Education services

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Healthcare services can be confusing....

Our website - CLCH Children's Health Matters is for parents, carers and young people to find information about the services available for children, young people and families in the local area. You will also find helpful resources tailored to the child or young person’s age and stage of development.

You can also find out how to contact our staff directly if you have a concern.

On this page you can find out about early years services available to you in the local area. More information can be found on your boroughs Local Offer pages. 

A Local Offer gives children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities, and their family’s information about what support services the local authority think will be available in their local area. 

Kensington and Chelsea Local Offer

All children who attend state school have a school nurse linked to their school. If your child has additional health or developmental needs your school nursing team are here to support you and your child. 

School nursing services in Kensington and Chelsea can be found on the Kensington and Chelsea Family Information Service page.

If your child attends a special needs school where there are children and young people who require medical care during the school day there will be an NHS health team based in the school. This is likely to be a multi-disciplinary team of nurses, health care assistants and therapists (e.g. occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists). This team will deliver health care to children and young people whilst at school in order for them to access education and have social communication with their peers whilst at school.

The special school health team will support with:

  • New student assessments which may include a home visit prior to your child starting school
  • Health care plans – this includes updating and reviewing your child’s school health care plan as required, identifying your child’s current health needs
  • Managing your child’s health offer; including parental consent, administration of medication, monitoring health including growth and meeting health needs whilst at school
  • Facilitating your child to have optimal access to education 
  • Keeping all children safe – including safeguarding and working with families and professionals to meet the needs of the child and family
  • Liaising with your child’s professional network
  • Providing reports for Educational, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) reviews
  • Completing referrals to specialist services as required
  • Completing continence pad requests as required

To find out more about the health team in your child’s special school you can ask to speak to someone in the school or check out the school’s website.

If you are worried about your child’s speech, language and communication skills you can speak to your school's Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) or GP to find out if your child needs to be referred to see a speech and language therapist.

At CLCH we are the providers of Education Speech and Language Therapy services for families who live and/or have a GP in Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham and Merton. If you do not live in one of these areas, your child can be referred to your local team. 

We work in mainstream primary and secondary schools, colleges, and special schools. We also have a school age Dysfluency service to help children and young people who stammer and work in the Youth Offending Service.

Our work in schools involves:

  • Training school staff and other professionals to support Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) in the classroom
  • Supporting parents to develop the skills and confidence to support their child's communication difficulties 
  • Promoting the importance of a communication supportive environment
  • Working directly with children and young people to assess their communication profile, improve their communication skills, help them learn about their SLCN, and help them to find strategies to manage their SLCN

Some children will need support from a speech and language therapist with eating and drinking difficulties e.g. chewing, difficulties progressing through textures, or swallowing. 

If you are worried about your child’s movement skills you can speak to your child’s school, school nurse or GP to find out if your child needs further assessment or to be referred to see a physiotherapist. 

At CLCH we are the providers of Education Physiotherapy services in the Child Development Service in Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and for the borough of Merton. If you do not have a GP in one of these areas, your child can be referred to your local team. 

Children’s Physiotherapists are trained in the assessment and treatment of babies, children and young people. Their expertise is in assessment and treatment of movement difficulties that may be from a short term condition e.g. following a fracture, or due to a long term illness or disability e.g. cerebral palsy.

Children’s Physiotherapists use a range of approaches which are tailored to the child’s individual needs including their age. They work in partnership with parents and carers ensuring that they receive advice, intervention and support that will support them to help their child to achieve his/her movement potential.

If you are worried about your child’s daily living skills (e.g. dressing, using cutlery, completing jigsaws, riding a bike, using school tools) you can speak to your health visiting team or GP to find out if your child needs further assessment or to be referred to see an Occupational Therapist. 
 
At CLCH we are the providers of  Occupational Therapy services in the Child Development Service in Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, and Merton. If you do not have a GP in one of these areas, your child should be referred to your local service.

Our Occupational Therapists are highly skilled in the assessment and treatment of children & young people aged 0-19. Occupational Therapists are experts in the area of daily living skills and our particular interest lies in supporting children to do the daily tasks that they need and want to do (e.g. playing with friends, going to school, developing independence in self help tasks).

Occupational Therapists use a holistic approach and consider different factors such as movement skills, sensory skills, regulation and attention when assessing and developing strategies and therapy plans.

Our Occupational Therapists use a range of approaches which are tailored to the child or young person's individual needs, and work in partnership with parents and carers, as well as other professionals known to the child or young person.

If you are worried about your child’s nutrition, feeding or growth you can speak to your health visitor, school nurse or GP to find out if your child needs to be referred to a paediatric dietitian.

At CLCH we are the providers of children's Dietetics  services for children registered with a GP in Barnet, Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Merton. If you do not have a GP in one of these areas, you can be referred to your local service. 

Children’s Dietitians specialise in children’s nutrition providing support for children with food allergy and intolerance, coeliac disease, complex obesity, dysphagia, enteral feeding, gastroenterology, faltering growth and malnutrition, restricted diets, special needs, and vitamin and mineral deficiencies. 

The children’s community nursing service are a team of children’s nurses who provide nursing care to children with nursing needs in order to reduce attendance and admissions to hospital, and speed up hospital discharge.

We do this by providing hands on clinical care e.g. blood tests, giving chemotherapy, passing nasogastric feeding tubes, giving intravenous antibiotics, monitoring oxygen etc., as well as teaching and supporting parents and other care givers, such as extended family and school staff.

Support also includes the ordering and supplying of equipment necessary for the child, and liaising closely with other professionals involved with the child and family.

The service is for children aged 0 – 18 years living in Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Westminster or registered with a GP in these boroughs. If you do not live in one of these areas, your child can be referred to your local team. 

You can find out more about our CCN service on our website.

Providing feedback on our services

It is important for us to hear what you think of our services so that we know what we are doing well and where we need to make improvements. Whether you wish to pay us a compliment, raise a concern or make a formal complaint, our patient advice and liaison service (PALS) team are here to help and all feedback given will be kept confidential.

You can find out more about how to provide feedback here.

If you would like to complete a patient story please speak to the team CLCH health team. Patient stories are a chance for you to share more information about your experiences of being cared for by our services. We collect patient stories in multiple different ways including videos, written stories, pictures and conversations with you that we then type. 

Contacting our PALS team

  • Telephone: 0800 368 0412
  • Email: clchpals@nhs.net
  • Post: PALS team, Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, 5-7 Parsons Green, London, SW6 4UL

Providing feedback on this website

We want this website to be helpful to you and your family and welcome feedback on how we can improve it. If you spot anything that's incorrect, confusing or have suggestions for how we can make it better please email us on clcht.health.matters@nhs.net this mailbox will be checked weekly and should not be used for urgent or clinical requests.

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