Occupational Therapy

After your referral is made, it will be processed and sent to the team ready for triage. During triage, an assessment is completed by a Senior Occupational Therapist under ‘Right Help, Right Time’ which will review the referral information and consider any risks.

Further information to support the services understanding of each child is undertaken through the ‘Family Questionnaire’ and the ‘Schools Questionnaire’. Dependent on the information provided we may call or email you to discuss this further, or we may ask for information about support you have received to date.  

This information helps the CYPOT team arrange the most appropriate support for your child, this is a dynamic process where new information is continually welcomed to ensure support reflects your child’s needs.

If you require urgent medical assistance or are in danger, please contact your local emergency service for urgent advice.

Following Triage, you will receive information about next steps such as;

• Advice about access to our Universal support via the Local Offer.
• Signposting to other services that may be more appropriate.
• Targeted exploration and advice which might include access to one of our clinics.
• Specialist assessment routes.

You may receive a letter, dependent on wait times to advise you of progress. It is important to know that we can often receive a lot of referrals which may increase waiting times.

During Targeted and Specialist support, the CYPOT service may invite you to different types of appointments, these may be face to face, virtual or clinic appointments to carry out further assessment where needed.

These types of appointments are an opportunity for the therapist to explore your child’s strengths and difficulties in more depth, it is usually that we want to see, do or try specific elements for your child’s assessment.

Face to Face Appointment
If we visit you within your home for a face to face appointment, it is important that you and those supporting you (such as parents or carers) are present. Our OT’s do not wear uniforms and will wear everyday clothing, we will introduce ourselves and will show you our ID card.

Virtual (hybrid) Appointment
We will send you an email or text with links to access the appointment online. You and those supporting you must be present. If we are unable to gain sufficient information to support you through this appointment, we will arrange further follow up which may be face to face where necessary.

Clinic Appointment
You may be asked to attend a specific location for a face-to-face appointment, it is important that you and those supporting you (such as parents or carers) are present. Our OT’s do not wear uniforms and will wear everyday clothing, we will introduce ourselves and will show you our ID card, you may need to check in at a reception and wait to be called through for your appointment.

Once any recommended advice, referrals or equipment have been completed, your Occupational Therapist will send you a letter through email, to confirm the outcomes of your assessment and any important information which will conclude the OT’s input.

You may need to contact us, should the situation change, or you require further advice, you can contact the service via our advice and duty telephone line or email.