To make a referral to the Children’s Occupational Therapy Service you will need to complete the Children's Single Point of Access (SPA) Referral Form available to the right of this page.  

We accept referrals from the following places:  

• Parent/Carer referral  
• Early Years Education Setting  
• School 
• Sixth form College (up to 18 years old)  
• Health professionals – Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapy, School Nurses, Health Visitors  
• Qualified Social Workers  
• GPs 
• Paediatricians 
• Local and tertiary inpatient hospitals 

If you would like to refer and your role is not listed above please contact the OT Duty Desk.

We may write back to you asking you to access and try out some of the advice available from our Resource Hub before we will consider a Young Person for an assessment.

We ask that you try our strategies and record what difference, if any, they have made to your child. This can be completed at home and at school and we would encourage communication between both settings to ensure consistency. This will also enable the child to have lots of opportunity to become familiar with different strategies and work out what works for them.

You can use the Strategies Record form to monitor what you have put in place. The form can be found on the right of this page.

If after a 12 week period you feel you need further support from Occupational Therapy, please submit your completed ‘Strategies Record Form’ with what you have tried and what further help your child needs. Please submit this with the electronic referral form to CSPA@nelft.nhs.uk.

Any queries about the referral process can be directed to the OT Duty Desk 0300 300 1670 (10am-1pm Mon-Fri exc. Bank Holidays).

Referrals for Acute Conditions and Hospital Discharge 

If you are making a referral for a child who is due to have a procedure such as surgery, casting or botox therapy OR who is currently an inpatient in hospital and due for discharge please contact the Occupational Therapy Duty Desk with the details of the referral and referrers contact details (OT Duty Desk 0300 300 1670 (10am-1pm Mon-Fri exc. Bank Holidays).

Please also complete the electronic referral form.