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Coronavirus resources: Health Services for children and young people with SEND

We are making sure that during the current COVID-19 emergency, we continue to provide you with healthcare support. We are doing this while following government advice to keep children, young people, their famliies and carers and our staff safe. We also want to help to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

During this period of social distancing, you might see some changes to the way services are provided. Many services have paused face-to-face contact where possible. Instead we are focusing on supporting those with urgent needs by reviewing and prioritising caseloads. All changes are in line with the NHS England guidance for community services to support the COVID-19 response.

If your child is unwell or is injured during this period, it can be hard to know who to call. GP services, the NHS 111 online and telephone advice service and Accident and Emergency (A & E) departments are all still open. But it is important to follow advice about which service to contact or attend. Download this quick guide to NHS services (PDF) to help you decide.

You can also download a document with key information for Croydon families including how to register as vulnerable on the government website, emergency and non-emergency numbers, advice and support for finance and utilities, community support and additional needs. 

Please check back to this page for regular updates.

Children’s Community Medical Services (community paediatricians)

The service has reviewed which appointments can be carried out by telephone or video conference.

In some cases appointments will still be carried out face to face. The decision to carry out appointments face to face will be done on a child-by-child basis. If you have an existing appointment or are already known to the service, we will contact you if there is a change to your appointment.

Routine referrals and appointments may be delayed. Where new referrals are received by the service these are being triaged (we decide the order of treatment according to each case's circumstances and urgency).

If you need to contact the service, email us on ch-tr.communitypaediatrics@nhs.net. If you do not have access to email, please call 02084013982 option 1.

Occupational Therapy (Social Care and Health Provision)

Routine clinic-based appointments for Occupational Thearapy services have temporarily paused. Instead we are offering telephone advice and contact.

The service will keep providing the following:

  • discharges from specialist hospitals for children needing equipment
  • support for children with significant moving and handling needs requiring equipment
  • urgent reviews of equipment

Physiotherapy (Health Provision)

The focus of physiotherapy services will be on children and young people who need urgent support, or to families who need:

  • post-operative management and support
  • newborn baby referrals
  • urgent outpatient access 

If you are already receiving physiotherapy support from Croydon Health Services, we have contacted you. If you have any urgent concerns during this period please email ch-tr.croydonchildrensphysio@nhs.net. If you can't email, telephone 020 8274 6853.

Safeguarding

For information on early help and/or safeguarding, Croydon Safeguarding Children Partnership has prepared a list of Safeguarding Children Information Resources (PDF). This was prepared in response to the COVID-19 emergency.

Safeguarding services within Croydon Health Services and the Clinical Commissioning Group continue to operate business as usual with the same contact information.

We know this is a particularly difficult time for our families who have additional challenges. Sometimes this may increase vulnerability and possibly risks. We are encouraging practitioners to discuss any safeguarding concerns with the Croydon Health Services team.

Speech and Language Therapy (SLT)

Routine clinic-based appointments, home visits and new assessments for education needs have temporarily been paused.

In many cases, support for children speech, language and communication needs would have been provided by teaching staff, following the advice and guidance from the speech and language team. We are working hard to deliver this support in other ways.

Therapists can also be contacted a few different ways.

  • Advice Clinics are being delivered over telephone. This is for school-aged children and parents whether or not they are already known to the service. You can find out when the next advice clinic and when your child's therapist is available is by calling 0208 714 2594 between 8:30am and 5pm. You can also email CH-TR.SLTcroydonchildren@nhs.net.
  • If your child’s Special School has an official Facebook page, look out for comments, tips and advice from Speech and Language Therapists. The team are uploading resources and providing advanced support for parents.
  • For some children and young people and their parents/carers who were receiving one to one support, if suitable a new virtual appointment might be offered via tele-therapy. This offers a secure and private connection for video appointments.
  • Therapists have made contact with families on their caseload.

In addition the following will continue:

  • support for Children with Eating and Drinking needs (EDD) (in some cases, where appropriate, support will be provided via tele-therapy)
  • support for children in hospital or being discharged from hospital with EDD needs
  • urgent EDD referrals

For those with Annual Reviews or assessments for Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) due, the service will continue to work with SEN Co-ordinators and the Designated Clinical Officer to provide advice where the child or young person is already known to the service.

Special School Nursing

The special school nursing team based at St Giles School will continue to provide support to children and their families and carers by telephone to all children on their caseload.

Working closely with schools that remain open and Social Care, the nursing team will provide home visits or schools visits where it deemed clinically necessary. The team continue to part take in video case conferences, core groups and children in need meetings.

Provision has been altered to allow for provision over the school holiday period, and additional support is being offered to schools and education staff. This is to make sure that staff are trained to support children where school personnel might have changed.

Schools and parents can contact their normal named school nurse in the Nursing Hub on 020 8680 4810, or email mhn-tr.specialschools@nhs.net


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