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Children's Occupational Therapy (Paediatric)

  • We help children and young people who struggle with daily activities, providing assessment and support at home, in school, and in the community.

About our service

We assess and support children and young people with significant difficulties taking part in everyday activities at home, in education settings, and in the community. Assessments of self‑care and daily living skills are offered where universal advice has been followed without improvement. This might include: 
  • Self‑care: washing, bathing, dressing, using the toilet, brushing teeth and hair, eating.
  • School and learning: taking part in nursery, school or college, using tools to record work, and any difficulties accessing the curriculum, including PE.
  • Play and leisure: play skills, spending time with friends, taking part in sports and physical activities, and joining in with community activities.

What type of support does the team offer? 

  • Supporting children and young people to safely manage self‑care and everyday activities. This may include assessing needs, providing specialist equipment, or referring for home adaptations.
  • Supporting the delivery of a care plan for children and young people whose self‑care and daily activities are significantly affected.
  • Working closely with the child or young person, their parents or carers, and their education setting to support individual goals.
  • Working with other professionals in health, social care, and education.

Further information

Advice line

We run an advice line to support health professionals, schools and education staff (including SENCOs), and parents and carers.

How we can help

  • We provide advice and practical strategies to support everyday activities.
  • We offer guidance for difficulties with self‑care, play, and leisure.
  • We can advise on whether a referral to the Paediatric Occupational Therapy (POT) service is needed.

The service operates on Wednesday's between 9am-12pm and Thursday's between 1pm and 4pm. We cannot respond to text messages sent to the advice line.

Please note the purpose of the Advice Line is not to answer enquiries regarding our waiting lists or check whether a referral has been accepted. These should be directed to our generic email address:whcnhs.paediatricot@nhs.net.

To speak to a Paediatric Occupational Therapist please call: 0300 2470017. 

How to access the service

We accept referrals from: 

  • Health Care Professionals (GP, Paediatrician, Speech and Language Therapist, Physiotherapist etc)
  • Social Care Teams (Social Worker, Family Support Worker)
  • SENCO’S (School or Nursery) or Teacher at Special School
  • Physical Disabilities Outreach Team
  • Local Authority Learning Support Team

Referrers should complete the referral form in full that is available on Carenotes under the referrals tab or can be downloaded directly from this page - Download our referral form 

Please note ALL referrals should be sent electronically to our generic email address: 

Who can be referred?  

Child or young person from birth up until their 18 th  birthday or up to their 19 th  birthday if attending special school (for school needs only):

  • With consent from the person with parental responsibility or child or young person themselves if considered to have Gillick competence.
  • Those registered with a Worcestershire GP.
  • Who have a ‘Looked After’ arrangement with Worcestershire Local Authority and continue to reside in Worcestershire with a Worcestershire GP  OR who have a ‘Looked after’ arrangement with another Local Authority and are placed in Worcestershire with an individual funding agreement. 
  • Any child or young person placed in a Worcestershire school with a GP out of county will be considered on an individual basis with liaison with their local NHS service.
  • For requests about home equipment or adaptations, this is determined by the County Council of the property where the child or young person resides.
  • Children and Young people who have significant*  OT needs, and universal advice has been tried but has not been successful.

We require examples of significant* difficulties that are impacting on independence, and/or participation in self-care and activities of daily living at home, in education and in the community.

It is important to evidence what support, strategies and advice has been tried and/or is already in place to support the child or young person, and the outcome and impact this has had e.g., Universal information from the website, contact with OT Advice Line.

Referrals we may consider

  • Child or young person who requires timely assessment and intervention around safety, equipment and moving and handling to prevent incident and injury. 
  • Child or young person with regressive or degenerative conditions who are newly diagnosed or where there has been a significant change in their presentation impacting on self-care and activities of daily living. 
  • Child or young person who are palliative and end of life who have lost skills and require timely assessment and intervention to prevent incident and injury.
  • Child or young person where there are significant * concerns regarding home safety and evidence of strategies have been tried but have not been successful resulting in risk to safety, incident, and injury.
  • Child or young person with significant * needs who are unable to access self-care or activity of daily living occupations at home and require an assessment of the home environment.
  • Child or young person who have significant * motor co-ordination difficulties that are impacting on self-care and activity of daily living occupations across home, in education and the community.

We are unable to accept referrals for:

  • Reported difficulties that are in line with typical or expected development.
  • Concerns regarding self-care or activity of daily living occupations without evidence of these having a  significant * impact on the child or young person.
  • Sensory concerns in isolation (where there are no motor concerns) without evidence of the  significant * impact these difficulties are having on self-care and activity of daily living occupations. This includes ARFID (avoidant restricted food intake disorder).  For these concerns, please refer to the OT website for universal advice on sensory processing.
  • Please note we do not provide Sensory Integration Therapy. 
  • Education based difficulties in isolation such as handwriting or use of scissors/tools without evidence of the  significant * impact these difficulties are having on self-care and activity of daily living occupations. For these concerns, School to consider advice from the local Learning Support Team.
  • Requests for specific equipment. For example, car seats, restrictive beds.
  • Anxiety, emotional or behavioural difficulties. Please refer to other appropriate services such as Family Front Door, Early Help, CAMHS. Please see the local offer website: Social, emotional and mental health | Worcestershire County Council and the Child and young person and Adolescent Mental Health Website: Mental health help to children, young people and their families | School Mental Health (hacw.nhs.uk)
  • Requests for Educational, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) assessments without evidence of the significant*  impact these difficulties are having on self-care and activity of daily living occupations.
  • Support with home safety which are related to the home physical environment. We require evidence to be provided of behaviour and support strategies that have been tried but have not been successful resulting in risk to safety, incident, and injury before considering a referral. Evidence should include support for behaviour interventions and family support such as Early Help, Family Support Worker and following the home safety advice on our webpage in detail to promote a safer environment. Please note, adaptations should be last resort when the nature of the adaptation is restrictive.
  • Support with re-housing or additional bedrooms/ bathroom facilities. Any professional that knows the child and young person or family well can support with these requests.
  • Requests for a Motor Co-ordination or Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD) assessment where there is no evidence of advice and strategies that have been tried as part of our Universal offer (i.e., Advice Line, OT webpage, Movement Programmes in school) and there is nothing to support that there are significant*  motor co-ordination difficulties impacting on self-care and activity of daily living occupations across home, in education placements and the community.  Please do not refer children who are under 5 years of age for a diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). The following NHS guidance clearly states that ‘Although DCD may be suspected in the pre-school years, it's not usually possible to make a definite diagnosis before a child is aged 5’. Developmental co-ordination disorder (dyspraxia) in children - Diagnosis - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
  • Wheelchair or a specialist buggy as referrals can be made by any Healthcare Professional that knows the child or young person. Please see the following link for the Wheelchair service information: Our Services | Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust (hacw.nhs.uk)

* Significant impact examples:

  • Risk of education placement breakdown or not currently attending education placement.
  • Child or young person who is not able to complete self-care and/or activities of daily living occupations.
  • Early life experiences which have had a significant impact on the above.
  • Safeguarding concerns where OT is significantly involved.

What happens next?

  • Referrals received will be triaged according to the clinical prioritisation for the child or young person.
  • Parents/carers and the referrer will be informed of the outcome of the referral following triage.