The team offers support for a wide range of emotional difficulties and complex physical health issues experienced by young people with moderate to severe learning disabilities.

There are many people that work within the team, such as:

• nurses
• doctors
• therapists
• friendly reception staff

Who can use the service?

The team provides support to children and young people who:

• are up to the age of 18
• have a moderate to severe learning disability
• meet the service criteria
• are ordinarily resident in the locality covered by South Staffs and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust and are permanently registered with a GP in the area

Are there any costs?

There is no financial cost to accessing our service.

The team receives referrals from a variety of places, for example:

• school nurses
• GPs
• paediatricians
• social workers

We also accept referrals directly from families. We would highly recommend contacting the team to discuss your needs to ensure the referral meets the team’s criteria.

What happens after referral?

Once we have received a referral it will be discussed in a multidisciplinary forum to make sure it meets our criteria.

The family will then be offered an appointment to assess their needs.

A plan of care will then be co-created with the family and the multidisciplinary team.

If the child requires an urgent appointment, the parents or guardian will be contacted by telephone to arrange this. This will be followed up by an appointment letter.

The team offers support for a wide range of emotional and mental health difficulties experienced by children and young people with moderate to severe learning disabilities.

Who will we see?

There are many people that work within the team, such as:

• nurses
• doctors
• occupatioal therapist
• speech and language therapist

Who you see will be determined by the need of the young person. This will be decided throughout the assessment process and regularly reviewed.

What happens when I come to the service?

When receiving support from our service we will talk directly with the child or young person and their families about their needs.

We will often seek information from other significant people who support the child and family, for example:

• teachers
• social care services
• other medical professionals

We mainly complete assessments and interventions in clinic settings. We do sometimes see children in education settings.

Depending on the need of the child, we can provide support to them individually or with support from a parent or guardian. This will always be agreed when planning the intervention.

What happens when I become an adult?

Should a young person require support from the adult learning disability team we refer from the age of 17 and a half years.

We are then able to liaise with the adult team to ensure there is a good transition between services.

How do I find out more?

Please do not hesitate to contact the teams for further information.