Services for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Blackburn with Darwen’s Local Offer

Lancashire’s Health Services

1. Name of the service and what the service provides
East Lancashire Healthcare Trust. – Paediatric Physiotherapy Department.
Input into a level 3 NICU providing assessment and treatment of babies born under 30 weeks gestation or with neurological involvement.
Provides assessment and treatment of children with a range of gross motor developmental problems, Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Genetic conditions, respiratory diseases such as CF and Bronchiectasis, Gait abnormalities and co-ordination problems.
The service provides outpatient appointments, community visits into patients’ homes, nursery’s and schools.
Input into Special Educational Schools by a named Physiotherapist with input into the child’s statement of Special Educational Needs.
2. Address and contact details and area covered
Rainbows Centre Covering the areas of Burnley, Pendle and
Level 1 Area 7 Rossendale
Burnley General Hospital
Briercliffe Road
Burnley
Lancs
BB10 2LW
01282 830605
Acorns Centre Covers the areas of Accrington and
421 Blackburn Road Hyndburn and Clitheroe
Accrington
Lancs
BB5 1RT
01254 282579
Royal Blackburn Hospital Covers Blackburn and Blackburn with Darwen
Haslingden Road
Blackburn
Lancs
BB2 3HH
01254 732758
Out of Hours – messages to be left on department answerphones for a reply on the following working day.
3. The service is for
Children and young adults from 0-19 (still within full time education)
Children with musculoskeletal problems age 9 or over will be assessed and treated by their local outpatient physiotherapy department(s), and would be referred on for specialist assessment by a Paediatric Physiotherapist should the musculoskeletal Physiotherapist feel it appropriate.
Other services involved with our department include Close MDT working with local Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Specialist teachers, Portage workers, Consultants, GP’s, Health Visitors, Education staff to ensure the child’s needs are met holistically with an integrated approach.
4. Accessing the Service
Written referrals into the service are accepted from GP’s, Consultants, Health Visitors, members of the wider MDT and Education staff, Giving brief outlines of the child’s presenting condition and relevant medical history.
Referrals from patients or their families are considered however if further medical information is required we may request a GP or consultant referral.
There is no charge for the service as it is part of the NHS service.
There are waiting lists within the individual department(s) however we aim to see children within the allocated 18 weeks wait guidelines
5. Decision making processes used to determine who is eligible to receive a service.
All referrals are triaged by a senior member of staff for their appropriateness and relevance, prioritised to their urgency and then placed on the waiting list.
Should a parent wish to know where their child is on the waiting list then they can ring the department and a member of staff will inform them of their position and give parents an idea of the expected waiting time.
6. Methods of communication with service users/patients and how they are involved in decision making/planning.
Interpreters and signing are available and used on a regular basis within the department to ensure that parents and the child are involved and informed with their treatments.
We do have information leaflets about the service and some of the treatments we provide. Some of these have been translated into other languages as appropriate.
Children receiving treatment are provided with a physiotherapy programme of stretches and exercises to be carried out at home. These will include both a written description of the exercise alongside a photograph to aid understanding (this also aids families who’s English is not their first language).
Goals will be set alongside both the child and their parents so that we work together to achieve the best clinical outcome. The child will be regularly assessed using recognised validated outcome measures so we can monitor their development / progress and feedback will be provided.
For children with long term conditions we are currently undergoing development of a parent education group which parents will be invited to attend to learn more about their child’s condition, how it is likely to affect them both now and in the future, physiotherapy input and its importance, use of specialist equipment / other aids and devices.
7. Service Accessibility.
All buildings are fully wheelchair accessible, with disabled toilet and changing facilities. The Rainbows centre at BGH is a brand new purpose built building which opened in January 2014.
8. Workforce Skills and Training
All staff receive ongoing training and Continuous Professional Development to maintain and develop their knowledge and skills.
All centres have a range of staff with various skills and experience who are available to support one another and provide joint assessments if required, in the best interests of the child, examples of which are staff trained in hydrotherapy, the Halliwick technique, Gait analysis , Neonatal assessment, neurological assessments, Respiratory Diseases such as CF.
9. Contacts for further information
Should parents / children who are already receiving treatment have any questions or queries they should contact their named Physiotherapist in the first instance, if they were unable to answer the query they would liaise with a more senior member of staff / team leader / manager.
If the child is not already known to a named Physiotherapist then any member of the team could be contacted, or alternatively the team secretaries.
If the child or parents did not feel they could contact the named Physiotherapist then they should contact the Team Leader(s) for the service or the Service Manager.
Out of hours a message should be left on an answerphone which will be responded to the next working day by a member of the department.
Burnley – 01282 803605
Accrington – 01252 282579
Blackburn – 01254 732758
10. Feedback
Questions, queries or complaints can be made directly to a senior member of staff within the department, a team leader or the service manager. Alternatively if parents did not want to contact the Physiotherapy department themselves they could speak with the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) at the hospital.
The department regularly seeks parents and child feedback about the service with questionnaires and carries out audits. Alternatively there are comments books and comment cards located on the department reception desks which parents are invited to leave feedback in

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