Your child has been accepted for a Team Assessment. This leaflet explains our purpose and roles. The health team around Team Assessment is based at Callaghan House, Heywood. Several children’s community services in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale are based at this site.
The professionals involved in Team Assessment work in partnership with the Local Authority and other Community and Voluntary partners such as Family Action and Early Years. This ensures we can quickly, easily and safely share information to identify the support your child needs. To be accepted by this Team, your child’s referral has been looked at in a multidisciplinary triage.
What do we provide?
Now that your child has been accepted for a Team Assessment, you and your child will be invited to priority assessments by the appropriate services. This means your child will be prioritised from the waiting list and, where possible, assessed within 12 weeks. Services will work together to reduce the number of appointments you need to attend.
Once all the services who need to assess your child have done so, a summary report will be completed detailing their findings and any next steps.
The different specialisms that you may come across as part of Team Assessment are detailed below. Please note, your child may not be seen by all of these services, only those who feel that an assessment is required, based on referral information.
Audiology
The Audiology service provides specialist assessment, diagnosis and treatment of hearing conditions in children. We have an open referral policy and have close working relationships with ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) and Teachers of the Deaf (Education). The service also provides a diagnostic follow up service for babies referred from the Newborn hearing screening programme. We also provide hearing screening for children during their reception year in school, giving further advice or treatment as required.
Children’s Community Nurses
We are registered Children’s Nurses with hospital and community experience. We work with parents and carers to provide nursing care, support and education to children and young people. We aim to provide this in people’s homes or in a community setting, to help children and young people avoid an unnecessary stay in hospital, or to reduce their length of stay.
Children’s Palliative/Complex care
We provide care to babies, children, and young people with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition, or who have complex health needs. We also provide support to parents and families. We aim to ensure they experience the best health and quality of life possible throughout their journey.
Children’s Occupational Therapy
Children’s Occupational Therapy aims to enable children to participate more successfully in daily life. The focus is to improve functional performance in the areas of self-care, education, play and leisure. An Occupational Therapist will help a child to minimise the impact of their difficulties and improve their ability to participate in activities by finding ways to overcome any problems they experience.
Children’s Orthoptics (eye specialists)
We provide assessment and treatment for children and young people who have defective eye movements and vision impairment. This includes offering corrective lenses, eye exercises and eye patching. Where needed, we can refer children and young people on to other specialisms or services as appropriate.
Community Paediatric Service
This team consists of Community Paediatricians, Neuro-disability Nurses and Specialist Epilepsy Nurses. We provide assessment, diagnosis, and a plan of care to children and young people with neuro-developmental concerns, neuro-disabilities, complex health needs and social communication difficulties. We also offer medical advice to assist the Education Health Care plan (EHC) for children with special educational needs.
Children’s Physiotherapy
We provide a specialist service for children and young people, aged up to 16 years, who have a disorder of movement and/or are experiencing pain that impacts on their ability to function. This includes a variety of conditions including muscle and joint problems, broken bones, spinal/postural problems, developmental disorders, Cerebral Palsy, Down’s Syndrome and Muscular Dystrophy. We also see young people aged up to 19 years who have a disability and are still in education as part of their overall package of care.
We also provide a range of community-based care for children and adults with a neuromuscular condition. We provide physical support, such as postural management or walking/standing aids. We provide respiratory support, which may involve developing chest management programmes and supporting people to keep their chest clear. We support people to be as independent as possible.
Children’s Speech and Language Therapy
We provide advice, assessment, and therapy, in a family’s home language, to help children and young people who have a range of speech, language and communication needs or who are experiencing conditions such as Dysphagia (feeding and swallowing difficulties) or Dysfluency (stammering).
Children’s Dietetics
We are a team of registered Dietitians and a Dietetic Assistant. We deliver services to children and young people from 0 – 19 years, and their families. This can be in clinics in the community or at home. We provide dietary assessment and treatment to try and achieve the best nutrition for growth.
Early Support Key Workers
We provide home visiting support to babies and young children who have special education needs and disabilities. We work in partnership with families to provide play and learning activities within the home to promote children’s development.
Family Action
The Family Health Link Service offers a holistic, family-centred approach to families within the Rochdale Borough. Examples of the support we can offer include:
- Support to access, coordinate and attend appointments
- Emotional support
- Help to understand complex issues
- Signposting to services on offer in the area
Additional Support Information
We understand that this might be a difficult time for you. We are fully committed to support you and your child’s needs. With this in mind we also want to share information with you about the Jolly Josh centre in Castleton, Rochdale. Jolly Josh is a safe, accessible and inclusive space, offering a variety of group sessions for children and young people aged 0-19 who live with complex medical needs, and physical disabilities. The centre offers support for young people along with their parents, carers and siblings.
The centre offers Early Years, Junior Group, Youth social, and open age sessions. Sessions are on a drop-in basis and are free of charge. Sessions are open to parents, carers and siblings, giving everyone the opportunity to meet, make new friends, support each other, and benefit from the group’s experiences.
The Jolly Josh Centre is also home to a purpose-built Hydrotherapy pool. The centre offers sessions hosted by an experienced Hydro Lead, as well as Family Splash and Baby Splash together. The pool is also available for private hire.
Further information
More information about our services are available at: https://www.northerncarealliance.nhs.uk/our-services
You can contact:
The Health Services and Family Action at the following:
Tel: 0161 206 0606 from 8am to 6pm
The Early Years Team at the following:
Tel: 01706 925 900
Email: EarlySupportKeyworkers@Rochdale.Gov.UK
Jolly Josh at the following:
Tel: 01706 399 141
Email: Sarah@JollyJosh.co.uk
Date of Review: December 2023
Date of Next Review: December 2025
Ref No: PI_C_1719 (HMR)