social care needs to maximize your independence and learning both at home and school.
Our occupational therapists can advise on strategies to support and develop you in tasks such as dressing, feeding, bathing, toileting and fine motor skills. In order to meet your child’s needs, we may advise and recommend equipment or adaptations to promote safety and independence in their home and school environment.
We work closely with other professionals involved in your care to support your family across a variety of settings including home, nursery, school and respite facilities.
What to expect
We will assess you depending on your needs which may include environmental assessments (at home and school), observations during play, structured work time during lessons and completion of tasks. Where appropriate we may do these as joint visits with other health, social and education practitioners.
Following an assessment, treatment plans can include one or more of the following:
- One to one support from an occupational therapist or occupational therapy technical instructor. This will include advice, strategies and information to be used in daily life.
- A plan of agreed individual targets and goals including your parents or carers and other professionals who support you.
- Specialist assessment of need for equipment and adaptations
- Involvement in local authority statutory assessment and procedures for children with special educational needs including contribution to individual Education, Health and Care Plans
- Liaison with your parents / carers and professionals involved in your care.
We provide short term care to meet the needs identified with you and your family when a child or young person is referred, once completed you will be discharged from the service. Should your needs change you can be referred back into the service at any time.
Preparing for adulthood
When a young person is between 16 and 18 and has complex ongoing and changing physical needs which continue to make it difficult to carry out and participate in every day life we will work with you to identify any support you might need when you leave school. We will work with you, your family and those professionals involved in supporting you to plan and prepare and, if necessary, a referral will be made to Adult Occupational Therapy or other services for further support.
Your appointment
- Northumberland residents
The location of your appointment will vary depending on the reason you have been referred to our service. This could be at either our Child Health Centre, Wansbeck Hospital, Oaklands Health Centre, your school or your home.
We may also speak to your parent or carer over the phone to learn more about you or we may use a video conferencing to decide how best to support you.
- North Tyneside residents
The location of your appointment will vary depending on the reason you have been referred to our service. This could be at either at the Riverside Children’s Centre, your school or your home.
We may also speak to your parent or carer over the phone to learn more about you or we may use a video conferencing to decide how best to support you
How to access the service
All children and young people will be seen within 18 weeks. We operate a priority system for all new referrals. Any urgent referrals, for example, supporting children discharged from hospital and moving and handling difficulties, will be seen within 10 working days.
Referrals are usually made by a healthcare professional. See below for further details based on where you live.
- Northumberland residents
A referral can be made by any health professional or social worker involved in their care, for example a GP, therapist, specialist nurse, paediatrician or social worker from the Disabled Children’s Team.
If you’ve used our service in the past, families can call us for advise and support if your child or young person has new or additional functional difficulties.
Parents of school aged children with coordination difficulties who are attending a mainstream school in Northumberland, will initially be offered a phone consultation to assess their needs from a qualified occupational therapist.
- North Tyneside residents
A referral can be made by any health professional or social worker involved in their care, for example a GP, therapist, specialist nurse or paediatrician.
Referrals can also be made by schools, for example a SENCo/Headteacher following the completion of the pre-referral pathway. This is in line with the ‘Graduated Approach to Special Education Needs and Disability’. This pathway enables schools to put advice and strategies in place to support a child prior to referring them to the service.
Contact us
You can contact us Monday to Friday 8.30am – 5.00pm. If we are in a clinic you can leave us a message on our answer phone and we will call you back.
Northumberland
Children’s Physical Disability Occupational Therapy Service
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Child Health
Woodhorn Lane
Ashington
NE63 9JJ
Tel: 01670 564 050
North Tyneside
Children’s Occupational Therapy Service
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Riverside Centre
Minton Lane
North Shields
Tyne & Wear
NE29 6DQ
Tel: 0191 6434160
